Paulie Manafort Flips, Bada Bing Bada Boom
September 14, 2018 2:16 PM   Subscribe

Trump Campaign Manager and convicted felon Paul Manafort will plead guilty to avoid a second trial and has agreed to cooperate with federal investigators (CNBC). In an unusually lengthy superseding criminal information document (PDF), the Special Counsel's office charges him on two counts: conspiracy against the United States from 2006 to 2017, with Rick Gates and GRU operative Konstantin Kilimnik (FARA conspiracy), and conspiracy to obstruct justice (witness tampering). In a 17-page cooperation agreement, Manafort promises to give interviews and briefings to the Special Counsel, turn over documents, and testify in other proceedings—and he has waived right to have lawyers representing him present at any interviews. In exchange, the agreement calls for a 10-year cap on Manafort's prison sentence and for concurrent time served for his separate Virginia and Washington cases (Politico). Manafort will also give up $46 million in criminal and civil forfeitures, making his plea deal effectively pardon proof. From the courthouse, CNN reports: “He's not smiling at all. He's glum and quietly responding, 'yes, your honor'”

• Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination is running into difficulties, as The New Yorker's Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer uncover a sexual-assault allegation against him while in high school, stirring tension among Democrats in Congress. Meanwhile, Kavanaugh contradicts White House account of credit card debt, raising more questions, Luppe Luppen (@nycsouthpaw) writes for Yahoo. The Senate Judiciary Committee has now delayed the vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation to September 20th (CBS).

• Bob Woodward's runaway bestseller Fear: Trump in the White House (MeFi Fanfare Discussion) continues to receive praise for its "devastating reported account of the Trump Presidency" (The New Yorker) that "shows the administration is broken, and yet what comes next could be even worse" (The Atlantic). Slate's Isaac Chotiner cautions, "Fear will make plain to the last optimist that, just as Republicans in Congress are unlikely to save us, neither are the relative grown-ups in the Trump administration." And Woodward tells CBS, "People who work for him are worried ... that he will sign things or give orders that threaten the national security or the financial security of the country, or of the world. […] [P]eople better wake up to what's going on."

• In a political storm Trump began by tweeting about a baseless conspiracy to inflate the death toll in Puerto Rico (Washington Post)—in itself an impeachable offense, argues Slate's Jamelle Bouie—Trump calls San Juan's mayor "totally incompetent" and his administration's emergency response 'a tremendous success' and 'one of the best.' GOP campaign operative Ed Rollins, back Trump on Puerto Rico death toll estimates: "The reality is the Democrats are playing to Puerto Ricans who have moved to this country, moved to Florida, politics, and they're not for us anyways. So, at the end of the day here, the president is accurate." In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, 2,341 Americans in Puerto Rico have applied for funeral assistance: FEMA approved 75.

In Other Headlines:

• Days before a hurricane hits the East Coast, the Department of Homeland Security shifts $10,000,000 from FEMA disaster relief to ICE detention camps—and an additional $169 million from other programs to them (NBC).

• New Yorker, Jonathan Blizter, The Case for Reuniting “Ineligible” Families Separated at the Border: "The truth is, up to now I’ve been strong,[...] but I’m scared to close my eyes. I don’t want to fall asleep, because when I do I dream about the moment they took him from me. I dream about how it felt to hold him." Detention of Migrant Children Has Skyrocketed to Highest Levels Ever (NYT)

• Buzzfeed scored a scoop about Trump-Putin go-between Aras Agalarov: A Series of Suspicious Money Transfers Followed The Trump Tower Meeting "Investigators are focused on two bursts of banking activity — one shortly after the June 2016 meeting, the other immediately after the presidential election."

• Trump signed an order yesterday to punish foreign meddlers in US votes (BBC), but White House order on election meddling has no teeth, officials say (Daily Beast)

• Politico, Van Jackson, Is the Left Ready to Handle National Security? "Any number of true-blue progressives could defeat Trump in 2020. The problem: They don’t have a foreign policy."

• The Investigative Fund, Adam Federman, How Far Will Trump Go to Loosen Offshore Drilling Rules?, in which post-Deepwater Horizon safety reforms are targeted for cancellation.

• NYT, Matthew Desmond, Americans Want to Believe Jobs Are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not. "U.S. unemployment is down and jobs are going unfilled. But for people without much education, the real question is: Do those jobs pay enough to live on?"

• Trump Cabinet Corruption Watch: Trump’s FEMA chief Brock Long is under investigation over use of official cars (Politico); and former EPA head Scott Pruitt is in talks to consult for Kentucky coal-mining tycoon and major Republican donor Joseph W. Craft III. (NYT)

• Russia media monitor Julia Davis checks in on the US Energy Secretary's visit to Moscow: “Meanwhile in #Russia: Rick Perry says the U.S. does not want to impose the #sanctions and indicates they are not imminent. Perry: "Russian Energy Minister] Alexander Novak and I both agree that getting to that point where sanctions would be engaged is not where we want to go."”

Today is Day 602 of the Trump Administration—yesterday Trump made his official 5,000th false statement/misleading claim/lie (Washington Post)—and there are 52 left until midterm elections. You can check your voter registration status on Vote.org and learn more at USA.gov.


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. (Many thanks to Zachlipton and box for collaborating on this FPP's draft on the MeFi wiki.)
posted by Doktor Zed (2056 comments total) 136 users marked this as a favorite
 
Is that hope I feel?
posted by mazola at 2:22 PM on September 14, 2018 [5 favorites]


Is that hope I feel?

Until we see results, best to assume it's just gas.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:26 PM on September 14, 2018 [192 favorites]


Trump’s team put out an initial statement that said: “the President did nothing wrong and Manafort will tell the truth.”
Minutes later, they put out a new statement that said: “the President did nothing wrong.”
posted by growabrain at 2:26 PM on September 14, 2018 [55 favorites]


BTW, if you're like me and you're having trouble keeping track of who The Best People are and which crimes they've been charged with, pled guilty to, and been convicted of, along with which ones are cooperating with the investigation, WaPo has you covered.
posted by tonycpsu at 2:28 PM on September 14, 2018 [23 favorites]


Hope is a necessary preparatory step on the road to crushing disappointment. Best to get it out of the way and move on to the exciting new horrors that lie in wait for us.
posted by Grangousier at 2:29 PM on September 14, 2018 [14 favorites]


I don't know about Trump's supporters, but I'm getting tired of winning. Shouldn't have to win this much.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:30 PM on September 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


god, that one thread of braindead repubs tweeting their snotty mocking takes on the kavanaugh high school allegations before they actually knew what the allegations WERE was incredibly fucking ugly.
posted by poffin boffin at 2:30 PM on September 14, 2018 [22 favorites]


ABC (the Australian site broadcaster) also has an excellent podcast series Russia, If You're Listening, which gives a great overview focused largely on individual players. I suppose it may be geo-blocked, but I hope not.
posted by GeckoDundee at 2:31 PM on September 14, 2018 [6 favorites]


That Vote.org link actually puts you on a mailing list (and signs you up to receive texts if you include your cell number). Further down the same page are links to official state-run lookup websites so you can avoid that sign-up process.
posted by hippybear at 2:33 PM on September 14, 2018 [3 favorites]




I suppose it may be geo-blocked, but I hope not

Nope, it works fine for me in the US.
posted by BungaDunga at 2:34 PM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


Skripal Poisoning Update: Skripal Poisoning Suspect’s Passport Data Shows Link to Security Services

TLDR: The 'tourists' names and identities are most probably fake and created for use by Russian security services.
posted by PenDevil at 2:38 PM on September 14, 2018 [15 favorites]


"Any number of true-blue progressives could defeat Trump in 2020. The problem: They don’t have a foreign policy."

Okay, assuming for a moment that's true: Are elections won or lost based on foreign policy? Does America care about foreign policy beyond how it might impact them personally? Finally, do the Republicans have a coherent foreign policy.

I would say Democrats have 101 problems, but foreign policy isn't one of them.*

* And to be clear, I'm not exactly happy about a bunch of foreign policy decisions democrats have made, particularly in regards for military 'adventurism'. That being said, Obama's engaging Iran and Cuba are some of the most significant foreign policy win's America has had in a long time.
posted by el io at 2:38 PM on September 14, 2018 [31 favorites]


As Josh Marshall points out, perhaps the most significant aspect of Manafort's "full cooperation" agreement is that throughout these ten or so days of leaks that a plea agreement was being negotiated, these leaks all indicated that it would require no cooperation.

This didn't make much sense from Mueller's point of view, but it was plausible that Manafort was avoiding another trial in the anticipation of a pardon and therefore Mueller's team was foregoing the trouble of another trial that would merely be undermined by one. And, indeed, Trump has been singing Manafort's praises as a man who "won't flip".

Then in the last couple of days, Giuliani mentioned there was a joint defense cooperation agreement between Trump and Manafort's counsel -- thus, via the defense information sharing, Manafort refusing to cooperate with Mueller, and an expected pardon, all signs pointed to the best possible outcome for Trump.

It was all disinformation.

What should have been a big clue was that Mueller's team doesn't leak. All such (mis) information had to be leaked by his people. Which has never before happened. Yet, Trump and his team were confident. They were played, and made to be fools. Meanwhile Trump’s been praising Manafort in public, on Twitter, repeatedly.

In addition to all the compelling arguments that between Manafort and Cohen, Mueller now knows (or will know) where all the bodies are buried, it also is the most profound example yet of how Trump and his lawyers are bumbling idiots while Mueller and his team are, from Trump’s perspective, the black-suited horsemen of the fucking apocalypse.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:38 PM on September 14, 2018 [183 favorites]


god, that one thread of braindead repubs tweeting their snotty mocking takes on the kavanaugh high school allegations before they actually knew what the allegations WERE was incredibly fucking ugly.

Link?
posted by rocket88 at 2:41 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


If this is not the death of the Republican party then it's the death of the American experiment. The demonstrable level of corruption, up to and including giving foreign powers access to our electoral process, is enough to throw people in jail for decades. In a different time they'd be hanged.

That isn't what's going to happen. What's going to happen is that a few Trump campaign officials will do a few months in minimum security behind Manafort's "cooperation" and he'll get a pardon. What on earth would make you think this could be otherwise?

That hope you're feeling is so unfamiliar to me that I can't come up with a metaphor.
posted by East14thTaco at 2:41 PM on September 14, 2018 [16 favorites]


So. Manafort pled to two crimes that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years, but also admitted to facts that would justify a sentence of about twice that long. He's got a lot of cooperating to do if he wants to take another free breath. And the list of fish bigger than him who he could give up is pretty short...
posted by Zonker at 2:45 PM on September 14, 2018 [6 favorites]


A brief comment on 'leaks'. Washington historically has used 'leaks' as 'trial balloons' to see how the public reacts to ideas that are being considered internally. Historically many/most 'leaks' weren't unauthorized, they were strategic. Trump's White House is entirely different - his leaks are backstabby and often self-serving, they aren't trial balloons, and I don't think Trump is feigning his rage at the amount of leaks in his administration.

Part of the reason Trump's white house is so leaky is that no one (other than perhaps his children) are loyal to him. It's fair, he isn't actually loyal to anyone himself. Some folks are loyal to some of the ideas they think they can get executed (immigration crackdown, anti-Muslim executive orders, tax cuts for the rich, conservatives on the supreme court, etc), but none are actually loyal to Trump himself. I think this is rather historical, it's hard to point to an administration that has had so few true believers in the POTUS. It's why there can be (and apparently is) a 'resistance' within the White House.
posted by el io at 2:46 PM on September 14, 2018 [23 favorites]


If this is not the death of the Republican party then it's the death of the American experiment.

To be fair, when the American Republic ends (who knows when), historians will trace it back to either the Patriot Act, or the policy of containment of communism leading to the permanent establishment of the military industrial complex.
posted by Groundhog Week at 2:47 PM on September 14, 2018 [77 favorites]


Obama calculated that it would be better to get healthcare to more people than to try to prosecute Bush and cronies for war & financial crimes. And maybe he was right? The ACA's been a huge boon to my family. But I guess he didn't figure on American Democracy totally coming apart. If he'd secured democracy first, at the height of the recession... but wait, all those racists would still be with us, slavering for revenge. We were fucked no matter what.
posted by rikschell at 2:48 PM on September 14, 2018 [18 favorites]


One of the things I find fascinating (and please, I need those; they keep me from screaming) is the idea that Mueller's team not leaking is exotic. (Not as discussed here; I mean there are actual news articles about this.) Mueller's team is not "amazingly tight-lipped;" they're acting like real lawyers with an active case. You don't talk to the media - nor your drinking buddies, nor your spouse, if you can avoid it - about what's going on with an active case.

This is not even Lawsuits 101. This is part of the career-interest questionnaires: "Do you want to be a lawyer? Maybe you can! Are you good with language; can you understand the details of complex systems; can you keep your mouth shut?"

That 45 has managed to surround himself with people with legal training who are incapable of not talking is mind-boggling.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 2:49 PM on September 14, 2018 [123 favorites]


That Politico foreign policy article is wholly detestable to me.

It literally wants us to thank neoliberalism, and argues that the Left just needs to come around to imperialism. It's the only way, after all.

The Democrats, insofar as they are the left, do have foreign policy. It's just indistinguishable from the Republican policy, from what I can see.
posted by AnhydrousLove at 2:50 PM on September 14, 2018 [26 favorites]


If this is not the death of the Republican party then it's the death of the American experiment.

It's not either/or.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:51 PM on September 14, 2018 [8 favorites]


The linked to venting thread is locked due to hitting the time limit. This is the current venting thread, which I assume locks next week.
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:52 PM on September 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


Mod note: Fixed the venting link; carry on.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 2:57 PM on September 14, 2018 [6 favorites]


He's supposed to be the greatest deal maker of all time, right? These wiseguys are making these deals and dodging a life of porridge followed by a pauper's grave. Must start him thinking, maybe if I flip on Putin. Someone has already said don't hope, but hoping Donald is that stupid isn't reaching for the stars.
posted by adept256 at 2:59 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


maybe if I flip on Putin

Putin would put him in the ground. Never forget that this man is a tremendous coward.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 3:01 PM on September 14, 2018 [4 favorites]


ABC (the Australian site broadcaster) also has an excellent podcast series Russia, If You're Listening, which gives a great overview focused largely on individual players.

Can confirm this is a great podcast! Gives moderately deep dives on all the major players.
posted by triggerfinger at 3:02 PM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


The problem with him flipping on Putin isn't whether he'd be motivated to do so, but who he'd flip to. He'll need to be facing an Democratic Senate before there's anyone with the authority to threaten him with unpleasant consequences if he doesn't cooperate.

He would happily flip on Putin - he's not actually capable of considering a threat that's not right in front of him, and the danger of "actually go to prison" would have him handing over whatever dirt he can remember. But right now, Putin is giving him something (whether that's "keeping the kompromat buried" or "approval from a high-status despot"), and nobody else has a counter-offer that's worth anything to him; "sustainable future for America" is not one of his goals.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:20 PM on September 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


A canvassing update from an R+14 district: the campaign of Stephany Rose Spaulding for Colorado CD-5 is reaching out to unaffiliated voters and some Rs. This is the first time I've done this; previous canvass efforts with other campaigns have been directed at turning out D voters. A couple of the Republicans on my list today were home (two different houses) and although they both said they intend to vote for the incumbent Doug Lamborn, they also thanked me and my canvass partner for being out and for the work we're doing. It was weird. Last week the couple of Republicans I contacted shut their doors in my face without the thanks. Maybe it's just a more polite neighborhood, maybe it doesn't mean anything, but I noticed it.
posted by danielleh at 3:21 PM on September 14, 2018 [29 favorites]


This is not even Lawsuits 101. This is part of the career-interest questionnaires: "Do you want to be a lawyer? Maybe you can! Are you good with language; can you understand the details of complex systems; can you keep your mouth shut?"

I guess the closest point of comparison that people think about is the Starr investigation, which definitely talked to reporters.
posted by BungaDunga at 3:22 PM on September 14, 2018 [5 favorites]


Did Manafort plead to anything about the Trump Tower meeting? Isn't the meeting a conspiracy to accept a thing of value from foreign nationals?

Or would that be something they could charge Manafort with, but didn't, and they can still charge the other participants?
posted by kirkaracha at 3:25 PM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


"A couple of the Republicans on my list today were home (two different houses) and although they both said they intend to vote for the incumbent Doug Lamborn, they also thanked me and my canvass partner for being out and for the work we're doing. It was weird. Last week the couple of Republicans I contacted shut their doors in my face without the thanks. Maybe it's just a more polite neighborhood, maybe it doesn't mean anything, but I noticed it."

My experience was that older people (who grew up in a time with more comity) are more likely to thank you for canvassing and being involved, even if they're on the opposite side of politics from you. They'll often sign your nominating positions even if they don't like your guy. Sometimes they like to argue with you a little bit about the major politics of the day, and then chuckle and compliment you on being well-informed (albeit, to their minds, wrong).
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:27 PM on September 14, 2018 [37 favorites]


The word on the street in DC is apparently that Kavanaugh has a gambling problem, fwiw. Definitely be interested to know who paid his debts off, particularly keeping in mind the circumstances around Kennedy's retirement.
posted by fshgrl at 3:28 PM on September 14, 2018 [64 favorites]


Did Manafort plead to anything about the Trump Tower meeting? Isn't the meeting a conspiracy to accept a thing of value from foreign nationals?

Or would that be something they could charge Manafort with, but didn't, and they can still charge the other participants?


I would say that -- as long as Manafort rolls over on the others in either the illegal meeting with the Russian criminals or the internal strategy meeting prior to the illegal meetings with Russian criminals -- he's played his part.

Donald Jr. and Kushner were the meeting participants. Rumor is that Trump was in on the strategy meeting.

So now we just have to assume that Mueller knows everything that happened in Manafort's presence, and it's time to move on up the ladder to the next targets.
posted by mikelieman at 3:30 PM on September 14, 2018 [6 favorites]


The hope I feel is completely from the Mueller team. The despair I feel is from what congress won't do with Mueller's report.

Unless there is a broad uprising in the country - which I hope there will be.
posted by bluesky43 at 3:57 PM on September 14, 2018 [10 favorites]


"I would say that -- as long as Manafort rolls over on the others in either the illegal meeting with the Russian criminals or the internal strategy meeting prior to the illegal meetings with Russian criminals -- he's played his part."

I think Manafort's cooperation is more significant than that.

It's guesswork, but there is boatload of circumstancial evidence and surmise that Manafort's role in this with regard to probable Trump collusion is extensive, long-standing, and as the most senior, direct liason between Russian intelligence people (mostly via Putin's oligarchic cronies) and Trump and his senior advisors. His extensive involvement begins with his gratis(!) assumption of the role of Trump Campaign Manager.

There had to be numerous other contacts between the Russians and Trump and Manafort's likely role was both to facilitate this and to shape Trump's policies in Russia's favor -- he did this because he was in dire straits financially, vulnerable to pressure, has extensive GOP connections, and precisely the kind of person able to handle Trump.

Trump has been frantic about Manafort's prosecution -- he's been alternately distancing, ingratiating, antagonistic to the prosecutors, and even more unwisely voluble in public than he already prodigiously is. Guiliani has spoken frequently about Manafort.

There are a number of people who have played key roles in different events at different times, but with regard to collusion, Manafort really tied the room together.

Flynn will be the other pillar in the collusion and conspiracy case against Trump.

The obstruction of justice case will be Cohen and anyone else they get as they turn the screws. But obstruction, while the most airtight legal case, is not most important politically (sadly). It's any longstanding conspiracy with Russian agents against US interests that will torpedo Trump, in combination with the triggered self-destructive meltdown.

Manafort's full cooperation about anything and everything (as stipulated in the plea agreement) is a huge disaster for Trump. Expect even more erratic and self-destructive behavior from Trump shortly.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:00 PM on September 14, 2018 [20 favorites]


Link?

oh nooo, i thought it was in the post already, as a link near a twitter handle was greyed out as already visited by me, but alas it is not. it's about 12h back on my tl but i will have a look.
posted by poffin boffin at 4:01 PM on September 14, 2018


“TURN TURN CURSE SPIT,” bellowed Death, a bony finger trembling in the direction of the door.
posted by EarBucket at 4:01 PM on September 14, 2018 [25 favorites]


That politico link fills me with rage. What the heck? There is no other progressive besides Bernie Sanders - who clearly did not have a foreign policy which was achingly apparent in the debates - who can be an all around candidate? And why the hell do progressives have to have a foreign policy when the country (excuse me the electoral college) elected a fucking moron?

I mean the midterm elections - which are barely out of the news - have shown the viability of a lot of progressive candidates and I expect to see the influence of those candidates expand. I just hope the Democratic Party doesn't get in the way.
posted by bluesky43 at 4:02 PM on September 14, 2018 [14 favorites]


The word on the street in DC is apparently that Kavanaugh has a gambling problem

Then why the fuck hasn't that been leaked? C'mon, guys, we need All The Ammo.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:02 PM on September 14, 2018 [17 favorites]


TPM, FEMA To Test ‘Presidential Alert’ System Next Week
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) next week will test the Emergency Alert System, which allows the President to address Americans via text message in the event of a national emergency.

The test alert, which will be sent at 2:18 p.m. ET on Sept. 20, will note that it’s a test of the system. At that time, all cell phone within the range of a cell tower will receive the message.

Basically, this is a reminder that in the event of a national emergency, President Trump will be able to reach all of us via text message.
You can read more about the test here (it's been planned for some time, not a Trump thing specifically), which will apparently be quite loud and annoying, and hope that the President does not realize he could use this functionality to deliver nationwide covfefe alerts when the urge strikes him.
posted by zachlipton at 4:21 PM on September 14, 2018 [43 favorites]


What was it that allowed Mueller to secure the cooperation of Manafort just before the second trial that wasn't present before the first trial? When and how did the leverage shift that caused Manafort to flip this time around?
posted by scottatdrake at 4:22 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


Basically, this is a reminder that in the event of a national emergency, President Trump will be able to reach all of us via text message.

Way to ignore the glaringly obvious question, TPM.

Will we be able to text him back?
posted by Mayor West at 4:23 PM on September 14, 2018 [33 favorites]


The word on the street in DC is apparently that Kavanaugh has a gambling problem

Then why the fuck hasn't that been leaked? C'mon, guys, we need All The Ammo.


No leaking needed:

Democrat asks whether Brett Kavanaugh suffered from 'gambling addiction' in light of high credit card debt (Chris Sommerfeldt for NY Daily News, Sept. 11, 2018)
A Democratic senator is rolling the dice with an unusual line of questioning for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) posed a number of gambling-related questions in a form (PDF) issued to Brett Kavanaugh Tuesday that brings attention to his unusually high personal debt and past references to playing craps.

“Have you ever sought treatment for a gambling addiction?” reads one of the questions.

Kavanaugh, who was tapped by Trump to succeed outgoing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, reported in 2016 that he was between $60,000 and $200,000 in debt because of bank and credit card loans. He reported the same figure in 2006.

The White House said in July that the debts related to baseball tickets Kavanaugh bought for friends who later reimbursed him.

The debts raised eyebrows at the time but didn’t come up during Kavanaugh’s combative confirmation hearings last week, which Whitehouse says he is now trying to rectify.

el io: A brief comment on 'leaks'.

A good summary of the 4 reasons people leak materials, which I posted in a long-thread what feels like centuries ago: Leaks can be good, but they can also be tools. Jonah Goldberg, senior editor at the National Review, talked on NPR about four kinds of leaks that could be happening now (February 3, 2017, audio + transcript)
  1. a lot of vengeful leaking against pro-administration rivals as people vie for Trump's ear
  2. "permanent-government, high-level, public-servant bureaucrats and that kind of stuff - policymakers" are acting against the Napoleon-like invasion of Trump's forces
  3. one of the ways that Trump's team gets information or arguments into the president's head is by going through the media, because that matters more to him than his staff (!!)
  4. some of these things are done intentionally because they want a certain storyline to get out (!!!)
And Goldberg wrapped up with a really good observation: "there is a problem ... half lies are more persuasive than whole lies, that a partial truth can really mislead people."
posted by filthy light thief at 4:25 PM on September 14, 2018 [19 favorites]


Then why the fuck hasn't that been leaked? C'mon, guys, we need All The Ammo.

Its been in the news quite a bit but he has denied it. He's also denied the baseball ticket thing, at least as explained by the WH. Without looking at his credit card statements there is no way to know what is true.
posted by fshgrl at 4:26 PM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


Lodestar was used by Shakespeare. Midsummernight's Dream. I think I always associated it with a romantic attachment as in, "You are my lodestar," however I recognize it simply means lead star and so can all sorts of non-romantic meanings.

If you take a look at the 65 Women for Kavanaugh letter I think you'll probably see a lot of political ties. For example Virginia Hume, daughter of Brit Hume, is a former deputy press secretary of the RNC in her own right, plus author and talking head. Hard to know if this is merely done out of pure friendship or is another partisan weapon aimed at the Democrats who dare to suggest that Kavanaugh might not be the wonderful Car Pool Dad they have been painting him as. Between this, the unexplained debts, the stolen emails, and all those unreleased documents that date back to his days serving George Bush, there should be a slow down on this nomination process so that he gets thoroughly vetted, so that Senators can do their Constitutional duty and advise and consent. Of course McConnell is eyeballing the odds of losing the Senate majority and I think he will do anything to get this wrapped up.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:27 PM on September 14, 2018 [13 favorites]


What was it that allowed Mueller to secure the cooperation of Manafort just before the second trial that wasn't present before the first trial? When and how did the leverage shift that caused Manafort to flip this time around?

That would be 8 felony convictions in the bag. Manafort was hoping for a MAGAhead hung jury or a pardon before he got convicted.
posted by Justinian at 4:28 PM on September 14, 2018 [6 favorites]


@maggieNYT: John Dowd emails other lawyers involved in the Trump case and says of Manafort, “PM has no info on President or campaign.”

It, er, strains credulity to suggest that the campaign chairman lacks any information concerning both the candidate and the campaign.
posted by zachlipton at 4:29 PM on September 14, 2018 [68 favorites]


Marcy Wheeler, emptywheel.net: The Objection That Made Mueller’s Case

In which during Manafort EDVA trial, his lawyer's question to Rick Gates if the special counsel's office asked him about his time on Trump's campaign was overruled. Wheeler argues that had this legal manoeuvre succeeded, Manafort's trial would have publicly tipped off Team Trump as to what Gates's plea testimony had imparted to the Special Counsel about the Trump campaign, which might have added urgency to Manafort's negotiations for a pardon from Trump. Instead, he had to settle for @realDonaldTrump later tweeting "I feel very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family. “Justice” took a 12 year old tax case, among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and, unlike Michael Cohen, he refused to “break” - make up stories in order to get a “deal.” Such respect for a brave man!"

And Wheeler's been arguing for a while now that Mueller has been methodically working his way up the Trump campaign's hierarchy toward formal charges of conspiracy against them over Russian interference.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:31 PM on September 14, 2018 [26 favorites]


Do bear in mind, as legal channels make it increasingly clearly that President Trump has been playing one-dimensional chess this whole time, that it's possible that the Kremlin is also not pursuing a great joined-up strategy but simply attacking the west at our every weak point, which at this point means mostly the far right because they're the most credulous.

I think one-dimensional chess is leapfrog
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 4:37 PM on September 14, 2018 [65 favorites]




Now that Mueller has turned a profit, maybe we can propose a judicial branch budget that pays for itself with white collar crime investigations. Seems pretty efficient. We can revisit the old funding sources if and when we ever run out of more Manaforts.
posted by p3t3 at 4:38 PM on September 14, 2018 [65 favorites]


"And why the hell do progressives have to have a foreign policy when the country (excuse me the electoral college) elected a fucking moron?"

I haven't read the Politico article because I'm sure it will infuriate me, but this is an "inside the Beltway" slash "pundit class" thing.

I understand it because it's a viewpoint I shared for many years and, indeed, still think has a kernel of truth.

But basically it's not so much the entrenched neoliberal interventionist Washington status quo (although it is that), but a deeper prejudice arising from the postwar years that foreign policy is what the "adults" care about. I believe I subscribed to Foreign Policy during the nineties for awhile. You know, because I'm Very Serious.

Foreign Policy remains very important to me. But my views on all this are much more complicated than they once were -- I sort of feel that from an actual policy perspective, the GOP's domestic policy is facile (but very real and damaging), while the Democratic Party's foreign policy is usually an incoherent afterthought. Both are pretty appalling from a policy wonk perspective.

But it doesn't matter. Politically, substantive policy is either irrelevant or even counterproductive. Anyone who thinks that a lack of a strong, coherent, elaborated foreign policy will hurt Democrats politically is way too far up DC's ass. What matters is posturing. It's the appearance of knowing how to deal with the rest of the world. Thus, Trump's "MAGA, I'm the Master of The Deal" appeal. Similarly, the left doesn't need domestic policy that is actually deeply-considered and elaborated, just an appealing set of slogans.

This is the political reality. But there's a huge industry of wonk types and centrist Very Important Pundits who actually think they're the ones guiding the ship. Asserting that the Democrats are politically weak because they lack a real foreign policy is self-serving and self-deluding and perennially fatuous.

I imagine that Politico and these folk are arguing that immigration and fear of terrorism et cetera indicate how important "foreign policy" actually is to the American voter. No, it's simply chauvinism and xenophobia, which have as much to do with international relations as arachnophobia has to arachnology.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:43 PM on September 14, 2018 [56 favorites]


Trump's Double Secret Inner Circle - The cabinet members Bob Woodward didn't talk to. By Graydon Carter. Via Blort
posted by growabrain at 4:59 PM on September 14, 2018 [12 favorites]


Everyone is talking about Manafort getting 10 years, but reading the actual plea agreement with Manafort's signature here, it looks like the prosecution recommendation is 210 to 262 months -- that is, 17 to 22 years.

This is from the Sentencing Guildlines Analysis. Maybe there is something I missed where they agreed to depart from the guidelines, but I don't see it in the plea agreement.
posted by JackFlash at 5:29 PM on September 14, 2018 [3 favorites]


The White House said in July that the debts related to baseball tickets Kavanaugh bought for friends who later reimbursed him.

$60,000 - $200,000??? Those aren’t tickets. Those are seats in the dugout.
Baseball tickets, my butt. Maybe those are baseball “tickets” in the Pete Rose sense.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:33 PM on September 14, 2018 [20 favorites]


I'm trying to get the dirt relationships together. So far I have:

Manafort is how we get Don Jr, Jared Kushner, Mike Pence, Rex Tillerson

Gates would get Mnuchin

Erik Prince gets Wilbur Ross

Carter Page gets Sessions and Miller
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:33 PM on September 14, 2018 [8 favorites]


Politico: Alleged Russian Spy Butina Tried To Score Trump Meeting a Year Before Government Claimed—The early outreach illustrates Mariia Butina's intent to cultivate Trump months before most were taking him seriously.
In July 2015, a young Russian gun rights activist now alleged to be a Kremlin covert agent was trying to meet Donald Trump, nearly a year earlier than prosecutors have publicly claimed.

The suspected spy, Mariia Butina, routed the previously undisclosed request through her friend and longtime Republican political operative, Paul Erickson, who reached out to Trump campaign official Sam Nunberg, Nunberg told POLITICO. Erickson described Butina as a Russian involved with the National Rifle Association, according to Nunberg, who was one of a handful of people tapped by Trump to start up his campaign at the time. When Butina wasn’t able to meet with Trump, she showed up at a campaign event several days later to ask Trump a question about Russian sanctions during the Q&A session.
ABC: Alleged Russian Agent Maria Butina Was Paid to Pursue Access to Vladimir Putin for TV Show
Maria Butina, the alleged Russian agent who stands accused of developing a covert influence operation in the United States, boasted of connections to high-ranking Kremlin officials and was even paid to pursue access to Russian President Vladimir Putin for a television show, ABC News has learned.

Dozens of pages of email correspondence between August 2015 and November 2016, obtained exclusively by ABC News, reveal Butina’s hand in a pair of potentially explosive projects: appearing to arrange a meeting for a delegation of high-ranking members of the National Rifle Association with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and working with the Outdoor Channel to develop a television show highlighting Putin’s “love of the outdoors” that would feature the Russian President himself.
The bottom line is that the Outdoor Channel underwrote a Russian espionage agent to the tune of $20,000 over four months.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:34 PM on September 14, 2018 [37 favorites]


This is from the Sentencing Guildlines Analysis. Maybe there is something I missed where they agreed to depart from the guidelines, but I don't see it in the plea agreement.

They'll ask the judge to consider going lower than the guidelines which they can as long as the assistance Manafort provides is "substantial".
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 5:39 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


If you take a look at the 65 Women for Kavanaugh letter I think you'll probably see a lot of political ties. For example Virginia Hume, daughter of Brit Hume, is a former deputy press secretary of the RNC in her own right, plus author and talking head.

Virginia Hume has addressed that: In a group of 65 graduates of D.C. area schools, it would be odd not to find someone related to or working as a journalist or politician. It is entirely unremarkable. This is a company town.

She's right. She doesn't say where she went to school other than an all-girls school in Bethesda, so my guess is Stone Ridge. Their notable alumnae include Cokie Roberts (the daughter of an ambassador and congresswoman and a congressman), Andrea Koppel, a Kennedy, and a Shriver. Look at the list of notable alumni at Georgetown Prep and you'll find two Kennedys and two Shrivers, for example. These prep schools are where the rich, well-connected, influential people in the DC area send their children; some of them will grow up to be in politics.

I'm not defending Kavanaugh or Virginia Hume, it's just that the letter is meaningless regardless of the motivations of the 65 who signed it.
posted by peeedro at 5:40 PM on September 14, 2018 [10 favorites]


WSJ, Peter Nicholas, Trump Faults Former Lawyer for Writing Book, Says It May Violate Attorney-Client Privilege
President Trump on Friday disputed one of his longtime lawyer’s criticisms of his behavior and questioned whether a forthcoming book by Jay Goldberg runs afoul of lawyer-client privilege.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Trump suggested that Mr. Goldberg is unhappy that he wasn’t tapped for a White House role.

Mr. Trump cited economic gains, rising consumer confidence and a strengthening military as proof of a successful tenure and said, “I’ve had nothing but victories, so it’s sad that somebody you can’t take to Washington for obvious reasons wants to write a book.” He added: “We’re hitting new records every day.”

Mr. Goldberg represented Mr. Trump in divorce cases involving two ex-wives, Ivana Trump and Marla Maples. His memoir, “The Courtroom Is My Theater,” is due to be released in December.

Mr. Trump questioned whether it is appropriate for Mr. Goldberg to write about a client. “There’s lawyer-client privilege here. You can’t do that,” he said.
Which, ok then, but why is Trump spending his time calling up the Wall Street Journal to whine about his former lawyer's book, which comes out in December? That seems like an exceptionally poor use of time.
posted by zachlipton at 5:45 PM on September 14, 2018 [9 favorites]


Skripal Poisoning Suspect’s Passport Data Shows Link to Security Services

This seems like less than great tradecraft from the implacable espionage-masters:

@aleph_one
They found at least two more. They where from the two passport numbers between the passport numbers of these knuckleheads.
posted by Artw at 5:53 PM on September 14, 2018 [15 favorites]


Now that Mueller has turned a profit, maybe we can propose a judicial branch budget that pays for itself with white collar crime investigations. Seems pretty efficient.

I'm behind the sentiment here, but that kind of conflict of interest in prosecution is not good public policy. Too much like parking violation quota requirements.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:59 PM on September 14, 2018 [9 favorites]


“Fuck rich people, and they’re commiting real crimes ” actually seems like a pretty strong differentiating factor to me there, FWIW.
posted by Artw at 6:02 PM on September 14, 2018 [19 favorites]


Guiliani to HuffPost:
“I can guarantee you he has no information harmful to the president,” he told HuffPost late Friday, adding that he knows precisely what Manafort can offer Mueller. “I know because we have a joint defense agreement. He’s not going to lie to make them happy.”

“This has nothing to do with the president, nothing to do with obstruction, nothing to do with anything that they were charged to go after,” Giuliani added. “They’re obviously winding down.”
Obviously.
posted by pjenks at 6:19 PM on September 14, 2018 [22 favorites]


He's got a lot of cooperating to do if he wants to take another free breath. And the list of fish bigger than him who he could give up is pretty short...
------
Manafort is how we get Don Jr, Jared Kushner, Mike Pence, Rex Tillerson


And while I am not daring to hope, if anyone gives up the real prize, it's Manafort + Cohen.

Gosh, what do you think Jared and DonToo are doing tonight? [cackling wildly] Shabbat shalom and have a swell weekend, guys! because you are so boned it's not funny.

Wait, I lied. It's fucking hilarious. Not to mention that anytime there's a family dinner now, Trump's just going to be glaring at the two of them all beady-eyed, wondering which one will be first to betray him. This is so yummy I may not even require cake.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:19 PM on September 14, 2018 [12 favorites]


Following up on the news (from the last thread) that the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska sent a letter to (Alaska) Senator Lisa Murkowski expressing opposition to the Kavanaugh nomination, the Alaska Federation of Natives have also sent Sen. Murkowski a message communicating their opposition to his confirmation.
Alaska's largest Native organization said Wednesday it "strongly" opposes the appointment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, calling his views on Indian policy erroneous and a threat to unique policies and laws governing Alaska Native institutions.

The Alaska Federation of Natives announcement potentially adds pressure to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who has not said whether she supports the appointment and who in 2010 benefited from the group's endorsement in her uphill write-in victory against Joe Miller. Groups opposed to Kavanaugh's appointment have pressed Murkowski to vote against him.

"AFN strongly urges the U.S. Senate to vote against Judge Kavanaugh," the organization said. "The documents that have been released so far in relation to his nomination demonstrate how troubling his confirmation would be for Native peoples, particularly Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians."
It may still not be enough to get Murkowski to vote no, but this represents fairly significant pressure by Alaska standards. Time to redouble my efforts to get my neighbors to weigh in, I guess.
posted by Nerd of the North at 6:20 PM on September 14, 2018 [74 favorites]


“Fuck rich people, and they’re commiting real crimes ” actually seems like a pretty strong differentiating factor to me there, FWIW.

I, too, strongly sympathise with the sentiment, but don't think it's a good idea in practice. I think it's possible to accept that our countries (a) should be doing much more to prosecute wealthy white collar criminals, and (b) should seize the proceeds of their crimes, while still strongly resisting (c) that it's a good idea to promote the notion that law enforcement should support itself via seizure.

It seems to me that sending out the message that prosecutors are chasing white collar criminals for their money would be pretty much the biggest fucking gimme imaginable to the right and the criminals in the financial services industry. Doing it wouldn't really fuck the rich, instead it would hand them an excuse to resist, criticise and undermine every single investigation into their foetid shitpiles of corruption for the rest of time.
posted by howfar at 6:21 PM on September 14, 2018 [23 favorites]


The Politico foreign policy article doesn’t particularly upset me, though I could certainly spend a bunch of time nitpicking it. I do think it’s irrelevant to electoral politics: the voters, as a whole, don’t care much. Very few people are going to have their vote swayed based on which party has the best (or even more coherent!) foreign policy.

I do care about foreign policy, quite a lot. And I also think what passes for a “Left” in the US has failed to answer some useful and practical questions. But... it’s not as if the Republicans are better. (And in fact they are much worse.) So it’s also not the deciding factor in my vote.

It is, however, a decent reason for me to pour an extra whiskey and feel depressed from time to time.
posted by fencerjimmy at 6:22 PM on September 14, 2018 [8 favorites]


If only the Democrats would run someone with FP experience, maybe someone who was the nation's top diplomat. Idk, it's a wacky idea.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:25 PM on September 14, 2018 [150 favorites]


> “Fuck rich people, and they’re commiting real crimes ” actually seems like a pretty strong differentiating factor to me there, FWIW.

I, too, strongly sympathise with the sentiment, but don't think it's a good idea in practice. I think it's possible to accept that our countries (a) should be doing much more to prosecute wealthy white collar criminals, and (b) should seize the proceeds of their crimes, while still strongly resisting (c) that it's a good idea to promote the notion that law enforcement should support itself via seizure.
Can we at least get rid of the societal pretense that enforcing those laws is something we'd like to do but simply can't afford and openly admit that those leading our society are making a deliberate choice about how to prioritize enforcement?

I totally agree that we've seen horrible things happen when law enforcement is left to support itself via seizure (and chiefly against society's more vulnerable members -- only rarely against those who have the means to fight back.) But the pendulum needs to swing back a bit -- currently financial crimes and tax evasion are extremely under-prosecuted and under-stigmatized. Trump practically bragged about them during the campaign.
posted by Nerd of the North at 6:28 PM on September 14, 2018 [37 favorites]


People, seriously - Politico is shit. Once in a while they break something, that's the only thing that has any worth there. Ignore any kind of "analytical" stuff from them.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:30 PM on September 14, 2018 [19 favorites]


Occasionally, just for the kicks, I accept a Fecesbook request to join a Trump support group, which I then harass, because fuck building bridges. Anyways, I mention this because earlier on today one of the loogans on the Trump group I am currently a member of bragged about how Trump bested Obama in 2016 election. What the hell am I supposed to do with this!?

That being said, here's a redo of a Stephen Miller drawing I did last year, updated for these times.

This racist fuckstick is a very happy man indeed these days, hence the coruscating smile.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 6:34 PM on September 14, 2018 [27 favorites]


People, seriously - Politico is shit. Once in a while they break something, that's the only thing that has any worth there. Ignore any kind of "analytical" stuff from them.

In science, some fields are viewed as squashing beginning scientists by harsh, unreasonable criticism; the phrase used is "eating their young". Politico is that for the rising progressive wing of the Democratic party.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:35 PM on September 14, 2018 [5 favorites]


Hopefully the rising Democratic progressive wing calls their bluff and develops a plank for foreign policy. I don’t mean that in a “They better listen and be Very Serious” way, but as long as we’ve got 2020 in our sights, it doesn’t hurt to spend some of the next 18 months thinking of responses to this type of bullshit. Besides “Trump’s idea of foreign policy is to call world leaders names on Twitter at 3am, but I’m the one who needs to be serious?”
posted by Autumnheart at 6:40 PM on September 14, 2018 [11 favorites]


I mean, I seriously don’t think it matters electorally what the Democrats’ FP looks like. I don’t think it moves the needle at all.

The FP wonks I know are so horrified by Trump, I think they’ll vote for anyone who promises not to crank call foreign leaders. I also don’t think there are enough FP wonks out there for that to matter.

I want the Democrats to have a sane foreign policy because I think it matters what our foreign policy is. I think that, for better or for worse, the US is powerful and influential and our policy will impact the world.

But if a candidate for office asked me how much attention to pay to foreign policy? Just enough not to look stupid if someone asks you a question. As long as you sound like you aren’t going to embarrass us or start a war, I think a Democrat doesn’t need much foreign policy knowledge in the current environment. (Demonstrably, Republicans don’t need to meet much of a standard.)

And now for that drink...
posted by fencerjimmy at 6:56 PM on September 14, 2018 [19 favorites]


What was it that allowed Mueller to secure the cooperation of Manafort just before the second trial that wasn't present before the first trial? When and how did the leverage shift that caused Manafort to flip this time around?

That would be 8 felony convictions in the bag. Manafort was hoping for a MAGAhead hung jury or a pardon before he got convicted.


I understood that Paulie was simply running out of money. All those Hail Mary bullshit motions brought by high-priced lawyers, one full trial down -- that's a lot of money. And with a bigger, second trial coming up...

So hoping for a pardon, burning through all his dirty cash... he was running out of options. And Mueller knows as any good litigator does, it's all a matter of knowing when the fruit is ripe. *pluck*
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:56 PM on September 14, 2018 [13 favorites]


Can we at least get rid of the societal pretense that enforcing those laws is something we'd like to do but simply can't afford and openly admit that those leading our society are making a deliberate choice about how to prioritize enforcement?

Yes, I agree, although I will admit to being unsure about how central this particular claim (of expenses) is to the problem of underprosecution, as opposed to our societal institutions conditioning us to simply think of white collar crime as "not real crime". I don't, personally get the impression that there's a strong narrative that we don't prosecute these crimes because of the cost of doing so, even though Trump has tried to whip one up recently.

All that said, I absolutely agree that the idea that it's too expensive or difficult to prosecute should be opposed wherever it emerges, and that it may well be entirely reasonable, on a systemic level, to point out that much of the cost of prosecution can be recouped through seizure. It's the further step towards suggesting a dependence on asset seizure that I think would be (while fun to imagine, I have to admit) counterproductive.
posted by howfar at 7:20 PM on September 14, 2018


The FP wonks I know are so horrified by Trump, I think they’ll vote for anyone who promises not to crank call foreign leaders.

Here's my foreign policy plan:
America needs to rebuild its strong network of global connections. To that end, I will be making sure we are well-represented on the global state - that we have a presence in all our allied nations, and in all international alliance groups that set multi-nation policies and treaties.

Many people are dissatisfied with our existing treaties, most of which were written before before the global internet changed so much about communication, so it's time to review those in light of more recent technological and political changes. We need foreign policy that allows America to take its proper place on the world stage! We need treaties that allow us to trade for the supplies that keep us thriving, and provide us with buyers for our tremendous industrial production.

...and so on. It's not hard to come up with a rough outline for "we should have a foreign policy that isn't based on 'screw all foreigners,'" and someone who has more actual knowledge than me (which is to say, damn near everyone reading this thread, and anyone ever elected to a federal position, bar one) could fill in enough details to run a coherent campaign. Something-something advisors, yadda yadda reduce military spending increased efficiency, etc.

Nobody thinks the Democrats are weak on foreign policy, because look who they'd be running against.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 7:21 PM on September 14, 2018 [14 favorites]


About five hours after Manafort publicly flips on trump, MICHAEL COHEN IS THE LATEST FORMER TRUMP ALLY TO TALK TO MUELLER (Vanity Fair, Emily Jane Fox News)

In recent weeks, it has also become common knowledge among close friends of Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, that Cohen is talking to the Mueller team, according to people familiar with the situation. (Cohen did not respond to request for comment, nor did his attorney, Guy Petrillo. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.)

... It is a remarkable reversal from a year ago, when Cohen told me he would take a bullet for the president. But Cohen has now been squeezed financially, emotionally, and legally in a way he could not have imagined.


Geez I hope he treads very fucking carefully because what he's done has been fucking disgusting, does he hear us?
posted by petebest at 7:22 PM on September 14, 2018 [12 favorites]


I see that Bari Weiss, a prodigious bullshit peddler who ought to write for Breitbart, and not the NY Times, has knives out for Julia Salazar in this cracking smear job—borderline libellous— of a piece, "Julia Salazar, the Left’s Post-Truth Politician: The democratic socialist lied. And lied. And lied. Then she won handily in Brooklyn."
posted by standardasparagus at 7:26 PM on September 14, 2018 [11 favorites]


To cap off today, @realDonaldTrump has doubled down on Puerto Rico casualty conspiracies:
“When Trump visited the island territory last October, OFFICIALS told him in a briefing 16 PEOPLE had died from Maria.” The Washington Post. This was long AFTER the hurricane took place. Over many months it went to 64 PEOPLE. Then, like magic, “3000 PEOPLE KILLED.” They hired....
....GWU Research to tell them how many people had died in Puerto Rico (how would they not know this?). This method was never done with previous hurricanes because other jurisdictions know how many people were killed. FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER - NO WAY!
#batshitinsane tag added to this FPP.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:29 PM on September 14, 2018 [33 favorites]


A couple points on the Kavanaugh letter. There's been discussion & speculation on which girls' school the 65 women attended. The answer? All of them.

Here’s How That Letter From 65 Women Supporting Brett Kavanaugh Came Together So Quickly
McCaleb said the process of gathering the signatures was a quick one, and that women who had attended five different girls high schools in the area signed on to it. Kavanaugh attended an all-boys high school in Bethesda, Maryland.
Apparently Brett really got around.

god, that one thread of braindead repubs tweeting their snotty mocking takes on the kavanaugh high school allegations before they actually knew what the allegations WERE was incredibly fucking ugly.

Well I dunno about snotty Republicans but it seems at least some of the 65 women were unaware of the allegations they were rebutting:
Another of the signatories, reached by BuzzFeed News, said she was contacted Thursday by McCaleb about the possibility of signing on to a letter attesting to Kavanaugh’s character. Megan Williams told BuzzFeed News that she was not aware of specific allegations against Kavanaugh when she signed the letter, but said, “I can’t even tell you how out of character” that would be and made clear that she stood behind the letter. “The guy’s a saint.”
posted by scalefree at 7:33 PM on September 14, 2018 [5 favorites]


Hopefully the rising Democratic progressive wing calls their bluff and develops a plank for foreign polic

Fellow Travellers, foreign Policy from the left.

“The current liberal foreign policy agenda is primarily defensive, an attempt to preserve what is already lost. This is doomed to failure. The rest of the world knows there are going to be future Republican presidents. The GOP was only in exile for one presidential term after Watergate. George W. Bush started a war of aggression based on a lie and served two terms and the Democrats still only had a united government from 2008-2010. Iran-Contra, possibly the closest analogy to the nebulous Trump-Russia scandal, led to no negative electoral consequences for Reagan at all. And given where the GOP base is, they’re highly likely to nominate candidates in the Trumpian mold for the foreseeable future. Thus, unless drastic measures are taken, the next Republican president will take another chunk out of the “Rules-Based Liberal Order” and the next one yet another until there’s nothing to defend at all.”
posted by The Whelk at 7:46 PM on September 14, 2018 [28 favorites]


WSJ, Michael C. Bender, White House Considered Replacing FEMA Chief as Florence Was Gathering Steam
Investigators have told administration officials that Mr. Long, while under surveillance, often left agency headquarters on Thursdays and traveled home with a caravan of federal workers, who stayed in nearby hotels for the long weekend, the people said. He has spent about 150 days in North Carolina since he took over the job last year, which included weekends and time-off, the people said.
...
Mr. Long was informed last fall by DHS attorneys and the inspector general that his trips home violated the law, the people said. The inspector general’s office has told administration officials that they tailed Mr. Long’s caravan to determine whether he was using federal resources to return home despite the warnings, the person briefed on the investigation said.

The inspector general’s final report is expected in the coming days, but preliminary findings have been shared with DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, administration officials said. The existence of the investigation was earlier reported by Politico on Thursday.

Ms. Nielsen brought details of the preliminary findings to Mr. Long and urged him to resign if the allegations were accurate, one administration official said. Another official familiar with the situation disputed that the secretary made that suggestion to Mr. Long.
...
Senior White House officials discussed replacing Mr. Long in the past several days, according to one person familiar with the matter. White House chief of staff John Kelly ultimately decided to leave Mr. Long in place until the final report was available, the person said. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment.
I understand that conducting investigations is what the IG does, but if you have to literally tail an agency head to see if he's bringing caravans of federal workers 400 miles each way for long weekends, it seems like the trust issue is already pretty extreme.
posted by zachlipton at 7:55 PM on September 14, 2018 [25 favorites]


To cap off today, @realDonaldTrump has doubled down on Puerto Rico casualty conspiracies:

Daniel Dale
It's barely worth engaging with such nonsense, but one point: Trump is wrong that other jurisdictions simply know how many people died in a hurricane without doing studies. Here's a good story on how complicated and incomplete the Katrina count was/is: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/we-still-dont-know-how-many-people-died-because-of-katrina/
• One more point of fact: Trump is wrong to suggest there was nothing in between the "64 deaths" count and the "3,000 deaths" estimate. In August, Puerto Rico reported to Congress that there were 1,427 more deaths than normal over the 4 months post-Maria.
posted by chris24 at 8:01 PM on September 14, 2018 [38 favorites]


I thought sure that, when called on that, he was going to double down with "Well, I said only a few died in the hurricane. IN the hurricane. Like, during. When the storm was over, sure, maybe some other people died, but they didn't die IN the hurricane. They died AFTER. That's what I said, and I was exactly right."
posted by The otter lady at 8:06 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


Roll Call: 3 Key Takeaways from the Manafort deal:

1. This was not a “win for both sides” — Mueller’s team won
No matter how you look at it, this deal has to be seen as a massive victory for Mueller and his special counsel team.

The only concession the special counsel made was to repackage the charges against Manafort in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia from seven counts to two and to ask judges for a shorter sentence.

Besides that, prosecutors extracted a guilty plea, a cooperation agreement from Manafort to tell them everything he knows and fork over any documents they request, an admission of guilt to the 10 remaining charges from the Eastern Virginia trial, and likely a multiyear prison sentence for Manafort.

... 2. That pardon from Trump suddenly looks less likely
For months, analysts, experts and political talking heads have speculated Trump could reward Manafort with a presidential pardon for holding out on a plea agreement ... By striking an 11th-hour deal with Mueller, Manafort could be putting that potential pardon in jeopardy.

... Taking the plea deal is a stunning reversal of legal strategy for Manafort, who endured a three-week trial in Eastern Virginia in which the government presented a highly compelling case to extract guilty verdicts on eight of 18 counts.

“Now, he’s doing the thing that will keep Trump from giving him a pardon: He’s giving up everything he knows about Trump,” Litman said.

... 3. Manafort’s plea deal with Mueller likely would not have been as lopsided if he had struck one earlier

Holding out on cooperation with Mueller’s team for as long as he did only weakened Manafort’s bargaining position.


Mueller's team's professional competence is, really, very nice to see, in contrast.
*snif*
posted by petebest at 8:11 PM on September 14, 2018 [35 favorites]


@realDonaldTrump: When President Obama said that he has been to “57 States,” very little mention in Fake News Media. Can you imagine if I said that...story of the year! @IngrahamAngle

I know we've been bad in so many ways, but I still can't wrap my head around what we've done to deserve this hell.
posted by zachlipton at 8:16 PM on September 14, 2018 [72 favorites]


USA Today law reporter Brad Heath on Manafort's superseding criminal information:
It's totally normal for prosecutors to file a criminal information when someone is going to plead. But this filing is very unusual. It's a "speaking" information - 37 pages long with multiple exhibits. That's not something you see often.

I've never, ever seen a felony information that includes exhibits. This one has almost 40 pages of them.
So... why did Mueller go for the extreme overkill in documenting all this stuff? Popehat speculates:
I know y'all are used to be saying "no, this is typical, it happens all the time," but I've never seen anything like that Manafort superseding information -- the charging instrument he'll plead to.

Review: in federal court if you're charged with a felony you have a right to be indicted by grand jury. An "information" is a charging instrument used when (a) it's a minor crime for which indictment isn't required or (b) you're going to waive indictment and plead guilty.

Informations are usually relatively concise and not too performative. This one is -- wow. It's 38 pages. It has EXHIBITS. I cannot remember ever seeing an Information with exhibits. Any other fedcrim practitioners out there ever see one?

It's only two counts -- conspiracy to defraud the united states (all the pre-charge stuff he did) and conspiracy to obstruct justice (the post-charge witness tampering). But the descriptions are lavishly detailed. Now, it's not unusual to have the defendant admit to a robust statement of facts. But this level of detail in the information strikes me as unusual. The exhibits are especially a novelty to me.

I could be wrong of course. But it appears that the information is calculated to make it more politically painful to pardon Manafort -- to make a preemptive strike on the "he was unfairly prosecuted for old stuff that was nothing" narrative.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:18 PM on September 14, 2018 [65 favorites]


@realDonaldTrump: When President Obama said that he has been to “57 States,” very little mention in Fake News Media. Can you imagine if I said that...story of the year! @IngrahamAngle

live tweeting fox news while a storm ravages the coast and your campaign manager cuts a deal with the prosecutor investigating you is definitely the new fiddling while rome burns
posted by dis_integration at 8:31 PM on September 14, 2018 [131 favorites]


In this CNN clip (1 minute in), Manafort's lawyer says (emphasis mine):
"Mr. Manafort... has accepted responsibility. He wanted to make sure that his family was able to remain safe and live a good life."
Can anyone else parse what this means? It seems very odd to hear language like this from a lawyer here in the United States - implying that a man's family might not be safe because of his own conviction in a court of law.

Could this mean he's afraid of Russian reprisals against his family for cooperating with the Feds? And that he's worked out protection for them as part of his plea deal?
posted by purple_frogs at 8:34 PM on September 14, 2018 [20 favorites]


Could this mean he's afraid of Russian reprisals against his family for cooperating with the Feds? And that he's worked out protection for them as part of his plea deal?

That might be something a historian can tell us years from now, but in the immediate future, people can only speculate on what Manafort's lawyer meant.
posted by Quonab at 8:38 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]


The 57 states thing is used by dumb racist right wingers to suggest Obama is a secret Muslim for what it's worth. So Trump's tweet serves additionally as a racist dogwhistle from a dumb racist to all his followers.
posted by Justinian at 8:40 PM on September 14, 2018 [16 favorites]


RE: Buzzfeed's Here’s How That Letter From 65 Women Supporting Brett Kavanaugh Came Together So Quickly

"In an interview Friday, McCaleb said the letter-writing campaign began after her husband, Scott McCaleb, got a call from a reporter following initial reporting by the Intercept and BuzzFeed News about a secret letter containing an allegation against Kavanaugh."

Why reach out to Scott McCaleb for a quote?

- In a July 2 piece at the AmLaw Litigation Daily (sans paywall here), "Wiley Rein partner Scott McCaleb attended Gonzaga College High School in D.C. and remembers competing against Kavanaugh, a skilled athlete who was a year older and who wore number 23."

- On July 9, per USA Today: "Scott McCaleb has been a friend since he and Kavanaugh attended rival Jesuit high schools in 1980."

- By July 11, McCaleb's a "childhood friend" in the WaPo profile The Elite World of Brett Kavanaugh, one who praises the nominee as "always kind of like an old soul... more mature than the rest of us. He was always the guy who was going home to do his homework.”

But I like the AmLaw entry, because like today's Buzzfeed article it features Travis Lenkner (who, as it happens, is a Federalist Society contributor). Buzzfeed describes him as "a former Kavanaugh clerk who has been helping support the judge during the confirmation process." Per AmLaw:
“There is an army of people who stand ready and prepared to spring to action to support him” in the confirmation process, said Travis Lenkner, managing partner at Keller Lenkner... Lenkner, who clerked for both Kavanaugh and Kennedy, said the group he's helping to assemble includes people from every stage of Kavanaugh’s life, from “childhood friends through and including his law clerks.”

“His high school class I know to be organized,” Lenkner said.
It's still nice how the rocky confirmation process has deepened, and lengthened, the Kavanaugh-McCaleb friendship.
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:46 PM on September 14, 2018 [9 favorites]


This letter from 65 women who Kavanaugh didn't rape sounds more and more like a list of the first 65 Republican Catholic school alumni in the DC area who also contributed to the Federalist Society and answered the phone when Grassley called.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:50 PM on September 14, 2018 [59 favorites]


Missed one! August 9, Chicago Tribune, "Inside Brett Kavanaugh's personal finances: credit card debts, $92,000 country-club fee": Several friends of Kavanaugh described him as frugal. "He was never a guy who was very concerned about money," said Scott McCaleb, a childhood friend. "And I don't mean that in the way that he's a child of privilege. Certainly his parents have means, but it's just not the way that he thought."

(You couldn't ask for a better friend than Scott McCabe. And that Meghan's a real peach, too.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:54 PM on September 14, 2018 [13 favorites]


Could this friend so good be the same friend who was in the room during the incident alleged?
posted by riverlife at 9:35 PM on September 14, 2018 [4 favorites]


Nah, that'd be Mark Judge.
posted by Iris Gambol at 9:52 PM on September 14, 2018 [5 favorites]


Metro DC DSA sent a warning email tonight:
James O'Keefe — notorious right-wing propagandist, failed provocateur, and sex boat creep — has set his sights on Metro DC DSA!

This afternoon, O'Keefe announced on Twitter that he's planning to release a video doxxing federal government workers who hold leftist political beliefs or engage in leftist organizing. The embedded video clip includes images of the IRS, DOJ, EPA, and GAO buildings, specific reference to a "socialist organization," and several chapter members' voices.

If you work for a federal government agency or contractor, do yourself a favor and take some time right now to lock down your social media accounts and activate two factor authentication on whichever platforms you use that provide that option.

The chapter has put together a basic guide to communications and personal security that's a good place to start, and we also recommend Gizmodo's guide to help make your social media accounts as private as possible.

As the chapter sees new growth and success, we also become the focus of increased scrutiny, surveillance, and attacks, and it's good practice to have a handle on what to expect and how you can best protect yourself.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:07 PM on September 14, 2018 [48 favorites]


Twitter is just going to let that stand. Fabulous.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:13 PM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


National Treasure Dahlia Lithwick, Our System Is Too Broken to Assess the Sexual Assault Claim Against Kavanaugh. Very much worth reading.

Nah, that'd be Mark Judge.

This guy is...well he's something. As nycsouthpaw puts it: "The classmate, Mark Judge, has made sort of a cottage industry of writing about sexual morality at Georgetown Prep, his high school, from an orthodox Catholic perspective."

It's weird to be so concerned about the sexual liberalism at your high school that you write articles and a book complaining about it decades later, right? It's all so very creepy and weird.
posted by zachlipton at 10:18 PM on September 14, 2018 [26 favorites]


" an admission of guilt to the 10 remaining charges from the Eastern Virginia trial, and likely a multiyear prison sentence for Manafort."

This is huge. One of those counts (statement of offense) was The Federal Savings Bank, which if you remember:

Evidence presented at the trial has shown that Trump’s onetime campaign chief talked with Calk in 2016 about a potential job in the incoming administration. Jobs that were allegedly mentioned included Treasury secretary, Army secretary and secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Calk ultimately did not get a job in the Trump administration.
(American Banker)
posted by mikelieman at 10:22 PM on September 14, 2018 [5 favorites]


When President Obama said that he has been to “57 States,” very little mention in Fake News Media.

Well, it was over 10 years ago. And he wasn't president yet. Just a verbal slip on the primary campaign trail.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:26 PM on September 14, 2018 [5 favorites]


Oh yeah, Mark Judge, the guy saying nothing happened, is also responsible for that particularity awful Daily Caller column in which his bike is stolen, he decides a black person must have taken it (based entirely on his assessment of neighborhood demographics), and declares "the end of my white guilt."
posted by zachlipton at 10:29 PM on September 14, 2018 [16 favorites]


Late on a Friday, a conflicting statement about the next salvo of tariffs on China is announced

President Donald Trump instructed aides on Thursday to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion more in Chinese products despite his Treasury secretary’s attempt to restart talks with Beijing to resolve the trade war, according to four people familiar with the matter.

But an announcement of the new round of tariffs has been delayed as the administration considers revisions based on concerns raised in public comments, the people said. Trump may be running low on products he can target without significant backlash from major U.S. companies and consumers, two of the people said.


Single source leakers not welcome?
posted by infini at 10:49 PM on September 14, 2018 [4 favorites]


Would you like to discuss what a left-wing US foreign policy might look like?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:13 PM on September 14, 2018 [8 favorites]


Omarosa: Trump Can't Stop Interrupting Meetings
posted by growabrain at 11:29 PM on September 14, 2018 [1 favorite]


[fake, sort of]
posted by scalefree at 12:46 AM on September 15, 2018


I see that Bari Weiss, a prodigious bullshit peddler who ought to write for Breitbart, and not the NY Times, has knives out for Julia Salazar in this cracking smear job—borderline libellous— of a piece, "Julia Salazar, the Left’s Post-Truth Politician: The democratic socialist lied. And lied. And lied. Then she won handily in Brooklyn."

So. Even if I accepted this narrative about Salazar (which I don't), I just... fucking... wow. "The President of the United States, his entire inner circle, and a pantshit-load of GOP Senators and Representatives, all lie repeatedly about easily verifiable facts, often in the service of denigrating entire demographic groups, and when called on it, they double down on the lie, and continue lying. And so does this newly nominated Democratic candidate for STATE SENATOR in one of our nation's fifty (50) states. See, both sides do it!"
posted by duffell at 2:50 AM on September 15, 2018 [25 favorites]


I can't believe the "57 states" thing was thumbed-in by Trump hisself; the tweet exhibited the correct usage of a comma within a quote.
posted by porpoise at 3:20 AM on September 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


The incredible thing is taking a misstated “47” as “57” by an overtired candidate, the meaning of which was clear (and true) in the context of what he was saying, and equating that with the literally thousands of repeated, sociopathically self-serving, demonstrable lies by the sitting US President, about everything from the size of his inauguration crowd, to the economy, to the number of casualties in a natural disaster.

Justice can’t come fast enough for the whole corrupt rat’s nest.
posted by darkstar at 5:10 AM on September 15, 2018 [76 favorites]


Remember the joke that Trump is "Trump Is A Comment Section Running for President"? The "57 states" thing has always been one of those indicators in an online argument that a right-wing commenter was out of ammunition and could only parrot the lamest criticism of Obama.
posted by octothorpe at 5:22 AM on September 15, 2018 [30 favorites]


This afternoon, O'Keefe announced on Twitter that he's planning to release a video doxxing federal government workers who hold leftist political beliefs or engage in leftist organizing.

“While I cannot take the time to name all the men in the State Department who have been named as members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring, I have here in my hand a list of 205.” - Joseph McCarthy
posted by chris24 at 5:31 AM on September 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


When President Obama said that he has been to “57 States,” very little mention in Fake News Media

Another tweet, another lie, as it was covered immediately to the point that Obama felt compelled to issue an apology that very same day. I've subsequently heard about it many times and I don't watch or read conservative news sources at all. Also, he was candidate Obama at the time, not president.

Unless by "Fake News Media" he means imaginary institutions like "The New Zork Times" or "The Foal Free Press" which, one would reluctantly have to concede, never did bring up the 57 States gaffe. So I guess, technically Trump's tweet is...accurate?
posted by xigxag at 6:07 AM on September 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


From the article about Manafort's plea deal petebest quoted and linked to above, the final paragraphs warmed my heart most:

Above all, Manafort needs to tell the full truth. Mueller has collected folders upon folders of information since he began his investigation and spoken with dozens of witnesses. Manafort would be hard-pressed to bend the truth around him.

“As always, Rule No. 1 with Mueller, you don’t know what he knows,” Litman said. “If Manafort says anything that’s false, everything, everything goes away, including this plea agreement. The whole hammer returns.”

posted by robotdevil at 6:08 AM on September 15, 2018 [33 favorites]


Any thoughts as to whether the Manafort flip will trigger Trump to lash-out and actually shut-down Mueller's investigation? Yes, I know that would be really, really bad, the worst ever, so bad you wouldn't believe, optics, but this is Trump we're talking about. His people seem to have been able to talk him off the ledge at times, but I have to think this new development has the real potential to push him over the edge into Saturday Night Massacre territory.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:27 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Any thoughts as to whether the Manafort flip will trigger Trump to lash-out and actually shut-down Mueller's investigation?

It's been pretty well broadcast in the last few weeks that Sessions is out after the midterms, so i think that once he has a new AG he is shutting down the investigation. Not sure what has restrained him so far but there's no way that he's not being begged to leave Mueller alone until after November.
posted by dis_integration at 6:48 AM on September 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


It's been pretty well broadcast in the last few weeks that Sessions is out after the midterms, so i think that once he has a new AG he is shutting down the investigation. Not sure what has restrained him so far but there's no way that he's not being begged to leave Mueller alone until after November.

Now that Paulie the Ostrich has been flipped, Mueller can get answers to questions like, "Tell us exactly how the Trump Campaign conspired with the Kremlin" straight from Paulie-O's mouth?"

The way things are accelerating, this could all be over in October.
posted by mikelieman at 6:55 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Indeed. He (thankfully) made a massive strategic error in waiting this long, if he does intend to fire Mueller. If he does it before the midterms, it looks horrible and drives turnout for Democrats. If he does it after midterms, the newly Democratic house (TTTCS) can pick up and cause some real headaches. If he doesn't do it at all, the investigation keeps going, and he looks weak to his base, plus he gets caught in it. From his perspective, the time should have been way, way early, because it would have delayed everything substantially. Sure, there would have been massive protests, it would still have fired up Democrats for midterms, but without the votes to remove him from office, none of that matters. And any investigation would be starting way back from where it is now.

His only real chance at avoiding consequences in all this is if he gets re-elected then dies of old age in office. Any delay for any reason would be a good thing for him.

But he didn't. And Paul Manafort flipped. And now he's screwed.
posted by mrgoat at 7:09 AM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


I think this guy is a pollster with the economist, or Pew, or something. ANYWAY:
I've held off writing this tweet, but it's time...

@BetoORourke
is one or two good likely voter polls away from me rating the Senate race as a Tossup. His odds are already 2x the ones I gave Trump and I expect that to increase over the cycle — the seat is really in play, y'all.
Thank you, Texas MeFites, I know you guys have been working your asses off.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:18 AM on September 15, 2018 [123 favorites]


What must it be like for Mueller, as a Republican, to learn firsthand (and really be the only person in the country with the solid evidence) that his entire party has sold its soul to foreign interests? To discover that the taint reaches so far that if he does his job right, no one at the federal level in his party will be electable ever again? To know that as deeply as he must know it, and yet to see the ravenous masses of Trumpers on the news and realize no case he makes can be strong enough to break their enchantment, that they literally love Trump more than they love the USA, that they love Russia more than an American who's black or gay or a Democrat?

The sang froid on the guy is stunning.
posted by rikschell at 7:29 AM on September 15, 2018 [59 favorites]




What must it be like for Mueller, as a Republican, to learn firsthand (and really be the only person in the country with the solid evidence) that his entire party has sold its soul to foreign interests? ...

Imagine his disgust, not just as a Republican which is something he can change, but as a Marine. ( N.B.: In this Old Hippie's opinion, I RESPECT The Marines )

It was standard practice for Marines to be rotated out of combat, and later that year Mueller found himself assigned to a desk job at Marine headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. There he discovered something about himself: “I didn’t relish the US Marine Corps absent combat.”

So he headed to law school with the goal of serving his country as a prosecutor. He went on to hold high positions in five presidential administrations. He led the Criminal Division of the Justice Department, overseeing the US investigation of the Lockerbie bombing and the federal prosecution of the Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. He became director of the FBI one week before September 11, 2001, and stayed on to become the bureau’s longest-serving director since J. Edgar Hoover.

And yet, throughout his five-decade career, that year of combat experience with the Marines has loomed large in Mueller’s mind. “I’m most proud the Marines Corps deemed me worthy of leading other Marines,” he told me in a 2009 interview.
Semper fidelis, y'all!
posted by mikelieman at 8:02 AM on September 15, 2018 [25 favorites]


Because it's Never Too Early, the NYT says Mattis will be out soon for being "a Democrat at heart"(?!). Noted reasonable man and walrus impersonator John Bolton has brought in the Deputy NatSec Advisor Mattis blocked, ("Ms. Ricardel"), which reportedly has shifted the balance of power in the extremley sane and stable White House, and now they're all giggly with Pompeo about how to commit dirty deeds and stroke Trump's hollow, bloated heart-wig.
posted by petebest at 8:09 AM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


One thing that I heard in an interview with somebody who'd talked to Mueller was how Mueller stressed the importance of making his bed each morning, even when he was out doing whatever he did as a Marine. And the interviewer said he'd laughed at that and Mueller was like, no, it's really important.

And I agree. I am solidly on Team Making Your Bed in the Morning and somehow that anecdote makes me feel that Mueller is the Man for the Job.
posted by angrycat at 8:20 AM on September 15, 2018 [40 favorites]


@mattyglesias: Trump should produce a list of 65 foreign intelligence services he did not collude with.
posted by pjenks at 8:21 AM on September 15, 2018 [52 favorites]


What must it be like for Mueller, as a Republican, to learn firsthand (and really be the only person in the country with the solid evidence) that his entire party has sold its soul to foreign interests?

I think Mueller's known for a long time that organized crime had infiltrated government, maybe not quite the extent that his own party surrendered to it. On Gaslit Nation, Sarah Kendzior brought up a speech by Mueller in 2011 that describes the Trump administration pretty well:
We are investigating groups in Asia, Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East. And we are seeing cross-pollination between groups that historically have not worked together. Criminals who may never meet, but who share one thing in common: greed.

They may be former members of nation-state governments, security services, or the military. These individuals know who and what to target, and how best to do it. They are capitalists and entrepreneurs. But they are also master criminals who move easily between the licit and illicit worlds. And in some cases, these organizations are as forward-leaning as Fortune 500 companies.

This is not “The Sopranos,” with six guys sitting in a diner, shaking down a local business owner for $50 dollars a week. These criminal enterprises are making billions of dollars from human trafficking, health care fraud, computer intrusions, and copyright infringement. They are cornering the market on natural gas, oil, and precious metals, and selling to the highest bidder.

These crimes are not easily categorized. Nor can the damage, the dollar loss, or the ripple effects be easily calculated. It is much like a Venn diagram, where one crime intersects with another, in different jurisdictions, and with different groups.

How does this impact you? You may not recognize the source, but you will feel the effects. You might pay more for a gallon of gas. You might pay more for a luxury car from overseas. You will pay more for health care, mortgages, clothes, and food.

Yet we are concerned with more than just the financial impact. These groups may infiltrate our businesses. They may provide logistical support to hostile foreign powers. They may try to manipulate those at the highest levels of government. Indeed, these so-called “iron triangles” of organized criminals, corrupt government officials, and business leaders pose a significant national security threat.
posted by gladly at 8:27 AM on September 15, 2018 [113 favorites]


Mattis will be out soon for being "a Democrat at heart"

I do wonder how the ouster of Mattis as a SECRET DEM will affect Trump's approval among rank-and-file military and particularly among Marines. We've seen a lot of Mattis worship from veterans these last few years as a sort of proxy-Trump: I know relatively apolitical vets who regularly share Badass Mattis content in the same rhetorical placement as Trump cultists' God-Emperor memes. There's a clearly demonstrated loyalty among them to Mattis that supersedes loyalty to Trump and his 70% approval rating among enlisted Marines must in part be due to that.

If the general state of affairs continues indefinitely there will eventually be a military coup, soft of otherwise. Hell, Woodward's book essentially described a soft coup in miniature when Trump ordered Mattis to assassinate Assad, after which Mattis looked around at his subordinates and literally said "nah, that's not happening." That's not to say that hard military coups are good - they're almost always extremely reactionary and open military rule would likely be a lot more obviously fascist than this administration thus far - but firing Mattis as a traitor will not endear a lot of active and former military to Trump, to say the least.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:30 AM on September 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


1. This was not a “win for both sides” — Mueller’s team won
No matter how you look at it, this deal has to be seen as a massive victory for Mueller and his special counsel team.


The Mueller team is amazing. And I won't get tired of winning - I will deeply enjoy every win from Mueller.
posted by bluesky43 at 8:48 AM on September 15, 2018 [5 favorites]


I too am grateful for the apparent professionalism and competence of the special counsel's team, but it sure is a sign of the times that we feel such palpable relief at well-educated, highly trained and professionally respected people in positions of power just doing what they're supposed to.
posted by howfar at 9:07 AM on September 15, 2018 [96 favorites]


The Political Myth of the Good Man - Prachi Gupta, Jezebel.com (The Slot)
I don’t know Brett Kavanaugh personally. Maybe he did treat those 65 women with “respect.” But his kindness to a select few does not make him a “good person,” as the letter insists. That the personal is political is one of feminism’s major stakes; to insist that the two be separated— to insist that good men can have bad politics or vice versa—seems to posit that policy is neutral; that it simply exists in the realm of the theoretical. But Kavanaugh’s eventual confirmation will affect me, and millions of others, very personally. Women, anticipating abortion rights roll-backs, have been rushing to get IUDs inserted—a painful process that isn’t right for everyone, and costs hundreds of dollars without insurance. His rulings could force women to carry unwanted pregnancies, a decision that will change the course of their lives and the lives of their families. The same dangers exist in his record on workers, on immigrant rights, on the impunity of massive corporations.

But then we already know that the good man narrative is a lie. We know that sexual harassment doesn’t disqualify a man from serving on the Supreme Court, and it seems unlikely that an attempted rape allegation will have an effect on Kavanaugh’s nomination. After all, he’s “always treated women with decency and respect”—or at least that’s what we’ve been told.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:18 AM on September 15, 2018 [28 favorites]


but it sure is a sign of the times that we feel such palpable relief at well-educated, highly trained and professionally respected people in positions of power just doing what they're supposed to.

There's a reason we hire experts to do complicated, important things, like, oh, run a country! This is what we get when we elect outsiders to Run The Country Like A Business. (And why I want no celebs and no amateurs in 2020.) This cult of the amateur has got to go, at least for politics. When an expert is in charge, things get done, surprise surprise!

As far as Trump firing Mattis and PO'ing military folks: I think that ball started rolling when Trump was so disrespectful of John McCain and his family after his death. That got a lot of otherwise pretty apathetic people angry, and I think contributed to the drop in Trump's approval lately. The shit on the bed just keeps piling up higher and deeper.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 9:21 AM on September 15, 2018 [21 favorites]


The Coast Guard removed a member from hurricane duty after he flashed a white power symbol on TV

I'll be honest: Most such accusations seems breathless and rife with the possibility for, at least, plausible deniability because of the ubiquitous and innocuous signal that has been co-opted. But this guy. He's like a cartoon character, looking right, seeing the cameras, looking left, seeing, I guess, that no ones over there would see him flash his stupid soooper seeekrit hand signal.

He is clearly, without any doubt, signaling to an audience he presumes the camera is reaching.

Disgusting. Repugnant. Shameful. Rout this guy and his ilk right out of the fucking military JFC I can't even.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 9:44 AM on September 15, 2018 [65 favorites]


Rout this guy and his ilk right out of the fucking military JFC I can't even

So far they just "removed him from the response", which sounds like some weak sauce. Not even a mention if disciplinary action.
posted by duoshao at 10:17 AM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


The White House said in July that the debts related to baseball tickets Kavanaugh bought for friends who later reimbursed him.

Media Matters's Simon Maloy: where's the letter from all the people Kavanaugh bought baseball tickets for
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:27 AM on September 15, 2018 [62 favorites]


To cap off today, @realDonaldTrump has doubled down on

Just FYI, Trump's entire MO is to double down on his lies. It's literally his stated main guiding principle in life to never go back on a lie, never apologize, never give an inch. Then his opponents have to spend all this energy countering with facts and data, which takes time and energy to collect and convince others of, by which time he's on to his next set of lies. This has been happening for his entire presidency.

Only the grinding wheel of the law and voting him and his enablers out of power will make his lies worthless.
posted by gwint at 11:02 AM on September 15, 2018 [36 favorites]


Why is everyone playing like buying your friends baseball tickets for hundreds of thousands of dollars is remotely normal instead of what it clearly is: some kind of corrupt money laundering or exchange?

Oh come now, it's clearly just a bookkeeping error. I mean, what's 7-15 years of gross income working at minimum wage, between friends?
posted by Mayor West at 11:22 AM on September 15, 2018 [22 favorites]


There's something like 4700 baseball games a season, if he did have a gambling issue it's real easy to add up to 5 or 6 digits even if he's just betting $50 or $100 a game. The "tickets" as code for his gambling problem sounds pretty plausible to me, which means we really need to know exactly what happened to that credit card debt and who paid it for him.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:29 AM on September 15, 2018 [20 favorites]


So far they just "removed him from the response", which sounds like some weak sauce. Not even a mention if disciplinary action.

That guy is definitely getting his ass kicked (verbally) at the very least, and will probably be watched by his first-line supervisor, and likely at least his O3-level supervisor (probably between three and five levels up) for the rest of his time at that job (as much as three years).

The fact that the Coast Guard said anything means they know this is a massive fuckup, if only a PR fuckup, and the fact that they did it so quickly tells me they know it's not just a PR fuckup.
posted by Etrigan at 11:47 AM on September 15, 2018 [28 favorites]


In further rich assholes/total garbage/Mike Pence news...

@AWolfeful
Betsy DeVos’s father-in-law Rich DeVos died. He was the co-founder of billion-dollar pyramid scheme Amway. So ANYWAY Mike Pence flew into Grand Rapids for the funeral... and got the whole neighborhood’s cars towed.

[Facebook screenshots]
posted by Artw at 12:02 PM on September 15, 2018 [39 favorites]


Why is everyone playing like buying your friends baseball tickets for hundreds of thousands of dollars is remotely normal instead of what it clearly is: some kind of corrupt money laundering or exchange?

Jon "Crazification Factor" Rogers lays out what's at play with Trump's nomination of Kavanaugh:
[...]McConnell infamously said Kavanaugh's paper trail would make him too difficult to confirm. *This* came up in the background check. THERE ARE A DOZEN OTHER CONSERVATIVE JUDGES WHO WOULD ROLL BACK ROE v WADE WHO ARE SQUEAKY CLEAN.
So why pick Kavanaugh, who has written extensively on the immunity of Presidents to legal consequences? Because of his giant legal mind? There are better conservative judges. Because of his easy confirmation? His paper trail's a nightmare.
Trump's superpower is attracting other people venal enough to do whatever he tells them to do in order to advance themselves. It's his one genuine talent.
[Friday] only confirms - Kavanaugh was the hardest possible confirmation choice on that list. There can only be one reason you choose the guy who makes the process that much harder. One.[...]
In any case, here's a link to the Block Brett script mentioned in the previous thread so you can phone (1-202-224-3121) or fax your senators and make them feel the heat.
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:13 PM on September 15, 2018 [42 favorites]


A friend of mine worked at Amway and says Rich DeVos once regaled a company Christmas party with the tale of how he had just that very week had something like a heart attack while at his vacation home in Alaska and put his cardiologist on the DeVos private plane, flew him to Alaska, bought a new private plane that would hold a cardiac care suite, had a new runway constructed at his vacation home because the new plane needed more space, and flew back to Grand Rapids. The capper DeVos chose to put on the speech was something to the effect of "God must have kept me alive so I could tell you this story, so here I am, isn't God great."

So yeah, it doesn't surprise me that his family just decided to have a bunch of the little peoples' cars towed to make it the slightest bit more convenient for them.
posted by Etrigan at 12:14 PM on September 15, 2018 [53 favorites]


"Liar, criminal, fool: pick your choice" (Mary Papenfuss, HuffPo) - Jerry Brown rips Trump a new one on the subject of climate change. I'm gonna miss this guy in November, even though Democrat Gavin Newsom is a shoo-in to succeed him.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 12:45 PM on September 15, 2018 [5 favorites]


Por qué no los tres?
posted by riverlife at 12:58 PM on September 15, 2018 [28 favorites]


Jon "Crazification Factor" Rogers lays out what's at play with Trump's nomination of Kavanaugh:

Rachel Maddow makes it a bit more explicit in a recent segment. It's video so I'll summarize.

Maddow: Overlap In Brett Kavanaugh Nomination, Trump Russia Probe Becomes Clear

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.
posted by scalefree at 1:10 PM on September 15, 2018 [91 favorites]


The Coast Guard removed a member from hurricane duty after he flashed a white power symbol on TV

Anonymity protected though.
posted by srboisvert at 1:55 PM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


@realDonaldTrump: Thank you Brock – it is my honor!
“We (@fema) have never had the support that we have had from this President.”
Administrator @FEMA_Brock

Amazing how everyone in the government knows they can have as many scandals as possible as long as they step up the over-the-top praise of the boss.
posted by zachlipton at 2:06 PM on September 15, 2018 [10 favorites]


Anonymity protected though.

While this does feel frustrating, I think that we have to recognise that, while it is exactly what an employer that didn't really care about this would do, it's also exactly what a competent employer, doing its job and preparing a proper disciplinary action against an employee, with the intention of dismiss them for gross misconduct, would do, in order to reduce the risk of that employee using it as a weapon in a wrongful dismissal claim.

I'm not saying which the Coast Guard is, because I genuinely don't know, but I don't think we can draw any inference from them not giving his identity (which is probably going to be known in less than 24 hours anyway, once the Internet gets to work on it), and I think the decision itself is the only proper choice.
posted by howfar at 2:06 PM on September 15, 2018 [31 favorites]


I'm not sure what I think about asset forfeiture being the only check on executive impunity...
posted by ethansr at 2:14 PM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


While this does feel frustrating, I think that we have to recognise that, while it is exactly what an employer that didn't really care about this would do, it's also exactly what a competent employer, doing its job and preparing a proper disciplinary action against an employee, with the intention of dismiss them for gross misconduct, would do, in order to reduce the risk of that employee using it as an weapon in a wrongful dismissal claim.

As the Coast Guard is a branch of the US military, discipline is covered by the Uniform Code of Military Justice along with a number of branch-specific policies. See COMDTINST M1600.2, US Coast Guard Discipline and Conduct (PDF) for details.
posted by scalefree at 2:24 PM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


“We (@fema) have never had the support that we have had from this President.”
Administrator @FEMA_Brock


Considering that all of Long’s previous time with FEMA was under Dubya, he’s not setting much of a bar there.
posted by Etrigan at 2:27 PM on September 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


Coast Guard is also the whitest of the armed services, and sensitive about that fact. While there are certainly racists within the agency, they're not known to harbor white supremacists the way that the Army is, for instance. So I think they'll respond with some alacrity, because they really do want to recruit more minority service members.
posted by suelac at 2:28 PM on September 15, 2018 [10 favorites]


“We (@fema) have never had the support that we have had from this President.”

That's not necessarily praise.
Brock Long's job is in jeopardy, btw. (SLWashington Post)
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:33 PM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]




Wouldn't it be SAD if the DeVos family were corrupt and lost all of their assets to government forfeiture?
posted by kiwi-epitome at 2:41 PM on September 15, 2018 [47 favorites]


I'm not sure what I think about asset forfeiture being the only check on executive impunity...

For punishment to have any deterrent effect, the subject must fear it. And it's clear that their assets are the only thing these people care about.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:47 PM on September 15, 2018 [31 favorites]


Someone must have written a dissertation on the role of deliberate cruelty in politics: we have to deport someone whose life will be irreparably and severely harmed by that act on a technicality, because it's evidence that we are truly impartial and not driven by sentiment.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 3:00 PM on September 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


Wrinkled Stumpskin > I think one-dimensional chess is leapfrog

Seems more like Buck buck to me.
posted by Piso Mojado at 3:17 PM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]


For punishment to have any deterrent effect, the subject must fear it. And it's clear that their assets are the only thing these people care about.

But if the only punishment you face for stealing something is having to give it back, doesn't it seem worth the risk? Might as well try it, maybe you'll get away with it.

The reason they don't fear prison is because historically, people like them don't go to prison. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much in favor of asset forfeiture. But I think if the threat of prison in addition to asset forfeiture were more real, then you might actually have an effective deterrent.
posted by robotdevil at 3:30 PM on September 15, 2018 [17 favorites]


The NRA's got its hands full what with Maria Butina, Russian funding, Matt Rosendale, and so on, but still had time for:

National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch said that a Dallas man killed in his own home by a police officer could have saved himself if he owned a gun.

The Atlantic's take: The NRA’s Catch-22 for Black Men Shot by Police

A National Rifle Association spokesperson says Botham Jean would still be alive if he’d had a firearm. But when African Americans legally bearing arms are shot by police, the organization’s media outlet doesn’t defend them.

Also, are you familiar with the NRA School Shield program? From the NRA blog, Monday:
NRA School Shield, in partnership with The NRA Foundation, has awarded more than $600,000 in grants to support vital school security projects and activities across the nation. A total of 54 grants were recommended to schools in 23 states, including both public and private K-12 educational institutions. Grants were awarded to eligible applicants for proposals that aimed to make our nation’s schools more secure by addressing known vulnerabilities through the implementation of industry best practices in security infrastructure, technology, personnel, training, and policy.

“The NRA is proud to be at a forefront of providing meaningful solutions to safeguard our nation’s schools,” said NRA President Oliver North. “Protecting our most precious resource – our children – with substantive measures that work should be the top priority for all Americans. Thanks to the generous support of NRA members, many schools will now have the necessary funding to enhance their security.”

John Perren, Senior Advisor to the NRA Executive Vice President, added “funding is a persistent challenge in most communities. By working closely with our dedicated field staff, we were able to initiate this first national grant cycle and look forward to growing this critical element of the program for many years to come.”

The NRA School Shield program was introduced in December 2012 as a new initiative focused on improving school security in an effort to help prevent national tragedies at educational institutions in America.
Five and a half years, and $600,000.00.

The organization has an annual operating budget of some quarter of a billion dollars.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:39 PM on September 15, 2018 [40 favorites]


I am not a fan of asset forfeiture because as a practice (like other naively appealing things such as "zero-tolerance") disproportionately affects the poor and does not actually serve a deterrent effect. Rich people and corporations are generally assessed fines which they can afford to pay and do, whereupon they often recoup their losses using their connections, privilege, and ability to take money from other people. I'm a big fan of actually sending people to jail if they have been convicted of a white collar crime, and an even bigger fan of not giving short sentences to such people--whose crimes have often destabilized trust in the system and made it harder for common folk to get by.
posted by Peach at 3:41 PM on September 15, 2018 [9 favorites]


National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch said that a Dallas man killed in his own home by a police officer could have saved himself if he owned a gun.

If he had a gun, the NRA would have responded with "Black thug murders white lady cop after luring her into his apartment: police must be armed with flamethrowers."
posted by Rust Moranis at 3:44 PM on September 15, 2018 [52 favorites]


About Mark Judge...

Mother Jones: Brett Kavanaugh’s High School Friend Isn’t Helping the Nominee’s Case
He also describes an institution where alcoholism was rampant, a theme he detailed in his 1997 addiction memoir, Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk.

That book chronicles Judge’s time as a teenage alcoholic. [...] While there’s nothing in the book that resembles the incident reportedly described in the private letter given to the FBI, Judge says his own black-out drinking while he and Kavanaugh were Georgetown Prep students “reached the point where once I had the first beer, I found it impossible to stop until I was completely annihilated.”
In the book there is someone called "Bart O'Kavanaugh" who is also a heavy drinker who passes out.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 3:54 PM on September 15, 2018 [54 favorites]


i swear to god, the NRA is like all the major confectionary manufacturers formed an advocacy group and every time someone died of insulin shock from eating too much candy, they sent out a spokesperson to say "there is only one appropriate response to these kinds of tragedies: MORE CANDY"
posted by murphy slaw at 3:57 PM on September 15, 2018 [46 favorites]




If he had a gun, the NRA would have responded with "Black thug murders white lady cop after luring her into his apartment: police must be armed with flamethrowers."

Make that "Black thug ON DRUGS murders white lady cop". After his murder they got a warrant, searched his apartment & found some weed. Which proved...something?
posted by scalefree at 4:21 PM on September 15, 2018 [8 favorites]




"said NRA President Oliver North"

wtf is wrong with this country
posted by tivalasvegas at 4:55 PM on September 15, 2018 [78 favorites]


A National Rifle Association spokesperson says Botham Jean would still be alive if he’d had a firearm.

So now the NRA is actively promoting cop-killing, yes?
posted by Mayor West at 5:06 PM on September 15, 2018 [31 favorites]


So now the NRA is actively promoting cop-killing, yes?

They're actually promoting "doing the other thing". Whichever choice you make, you should've made the other one instead.
posted by scalefree at 5:13 PM on September 15, 2018 [64 favorites]


wtf is wrong with this country

Arms dealing, money laundering, AND lying to Congress to protect a sitting president? The better question is, why hasn't he been made SecDef?
posted by Mayor West at 5:15 PM on September 15, 2018 [23 favorites]


Coast Guard is also the whitest of the armed services, and sensitive about that fact. While there are certainly racists within the agency, they're not known to harbor white supremacists the way that the Army is, for instance. So I think they'll respond with some alacrity, because they really do want to recruit more minority service members.

Basic was a long time ago, but for what it's worth: the very first utterance of the N-word in my recruit company got the offender bounced right out of the Coast Guard. Hard. Mercilessly. He wasn't a screw-up recruit and they weren't looking for an excuse. The company commander (drill instructor in common terms) was a white Cajun and the #2 was a black man who, if memory serves, had that day off or something. I remember the #2 being shocked that it played out the way it did. The second offense, late in training, wasn't the n-word but it was also offensive, and the offender was only saved by literally every person of color in the recruit company coming to his defense and saying yes he's a dumbass, but the context was different and he'll learn. And he was still very nearly done.

Basic training is a different world, of course, and I ran into bigots once I was out into the real world of the Coast Guard, but even there what I saw was a far cry from what I've seen in ordinary daily civilian life. And basic is also where they're trying to make sure policies and values get planted early and stick. Something as high-profile as this may well get the same sort of attention.

And yes, they absolutely want a more diverse workforce. It matters for all the reasons diversity is good in any other walk of life.

Looking at that video, I just... what the fuck, dude. I'm not going to jump on a soap box and say they'll fix this and everything is fine, 'cause ever since 2016 it feels like everything is garbage. But my first inclination is to say the Guard will take this seriously.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 5:31 PM on September 15, 2018 [67 favorites]


i swear to god, the NRA is like all the major confectionary manufacturers formed an advocacy group and every time someone died of insulin shock from eating too much candy, they sent out a spokesperson to say "there is only one appropriate response to these kinds of tragedies: MORE CANDY"

i completely agree with this.

brief tangentially related sidenote: reminds me of this wonderful ohmigod almost 11-year-old comment from robocop is bleeding and that made me smile.

posted by lazaruslong at 5:32 PM on September 15, 2018 [13 favorites]


@Olivianuzzi [photo]: The White House distributed this image to reporters on purpose earlier this evening

It's really an amazing photo. Trump looking miserably uninterested as he's supposedly being updated on disaster response, Pence standing there with his arms crossed supervising (but without a phone) as if he's forcing Trump to be there, the painting behind him. I can't imagine why anybody would voluntarially send this out to the world.
posted by zachlipton at 5:35 PM on September 15, 2018 [32 favorites]


It's really an amazing photo. Trump looking miserably uninterested as he's supposedly being updated on disaster response, Pence standing there with his arms crossed supervising (but without a phone) as if he's forcing Trump to be there, the painting behind him. I can't imagine why anybody would voluntarially send this out to the world.

Substantiates back up of the 25th Amendment? Gets him the hell out of there before Manafort explains the connection to Pence, and the reasons Pence mattered? They didn't do anything by mistake. Pence is in there for a reason. I don't know what that reason is, but I'd guess Pence would like that situation to continue.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 5:39 PM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


The reason is Gilead. The nexus of theocratic conservative Protestantism and corporate power is the next level in this horrifying real-life Jumanji.
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:54 PM on September 15, 2018 [19 favorites]


The reason is Gilead. The nexus of theocratic conservative Protestantism and corporate power is the next level in this horrifying real-life Jumanji.

Whenever I think about dominionists like Pence and their christian theocracy fantasies, from the same Build The Wall people, I think of this passage from one of Jefferson's letters:
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.
BUILD THE WALL
posted by adept256 at 6:03 PM on September 15, 2018 [48 favorites]


The painting in that tweet is "Signing of the Peace Protocol Between Spain and the United States, August 12, 1898". President William McKinley is standing on the left and observing. Seated from left to right are Secretary of State William R. Day and, signing, French Ambassador to the United States Jules Cambon.

I don't find it particularly symbolic for the moment, but at least now you know.
posted by achrise at 6:09 PM on September 15, 2018 [18 favorites]


I did find it a little odd that Trump & Pence were both positioned nearly identically to the main figures in the painting. I don't see any greater meaning either, it was just odd.
posted by scalefree at 7:30 PM on September 15, 2018


They're positioned that way specifically for the photo op. I guar-an-tee it.
posted by Justinian at 7:31 PM on September 15, 2018 [10 favorites]


Imagine a future painting of key moments of the Trump administration.

"Minting of the Challenge Coin between President Trump and Little Rocket Man, June 12, 2018"
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:33 PM on September 15, 2018 [21 favorites]


Mattis will be out soon for being "a Democrat at heart"

Well, that would be a reversal for Trump. Obama fired/retired Mattis over disagreements about Iran policy and Obama's Iran deal. That's probably the primary reason Trump hired him, because it is the exact opposite of Obama firing him.

It would be weird/embarrassing for Trump to fire the same guy that Obama fired. And poor Mattis -- can't catch a break. I'm sure Mattis thinks that if both sides hate you, you must be right.
posted by JackFlash at 8:55 PM on September 15, 2018 [8 favorites]


Facing a Midterm Wipeout, Trump’s Alternate Reality Comes Crashing Down - Tina Nguyen, Vanity Fair
Despite his “RED WAVE” bravado, a grim fatalism may finally be sinking in for the president, whose personality is not exactly conducive to operating under siege.
...
There is something to be said for the fact that Trump has arrived at this realization [that control of the House could be lost] before D-day—“Over time he’s realized [that control of the House] can make all the difference in the world,” the source who’s discussed the midterms with Trump told Axios—and that he’s already attempting to seize control of the narrative. “He has repeated to folks that, if the Democrats impeach him, it would be a victory, politically, because it would be a complete overreach and he could exploit it and run against it in 2020.” It’s the same line being parroted among Trump allies, who have become convinced that an impeachment push by House Democrats would backfire, giving Trump a clear path to re-election—voters, they hypothesize, will be turned off by extremist posturing, and will instead flock to the middle of the road.

Of course, it’s one thing for Trump to extol the benefits of impeachment when the possibility is still at arm’s length. It’s another for a notoriously thin-skinned president to attempt to operate under siege. “This president is not interested in being an impeached president,” the source who’s talked to Trump told Axios. “His ego would not tolerate such a thing.” Trump’s worst traits—his egotism, his paranoia, his obsession with loyalty, his tendency to lash out—would only be exacerbated in an environment in which he’s constantly under attack. Governance would become, if possible, even more unworkable. Whether or not he has that possibility in mind, Trump has already found a scapegoat. “We’ll worry about [impeachment] if it ever happens,” he told a crowd in Montana last week. “But if it does happen, it’s your fault—because you didn’t go out to vote.”
Emphasis mine.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:57 PM on September 15, 2018 [11 favorites]


Ex-GOP donor [Seth Klarman] urges support for Dems in midterms: 'Democracy is at stake'
Former GOP mega-donor Seth Klarman urged voters to support Democrats in the coming midterm elections and said in a recent interview that he believes “democracy is at stake.”

“One of the reasons I’m willing to come out of my shell and talk to you is because I think democracy is at stake,” Klarman said in an interview with The New York Times published on Saturday. “And maybe I’ll be able to convince some other people of that. And get them to support Democrats in 2018.”

Klarman, who was previously one of the biggest donors to the Republican Party in New England, told The Times he has donated $4.9 million to nearly 150 candidates.
Les Wexner renounces Republican Party affiliation after Obama stops in Columbus
After former Democratic President Barack Obama made a quiet stop in Columbus on Thursday night, the wealthiest Republican supporter in the state told a small audience at a Downtown event that he is fed up and has quit the Republican Party.

“I just decided I’m no longer a Republican,” said L Brands CEO Leslie H. Wexner, speaking during a panel discussion about civility at Miranova’s Ivory Room billed as a “Columbus Partnership and YPO Leadership Summit.”

“I’m an independent,” he said. “I won’t support this nonsense in the Republican Party. I’ve been a Republican since college, joined the Young Republican Club at Ohio State.
posted by gwint at 9:19 PM on September 15, 2018 [49 favorites]


National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch said that a Dallas man killed in his own home by a police officer could have saved himself if he owned a gun.
I know that such suggestions aren't made in anything approaching good faith but there are people out there who actually believe that kind of shit and I want to ask them.. how do you think that would have worked in this situation? Actually, I don't want to ask them, because I know their answers will be idiotic, but I would kind of like to force them to think realistically about it just a little. But that is never gonna happen.
Also, are you familiar with the NRA School Shield program?
I'm much more familiar with their Ghoul Shield program.
posted by Nerd of the North at 9:25 PM on September 15, 2018 [10 favorites]


“I’m an Independent” he said, after enabling all this bullshit. He then went on to vote straight ticket Republican for the rest of his life like every other public “Independent” or “Libertarian.”
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:29 PM on September 15, 2018 [59 favorites]


Funny how the NRA didn't say shit about Philando Castile, a black man who was legally carrying a gun and got shot anyway.

I'm just like, at what point is it ever not ok for a police officer to kill someone? Is there any point? Because I think essentially there isn't. A cop can just say "fuck it" draw and kill you and the system will come up with some excuse why you deserved it.

And if you're a black person, clearly just existing is likely to provoke exactly that scenario.

And yet there are 80 bajilion cop shows on TV, always from the cops' POV, with tons of episodes about why a bad guy got away because of "regs" and "rights" and bullshit like that keeping these decent, near-superheroes from being able to protect the rest of us.
posted by emjaybee at 9:35 PM on September 15, 2018 [80 favorites]


Oh, they did say something about Philandro Castile. A very familiar something: "
"He was also in possession of a controlled substance and a firearm simultaneously, which is illegal. Stop lying," Loesch said on Twitter early Thursday.

She was responding to a tweet noting that Castile was a Minnesota carry permit holder who "followed the safety rules" but was still shot. The Twitter user questioned why the NRA was so slow to defend Castile, thinking it had to do with his race.
There are a few familiar go-tos when it comes to when different rules and laws are enforced or supported.
posted by Superplin at 9:42 PM on September 15, 2018 [22 favorites]




I have been thinking that when lots of people start booing, or even better laughing at, Trump during his rallies that might be a sign of his supporters finally waking up, an the emporer has no clothes moment. That would be the one thing Trump truly couldnt handle, be more effective than any amount of outright criticism, that would pop the balloon. This happening recently is not quite that, but gives me hope: 'Plaid shirt guy' thinks he was removed from Trump rally for 'not being enthusiastic enough'. (I hope this isn't considered too frivolous to post here.)
posted by blue shadows at 11:54 PM on September 15, 2018 [7 favorites]


Joe Biden and Jill Biden Speak at the 2018 Human Rights Campaign National Dinner

Missing you Joe. He did remark that he and Obama decided to give Trump a year in office before making any comment, then crossed his heart and asked for god's forgiveness.
posted by adept256 at 1:57 AM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


He did remark that he and Obama decided to give Trump a year in office

For quite a few people a couple of weeks of Trump is more than a year already.
posted by Stoneshop at 2:01 AM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


sio42: Kind of like the vase where it’s two faces

Exactly like that. Supporters see two faces in this pic, others see two pieces of faeces.
posted by Too-Ticky at 3:34 AM on September 16, 2018 [25 favorites]






I did find it a little odd that Trump & Pence were both positioned nearly identically to the main figures in the painting. I don't see any greater meaning either, it was just odd.

They are mimicking real adults.
posted by srboisvert at 5:47 AM on September 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


It’s the same line being parroted among Trump allies, who have become convinced that an impeachment push by House Democrats would backfire

Hello Congressional Democrats. What's happening? Um, I'm gonna need you go ahead and come in first thing for the impeachment. So if you could be here around nine, that would be great.
(starts to walk away) Oh, oh, yea…I forgot. I'm gonna also need you to get loud about it too. We, uh, lost some things the last two years and we need to sorta catch up. Thanks.

*shllp*
posted by petebest at 6:09 AM on September 16, 2018 [10 favorites]


They're not wrong. While the lunatic fringe keeps a stranglehold on GOP primaries there will be no impeachment.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:36 AM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


In the short term, I'd say impeachment is less of a threat than control of House Committees is. Wouldn't it be nice to have Schiff leading the Intelligence Committee instead of Nunes? Democrats in charge could run real investigations and turn up some real damaging information which, whether or not it resultsin mpeachment, could do much to contain and roll back the harms of this administration.
posted by jackbishop at 6:50 AM on September 16, 2018 [54 favorites]


My greatest fear is that Democrats are going to abstain from impeachment because they know they won't get a conviction in the Senate but people, not knowing any better, will blame the Democrats for not being quixotic and punish them in 2020.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:14 AM on September 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


They can mayyybe hold off looking like do-nothing idiots with sufficient investigations and hearings, but yes, people are going to see impeachment as their job. I would suggest doing it.
posted by Artw at 7:17 AM on September 16, 2018 [10 favorites]


sometimes you have to do the right thing, even if it fails
posted by pyramid termite at 7:25 AM on September 16, 2018 [25 favorites]


The striking parallels between Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas - Anna North, Vox
Today, the details are different but the basic outline is eerily similar. In July, a woman reported to Democrats in Congress that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh tried to sexually assault her when they were both in high school. He has denied the allegation.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, knew about the allegation but declined to share it with the other Democrats on the committee, according to Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer at the New Yorker. So it didn’t come up during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings.

Hill addressed the allegations against Kavanaugh on Friday, saying through a spokesperson that “the reluctance of someone to come forward demonstrates that even in the #MeToo era, it remains incredibly difficult to report harassment, abuse or assault by people in power.” She added that “the Senate Judiciary Committee should put in place a process that enables anyone with a complaint of this nature to be heard.”

Now the news is out, and the question is whether 2018 will be a replay of 1991. The past year, of course, has seen the rise of the #MeToo movement, as more and more Americans come forward to report sexual harassment and assault. Some of those accused — though not all — have faced significant consequences, including the loss of their jobs or, in a few cases, criminal prosecution.

But the outcome of the allegations against Kavanaugh will be a profound test of the power of #MeToo. Before the movement began, a Supreme Court nominee could be publicly accused of sexual misconduct and — due in part to the inaction of Democrats in Congress — be confirmed anyway. So far, Kavanaugh’s confirmation process has unfolded in much the same way Thomas’s did. We’re about to find out if the result will be the same.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:25 AM on September 16, 2018 [16 favorites]


... people are going to see impeachment as their job. I would suggest doing it.

This. Democrats should treat it the same way the Republicans treated repealing the Affordable Care Act back when Obama was still President and there was no real chance of succeeding. The Republicans would not shy away from impeaching just because the odds were bad for conviction in the Senate. They would try again and again. And so should we. Draw up articles of impeachment with regard to emoluments. Draw up separate articles with respect to campaign finance laws. Draw up articles with respect to public corruption. Draw up articles with respect to foreign intelligence. Draw up articles with respect to treason. As far as I can tell, there is no double jeopardy standard for impeachment, so submit the same articles over and over again if you have to.

Then. If and when efforts to remove Trump fail, go back to the people in 2020 and say two things:

(1) Here is a mechanism to get rid of Trump: vote him out.
(2) We tried to do the right thing, and Republicans blocked us. Like they do for every morally weighty issue. Give us more power in the Congress to do what is right.
posted by Jonathan Livengood at 7:32 AM on September 16, 2018 [70 favorites]


It’s the same line being parroted among Trump allies, who have become convinced that an impeachment push by House Democrats would backfire

Bush "won" the presidency in 2000 after Clinton was impeached in 1999. Rs also retained control of the House and Senate though they did lose a few seats.

And that was for lying about a blowjob, not about betraying your country and being a mobster. Investigate and impeach the fucker. You can't worry about their base - they'll be fired up regardless - you have to fire up your base.
posted by chris24 at 7:41 AM on September 16, 2018 [44 favorites]


Whatever the Democrats do will be the wrong thing to Trump's base. Just like whatever Facebook and Twitter do conservative pundits will cry censorship. The MAGAhats and Teapartisans have found out that hysterical anger is a lever that moves people, we have to stop being moved.

We need to stop trying to figure out what will make authoritarians happy and do the right thing.

Appeasement doesn't work.
posted by Horkus at 8:15 AM on September 16, 2018 [45 favorites]


Eh, from my point of view the investigatory power is important because it creates a damning record of all the people who are not Trump who are involved in the destruction of the rule of law and of our civic institutions. The push for impeachment leads too easily into the narrative that it is Trump alone who is an aberration and a stain on good governance, when he's really simply the most extreme part of a widespread movement to cannibalize our society.

Admittedly, getting Republicans on record defending the indefensible when articles of impeachment are drawn up might serve a similar purpose, but doing it over and over seems like waste of time.

(OTOH, let's not count our chickens before they're hatched. Hopefully Democrats will be in a position to do any of this come November.)
posted by jackbishop at 8:16 AM on September 16, 2018 [14 favorites]


They could always vary things up a bit, try and impeach him on different grounds each time. It's not like there aren't double or even triple digits reasons to do it by now.
posted by Artw at 8:21 AM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


It's maybe a telling thing about Trump that he puts more imagination into his insults than his endorsements. Trump foes can get nicknames, while endorsees like Rothfus get copy-and-paste words of support about being tough on crime and the border, loving the military, etc.
posted by growabrain at 8:36 AM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


Supporters see two faces in this pic, others see two pieces of faeces.

Faeces, fasces — all the same in this administration.
posted by nathan_teske at 8:43 AM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


Draw up articles of impeachment with regard to emoluments. Draw up separate articles with respect to campaign finance laws. Draw up articles with respect to public corruption. Draw up articles with respect to foreign intelligence. Draw up articles with respect to treason.

This. Make republicans in the senate vote on record, that violating the emoluments clause in the constitution is not grounds for removal from office. Then make them vote separately, that violations of campaign finance law are not grounds for removal from office. And so on - make each and every single republican in the senate go on record, voting to support every single one of trumps offences individually. These people thrive in the murky area where they can say one thing, do another, and lie their way through the grey areas. Pin them down.
posted by mrgoat at 8:46 AM on September 16, 2018 [64 favorites]




We should not impeach because then maybe the cult of Jeebus Trump Returned won't support us
posted by benzenedream at 8:47 AM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


We need to stop trying to figure out what will make authoritarians happy and do the right thing.

Remember how happy everyone was when Obama tried to close Guantanamo but couldn't get the votes for it? Remember how people lionize him for his effort, however quixotic? Ha. Ha ha. No. People think it's his fault because he couldn't get the votes together. Do you think people will give the Dems an A for effort when the Senate fails to remove Trump from office?

If you're going to do the impeachment thing, might as well do it when you have a more realistic chance of success- after the Mueller investigation concludes (with his firing or otherwise).
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:33 AM on September 16, 2018 [16 favorites]


FEMA Director Sides With Hurricane Truthers, Refuses To Criticize Trump For Denying Maria Death Toll
On Sunday, Long attempted to distinguish the direct deaths from "indirect deaths," arguing that it would be tenuous to link those to the hurricane and the federal government's response.

"The GW study looked at what happened six months after the fact," Long said.

"You might see more deaths indirectly occur as time goes on because people have heart attacks due to stress, they fall off their house trying to fix their roof, they die in car crashes because they went through an intersection where the step lights weren’t working," he said
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:50 AM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


FEC Commissioner Ellen L Weintraub on Chief Justice Roberts's surprise intervention in Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies v. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:
NICE WHILE IT LASTED: The DC Circuit declined earlier today to stay a lower court’s decision to kill an @FEC regulation that allowed #darkmoney… but Chief Justice Roberts has just ruled on the emergency appeal before him and stayed the decision himself.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/18a274.html
Politico has more: Chief Justice Roberts Halts Campaign Finance Ruling
Chief Justice John Roberts stepped in Saturday to halt a federal judge’s order last month that a conservative political group said threatened to discourage independent expenditures by raising the prospect that anonymous donors could be exposed.

Roberts acted Saturday (PDF) after a three-judge D.C. Circuit panel turned down (PDF) the same arguments for a stay earlier in the day.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell in August issued a ruling (PDF) invalidating a Federal Election Commission regulation that has allowed donors to so-called dark-money groups to remain anonymous.

That decision was the result of a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) against the FEC after Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS failed to disclose the names of contributors behind its effort to defeat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2012.

The district court’s ruling was set to take effect on Sept. 17, until Roberts intervened Saturday.[...]

It is not clear whether Roberts’ order is a short-term measure intended to allow further consideration of the issue by the justices, or whether it will remain in place through this fall's midterm elections.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:51 AM on September 16, 2018 [16 favorites]


I did find it a little odd that Trump & Pence were both positioned nearly identically to the main figures in the painting.

Maybe they're doing "For the First Time in Forever" from Frozen.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:54 AM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


Friday's New Rules: "Someone has to tell me why are all the best voices speaking against Republicans are Republicans"... Where are our potty-mouths? ... He is not on our side! How about this for a slogan -" We are not socialists - You're traitors!"
posted by growabrain at 10:15 AM on September 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


It's Not Just the President* Who Ought to Be Sweating Today
Other than softening the Republican Party's stance on Russian thuggery in the Ukraine, and maneuvering Mike Pence into the vice presidency, Manafort didn't do much in the short time he managed the president*'s campaign, except possibly commit some crimes. On Friday, the president*'s former campaign manager, and the person most responsible for the vice president's presence on the ticket, pleaded guilty to...wait for it..."conspiracy against the United States," which isn't really as serious as it sounds, but which is not something to which any president wants his former campaign manager to cop. Mike Pence has one foot in the barrel now, too.
...
And Robert Mueller, with no expression on his face, reaches across his desk for another document.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:20 AM on September 16, 2018 [11 favorites]


FEMA Director says: "You might see more deaths indirectly occur as time goes on because people have heart attacks due to stress, they fall off their house trying to fix their roof, they die in car crashes because they went through an intersection where the step lights weren’t working," he said

If only the U.S. had an agency for providing emergency health care, fixing roofs and repairing electricity to stop lights after a natural disaster.
posted by JackFlash at 10:23 AM on September 16, 2018 [93 favorites]


The Hurricane Maria response needs a full-blown investigation. Covering up 3000 deaths should be a human rights abuse.
posted by gucci mane at 10:28 AM on September 16, 2018 [69 favorites]


The Hurricane Maria response needs a full-blown investigation.

This is why I don't think impeachment is the critical issue. We know that ultimately, even successful impeachment just gets us Pence. Pence will not be impeached no matter what Mueller uncovers, both because Our Schumers Not Learn, but mainly because no Republicans would ever vote to give the presidency to a Democratic Speaker even in the fantasy-land scenario that they finally dumped Trump.

What can make a difference is real investigations dumping loads of information about Republican coverups into the public consciousness. We need to see the FEMA emails where they acknowledge how bad they're fucking up Maria in real time. We need to see every dollar flowing into Trump's pockets and see his full tax returns posted on the internet. We need to see our allies scared to share information because they know he'll hand it to Putin. We need to see Sessions and McConnell knew about the Russian collusion. We need to hear Republican officials testifying on all of this shit in open hearings.

There's more than enough things to investigate for a decade. Democrats should open hearings into all of it. I want these hearings to make Benghazi look like traffic court on a Wednesday in Fargo, ND.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:42 AM on September 16, 2018 [55 favorites]


California professor, writer of confidential Brett Kavanaugh letter, speaks out about her allegation of sexual assault (WaPo)

Earlier this summer, Christine Blasey Ford wrote a confidential letter to a senior Democratic lawmaker alleging that Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than three decades ago, when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. Since Wednesday, she has watched as that bare-bones version of her story became public without her name or her consent, drawing a blanket denial from Kavanaugh and roiling a nomination that just days ago seemed all but certain to succeed.

Now, Ford has decided that if her story is going to be told, she wants to be the one to tell it.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:44 AM on September 16, 2018 [80 favorites]


FEMA Director explaining increased deaths says that after a natural disaster spousal abuse goes through the roof and you can't blame spousal abuse on anybody.
posted by JackFlash at 10:46 AM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


I hope someone is helping Ford and her family with security.
posted by notyou at 10:46 AM on September 16, 2018 [21 favorites]


She has a lawyer who specilizes in sexual assault/harrassment so let's hope so.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:48 AM on September 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


NPR: Emoluments Lawsuit Moves a Step Closer to Trump
The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia want the legal authority to get any communications between President Trump and officials of foreign or U.S. state governments pertaining to his Trump International Hotel near the White House.

The proposal is one of several for "document discovery" in the historic civil suit against the president. As plaintiffs, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh can seek documents to bolster their complaints. They made their proposals Friday in a filing in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md.[...]

The attorneys general also want to obtain:
• records covering the hotel's business with foreign government officials;
• records of cash going from the hotel to the Trump revokable trust that holds the hotel, and then to Trump;
• documents from the federal General Services Administration, which leases the hotel building to the Trump hotel corporation, and from the U.S. Treasury, which handles the lease payments.
Bloomberg: Trump Answers Emolument Suit by Saying He Knows Very Little
President Donald Trump filed his first factual response to a lawsuit accusing him of violating the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clauses, saying he’s the beneficiary of a trust set up to run his Washington hotel but doesn’t know who his guests are or how much they spend.[...]

Responding to a 144-paragraph complaint, Trump denied many allegations and didn’t directly respond to others for legal reasons. In response to specific claims about his business, he said he lacked detailed knowledge about the operations of the Trump Organization and of a trust managed for his benefit by his two sons and a business aide, Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.

The president, for instance, said he didn’t know that the Trump International Hotel in Washington, which opened in October 2016, had hired a director of diplomatic sales or the specifics of stays there by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and by Linda McMahon, who heads the Small Business Administration.

He said he "lacked knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief" as to the truth of the plaintiffs’ claim that the Kuwaiti embassy spent between $40,000 and $60,000 there for its National Day celebration in February 2017.
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:51 AM on September 16, 2018 [18 favorites]


It's maybe a telling thing about Trump that he puts more imagination into his insults than his endorsements. Trump foes can get nicknames, while endorsees like Rothfus get copy-and-paste words of support about being tough on crime and the border, loving the military, etc.


Pittsburghers note that tweet was by Chris Potter, hands down best political reporter in town.
posted by M-x shell at 10:58 AM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


FEMA Director explaining increased deaths says that after a natural disaster spousal abuse goes through the roof and you can't blame spousal abuse on anybody.

I saw that clip too and I could not believe what I was hearing. He said it in kind of a laughing way that was horrendous. Here's the clip
posted by bluesky43 at 11:13 AM on September 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


This is why I don't think impeachment is the critical issue

The other advantage of Dems not pushing impeachment is that once Trump has given the Republicans everything they wanted -- tax cuts, 2 SCOTUS seats, etc -- and if a Dem majority makes him a lame duck, Trump will no longer have any upside for the Republicans and will continue to make them look bad. Let Republicans stew for a while and come begging for support invoking the 25th amendment.
posted by duoshao at 11:20 AM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah (just now):
“As the story notes, we are standing with Judge Kavanaugh’s denial.”
posted by pjenks at 11:26 AM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


I absolutely believe Professor Ford was attacked by Kavanaugh as is described in the WaPo article. I also expect that Kavanaugh has no memory of the incident -- to him, it was a drunken tussle during a party, probably forgotten within weeks, if not days. It meant nothing to him, would violate his self-image as a Good Catholic Guy, and has been deleted from his memory. That shit happened all the time in high school (and probably still does), and almost never results in consequences for the boys.

So no matter how awful the trauma was to Ms. Ford, it had no effect on Kavanaugh and it will have no effect on his nomination.

I wish I were less cynical.
posted by suelac at 11:28 AM on September 16, 2018 [77 favorites]


Let Republicans stew for a while and come begging for support invoking the 25th amendment.

Well, yes, but also no. Because that is their end game: Gilead. Theocracy.

We have to figure out how to resist both. I'm trying to figure out how to resist that from within the Christian Church, as are (I think) some others; but now we (meaning both state-resistant followers of Jesus, and people who aren't Christian) have to come together so we can save this country.

Shit's sake, that would have been a nearly incomprehensible sentence four years ago.

posted by tivalasvegas at 11:33 AM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


Bloomberg: Trump Answers Emolument Suit by Saying He Knows Very Little

He could say that about anything.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:33 AM on September 16, 2018 [16 favorites]


I sure hope Democratic senators do a better job of covering Ms. Ford's back than Joe Biden did in the Anita Hill case because the Republicans are going to dump a world of hurt on her. Biden expresses some regret today that he didn't do a better job at the time.
posted by JackFlash at 11:38 AM on September 16, 2018 [11 favorites]


As a sober alcoholic who was a blackout drinker from age 12, I had many nights in High School where I do not remember what happened (blackouts). People need to tie his admitted high school persona (Business Insider article linked above by Iris Gambol) to this incident and question his capacity to be a judge at ANY level, let alone the Supreme Court, if he drinks so much he cannot remember trying to rape a woman. Also tying him to the character Bart O'Kavanaugh in his friend's book. It is a different angle to approach Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski from with respect to their support for him.
posted by W Grant at 11:39 AM on September 16, 2018 [17 favorites]


but now we (meaning both state-resistant followers of Jesus, and people who aren't Christian) have to come together so we can save this country.

I hope against hope that it isn't so, but I suspect that evangelicals are a lost cause.

I think a good place to start is to begin referring to the Republican Party in the past tense, or at least talking about it as if it is a dead or dying thing. Their failures to live up to their own principles is a matter of record, and these failures should be constantly thrown in their Roy Moore-promoting faces, even when talking about something else.
posted by rhizome at 11:42 AM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


I also expect that Kavanaugh has no memory of the incident -- to him, it was a drunken tussle during a party, probably forgotten within weeks, if not days. It meant nothing to him, would violate his self-image as a Good Catholic Guy, and has been deleted from his memory.

That would explain why he was fucking dumb and arrogant enough to drag a bunch of high-school girls about the same age as the one he attempted to rape to his hearing last week and get his pic taken with them 50,000 times.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:50 AM on September 16, 2018 [11 favorites]


I suspect that evangelicals are a lost cause.

It was a done deal even before they started forwarding "even heaven has a Wall!" memes.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:50 AM on September 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


And lastly, the current top answer on a twitter thread by @carlreiner:
IF TRUMP CAN BE FULLY DESCRIBED IN 2 OR 3 SENTENCES, WHAT SENTENCE WOULD YOU USE?:
Prison sentence
posted by growabrain at 11:53 AM on September 16, 2018 [54 favorites]


I sure hope Democratic senators do a better job of covering Ms. Ford's back than Joe Biden did in the Anita Hill case because the Republicans are going to dump a world of hurt on her. Biden expresses some regret today that he didn't do a better job at the time.

I just finished reading Anita Hill's book Speak Truth to Power. It's clear from what she writes that the entire establishment colluded in discounting her story. The press, the congress people on the committee (for example, other women came forward with similar stories of Clarence Thomas but were not allowed to testify), and her community all sought to discount the story and vilify Ms. Hill. It's a heart breaking book to read. My hope is that during this time of the #metoo movement all of these sources will not be able to do to Ms. Ford what was done to Ms. Hill.
posted by bluesky43 at 11:53 AM on September 16, 2018 [20 favorites]


IF TRUMP CAN BE FULLY DESCRIBED IN 2 OR 3 SENTENCES, WHAT SENTENCE WOULD YOU USE?

One of the funniest anecdotes about Trump from Fear, from this review, is that his answer in a deposition to what he did for a living took up 16 pages.
posted by peeedro at 12:03 PM on September 16, 2018 [16 favorites]


Ryan Goodman (EIC Just Security, NYU Law Prof, former DOD special counsel)
Damaging to Kavanaugh.

His alleged accomplice and character witness, Mark Judge, wrote the following in a review.

See for yourself how Judge describes "the wonderful beauty, of uncontrollable male passion," how "every man who’s fit to live has his own stories about the time."
Every man who's fit to live has his own stories about the time, like a Hard Case character, he ducked the police, got in over his head with money, or abandoned himself in pursuit of love or sex. We've all climbed up windowsills, driven all night, and gotten into fights over a girl. Of course, a man must be able to read a woman's signals, and it's a good thing that feminism is teaching young men that no means no and yes means yes. But there's also that ambiguous middle ground, where the woman seems interested and indicates, whether verbally or not, that the man needs to prove himself to her. And if that man is any kind of man, he'll allow himself to feel the awesome power, the wonderful beauty, of uncontrollable male passion.

Hard Case Crime, and pulp fiction in general, is not about controlling and hurting women, although there's some of that. It's an expression of authentic male passion, of sweaty sexiness, in a world of pajama boys, government-mandated health food, and reactionary conservative blowhards.
posted by chris24 at 12:20 PM on September 16, 2018 [15 favorites]


FEMA Director explaining increased deaths says that after a natural disaster spousal abuse goes through the roof and you can't blame spousal abuse on anybody.

I saw that clip too and I could not believe what I was hearing.


Wow I guess this is why we need real and fake tags. Even in the context of the current low bar, it didn’t even occur to me that someone would actually say that.

Anyway, the article from Kavanaugh’s victim is good and makes a pretty solid case. She has letters from therapy sessions years ago describing the incident. She took a polygraph test. I know I shouldn’t hope but people should be convinced by this and care about it.
posted by robotdevil at 12:28 PM on September 16, 2018 [15 favorites]


I know I shouldn’t hope but people should be convinced by this and care about it.

From what I'm seeing on Twitter people are already starting with the "if it's true why didn't she say anything at all to her friends back when it happened" bullshit.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:31 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


I just finished reading Anita Hill's book Speak Truth to Power. It's clear from what she writes that the entire establishment colluded in discounting her story. The press, the congress people on the committee (for example, other women came forward with similar stories of Clarence Thomas but were not allowed to testify), and her community all sought to discount the story and vilify Ms. Hill. It's a heart breaking book to read. My hope is that during this time of the #metoo movement all of these sources will not be able to do to Ms. Ford what was done to Ms. Hill.

For decades many of the details from Hill's book have been well known, including all the corroboration from other women. And since then, Democrats have held control of the Senate a number of times. Why have we never heard any movement even from the lefter faction of the Senate to hold impeachment hearings for Thomas? Why do we not hear that now -- or for the realists out there who are willing to let a sexual harrasser sit a bit longer, calls for holding new hearings in 2021 if/when we hold the presidency? It's not like the original hearing was a legal case where he was found innocent and can't be retried, and it's not like a trial where some statute of limitations has expired. Sure, the super-majority needed to impeach him is unlikely to occur, even in 2021, but it seems like there are few downsides and many upsides for even a failed effort, including potentially hastening his voluntary retirement, showing that Democrats actually care about this stuff, demonstrating again that Republicans actively support harrassers, laying the groundwork for preventing people like Kavanaugh from being nominated or approved, and of course giving voice to victims who are rapidly being shuffled aside as the patriarchy seeks to close the door on the #MeToo movement and rehabilitate the abusers. A lifetime appointment should mean lifetime jeopardy. And the same should go for Kavanaugh should he be approved in the next few weeks.

And even beyond that, we should start pressuring legal scholars and law professors, many of whom are Democrats, to start denoting every case decided by a known abuser like Thomas or Kavanaugh with an asterisk, with the understanding that these cases should be universally considered less binding on future decisions. This idea that once a judge makes it through the gauntlet they are their decisions are now set in stone needs to be overturned.
posted by chortly at 12:36 PM on September 16, 2018 [29 favorites]


I'm really perplexed by how reprehensibly Feinstein has behaved here. Either she should have shared Prof. Ford's accusations in July/Aug when she became aware of them, or she should have shredded the info.

But no, she pulls this reckless, completely opportunistic-and-dodgy-looking Hail Mary after the hearings and just hands Ford to the mob, since she was pretty much forced against her stated will to out herself. And for what? It was vanishingly unlikely to make a difference even if people knew about the assault from the get-go, and certainly won't prevent Kavanaugh's confirmation now.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:46 PM on September 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


and certainly won't prevent Kavanaugh's confirmation now.

Talia Lavin
I think it’s important not to concede defeat prematurely on Kavanaugh. Draw blood. Make it hurt. Get the quotes, and not just from Collins and Murkowski. Make them say exactly who they are and what they’re voting for. Fight.
posted by chris24 at 12:49 PM on September 16, 2018 [94 favorites]


Draw blood. Make it hurt.

Sure, I agree, but let's not overlook that it's mostly going to be Ford's blood and pain, and her family's.
posted by FelliniBlank at 12:52 PM on September 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


I'm really perplexed by how reprehensibly Feinstein has behaved here. Either she should have shared Prof. Ford's accusations in July/Aug when she became aware of them, or she should have shredded the info.

Feinstein was following the accusers request to keep it confidential. The Intercept (somehow not surprised) found out about the letter and published the existence of the letter against Ford's own wishes.
posted by PenDevil at 12:52 PM on September 16, 2018 [41 favorites]


I think it’s important not to concede defeat prematurely on Kavanaugh. Draw blood. Make it hurt. Get the quotes, and not just from Collins and Murkowski. Make them say exactly who they are and what they’re voting for. Fight.

Sure, don't just pressure Collins and Murkowski, but goddamn am I glad right now that the two (ostensibly) centrist, undecided Republicans are women. I honestly despair that, if they were men, there would be no chance at all that this would move the needle.

More women in office at every level!!
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 12:56 PM on September 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


Hoo boy do I hurt for Ford right now.
posted by angrycat at 1:12 PM on September 16, 2018 [18 favorites]


"A few of the leadership are starting to show the slightest glimmer of understanding."

I'm suspicious of the leadership. And, as we all know, the majority of self-identified "evangelicals" are not actually church-going and the self-identification is almost exclusively sociopolitical.

But there has always been a minority of evangelicals who, you know, actually have the values they claim to have. I don't doubt that some of them have been disgustingly mercenary and held their noses for the sake of SCOTUS, but a lot of them did not.

My sister and her husband did not and have not, and he's a pastor and missionay. This is their life. They despise Trump, especially my sister, and she (like so many others) had to mostly quit Facebook because all the Trump supporters in her circle of friends and acquaintances enraged her and broke her heart. I think this has been a painfully eye-opening experience for her.

So, granted, she's not representative of the entire evangelical community, nor the upper leadership. But she's a reliable indicator, I think, of how the more sincere evangelical community will eventually break with regard to Trump. My sister, like me, is painfully earnest in her beliefs and living her values and is comfortable in dissent -- it's not about social-identity for her -- and while that's somewhat uncommon, I don't think you can draw hard lines betwen groups of people. Many more evangelicals, I don't doubt, would feel and speak up against Trump like she does if it weren't the case that community and social-ties and all that very human social stuff didn't tip the balance against it. I know mefites tend to be cynical about and hostile to religion, but there really are people out there, including evangelicals, who are both very genuine in their beliefs and who, to varying degrees, have internalized many of the benevolent and admirable values all religions include. Those people will jump ship eventually.

They're not going to be the holdouts. Sure, a lot of self-identified "evangelicals" will be, but only because that's shorthand for a broader social identity that very much intersects with the patriarchy and white supremacy. The core of Trump's base are those for whom patriarchy and white supremacy are the deepest values -- they would, and will, happily jettison "Christian Evangelism" if and when it conflicts with those values. I mean, we all know there's a cohort of gamergate types who are misogynist and white-supremacist while also self-identifying as atheists. Trump's core will adopt whatever social-identity within which they can further these hate-filled ideologies as cover. Just as Trump himself has. His values and politics have been all over the map, but misogyny and white-supremacy have been constant.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:21 PM on September 16, 2018 [17 favorites]


From what I'm seeing on Twitter people are already starting with the "if it's true why didn't she say anything at all to her friends back when it happened" bullshit.

Have people learned NOTHING?
posted by bluesky43 at 1:23 PM on September 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


but goddamn am I glad right now that the two (ostensibly) centrist, undecided Republicans are women. I honestly despair that, if they were men, there would be no chance at all that this would move the needle.

You think that it has a chance to move the needle now?
posted by Justinian at 1:24 PM on September 16, 2018


I just finished reading Anita Hill's book Speak Truth to Power. It's clear from what she writes that the entire establishment colluded in discounting her story. The press, the congress people on the committee......and her community all sought to discount the story and vilify Ms. Hill. It's a heart breaking book to read. My hope is that during this time of the #metoo movement all of these sources will not be able to do to Ms. Ford what was done to Ms. Hill.

That is institutionalized patriarchy (separate from White Privilege). I have been healing from the effects of long term childhood sexual abuse for over 25years -- 25 years ago no one wanted to hear about it and most ignored/denied it, Family, Friends, the Press, the Clergy, the local, State, and Federal Politicians, even some therapists didn't want to deal with it. Awareness and acceptance have improved in the past 25 years, but still have a long way to go. In 1991 things were even more archaic and the hearings with Anita Hill and the fallout from them helped many causes gain momentum -- if not for Anita's courage, the resources that saved me may not have been available (seriously, the foundations of the organization that helped me begin the healing process dated back to the early 1990's and were run by amazing, empowered women).

We are living through a period of dramatic and traumatic change, major upheaval of oppressive social norms. It is difficult, infuriating, scary, and beautiful all at the same time. Every action counts, no action is too small. Every bit of pressure added to the side of positive change moves us closer to the fundamental shift we need, and no one knows when/what/where that tipping point will happen. Press Collins and Murkowski and every other Senator to admit where they stand, this time around it might matter which side of history they choose!
posted by W Grant at 1:25 PM on September 16, 2018 [37 favorites]


Have people learned NOTHING?

Suspect this Is very timely.
posted by Artw at 1:25 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


Nothing will stop the Republicans pushing him through.
posted by Yowser at 1:26 PM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


I agree with Yowser. It's a done deal. Dems should display a procedural show-of-force, but with the understanding that it is even more quixotic than the impeachment.
posted by j_curiouser at 1:28 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


Whatever their gender, Collins and Murkowski are Republicans and as such will always act to defend rapists in positions of power. It’s practically what the R stands for.
posted by Artw at 1:34 PM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


About the only slim hope I have is that Ford going public and providing details will prompt some other women to do the same. Because you know there are others.

Years after he graduated from being an abusive prep school snot, the guy still had a history of blackout benders and long bro-licious weekends of gross debauchery followed by solemn oaths not to divulge info to spouses. Remember that 2001 trip from the "rub and tug" email exchange, ugh, with the "sorry I got aggressive and ruined things" bit.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:35 PM on September 16, 2018 [24 favorites]


I think, of how the more sincere evangelical community will eventually break with regard to Trump.

They've got a lot of breaking to do. Recent polls show that white evangelical support for Trump in the last year has increased to an all time high. Today 81% of white evangelical men and 71% of white evangelical women support Trump. Only 22% disapprove.
posted by JackFlash at 1:37 PM on September 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


I’m actually a little less suprised that Feinstein wanted to sit on it than that the Intercept wanted to publish it. I guess they’re calculating it’s too late to make a difference except as a stick to use against her?
posted by Artw at 1:39 PM on September 16, 2018


Never mind these recent allegations, the tens of thousands of dollars of debt for "baseball tickets" should be disqualifying since the only other example I've seen of someone with a similar mount of debt for tickets was Paul F'in Manafort.
posted by PenDevil at 1:39 PM on September 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


Remember that 2001 trip from the "rub and tug" email exchange, ugh, with the "sorry I got aggressive and ruined things" bit.

At which time he was 36 years old, I might add, and had Rob Porter's WH job. [real]
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:41 PM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


Be aware that polygraphs are bullshit. They are pure garbage.

Contemporaneous notes from a doctor? Not so much!
posted by Justinian at 1:43 PM on September 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


I’m actually a little less surprised that Feinstein wanted to sit on it than that the Intercept wanted to publish it.

We don't know the details of the leak but Feinstein absolutely had an obligation to maintain secrecy. No one has the right to force victims to expose themselves who have declined to go public.
posted by JackFlash at 1:43 PM on September 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


Pardon, the notes aren't contemporaneous with the alleged assault but they are from years ago before Trump's nomination of Kavanaugh was a gleam in a Federalist society asshole's eye.
posted by Justinian at 1:44 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


I don’t live in Maine or Alaska. But for those who do, listening to the naysayers is a bad idea. Who knows what will move the needle— perhaps nothing— but giving up before we try is defeatist nonsense. It costs us little to call, to speak out, to ask our senators to represent us.

If it moves the needle, great. If not, then at least we did what we could. At best the words are spoken and the record laid that this man’s actions are not acceptable to a great deal of the public.

Should Anita Hill have stayed silent in 1991? I am very glad she did not. I am glad for everyone who does not now. Speak, be loud, even if it does not move this needle now; maybe it moves another, later.
posted by nat at 1:45 PM on September 16, 2018 [60 favorites]


About the only slim hope I have is that Ford going public and providing details will prompt some other women to do the same. Because you know there are others.

Maybe even one or two of the 65 women that signed the letter supporting him. It is surreal to me to read how his contemporaries are supporting him as I can relate to that type of fevered reaction and how it played in to my own denial and the external pressure to believe it did not happen to me. The energy I spent trying to believe the lie and deny the truth, no, cover up the the truth, hide from it/keep it hidden from others. That reaction is intense, Life and Death intense. Until the moment came when the denial broke and the Truth could start existing in my reality.
posted by W Grant at 1:46 PM on September 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


Democrats Call on Senate to Postpone Kavanaugh Vote

Yes, the Republicans are slimy enough to replay their norm-nuking SCOTUS power grab next week. No we should not give up fighting to delay it. You wanna steal the cake and eat it with your hands, do it in front of everybody like the garbage people you are then.

This just in from heaven, Angel McCain is "very concerned" and sends congrats to Brett.
posted by petebest at 1:50 PM on September 16, 2018 [20 favorites]


I have been on record re: court packing etc being not a great thing. But if the Republicans ram this through without even more hearings I'm basically on board with whatever. Pack the court, get rid of the filibuster for legislation (though they won't since Senators like the power it gives them), DC/PR statehood, you name it. Since Republicans will have essentially abandoned all pretence of governance. More than before, I mean.

I don't actually expect that stuff to happen but I'd be on board. Well, PR statehood is, I think, more a question of when than if. But the rest.
posted by Justinian at 1:53 PM on September 16, 2018 [17 favorites]


They've got a lot of breaking to do. Recent polls show that white evangelical support for Trump in the last year has increased to an all time high. Today 81% of white evangelical men and 71% of white evangelical women support Trump. Only 22% disapprove.

Note that this is also consistent with the hypothesis that sincere Christians are ditching the label "evangelical".
posted by ragtag at 1:57 PM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


I actually think this will make a difference. She's too credible, the offense extreme and unambiguous, the allegations credible with regard to his background, and the current public climate regarding sexual assault against women all combine, in my opinion, to create an unprecedented situation. I'll be very sad to be proven wrong, if I am. At the moment, I have genuine hope.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:01 PM on September 16, 2018 [26 favorites]


I guess I shouldn't be surprised after the astounding display (of mostly men, iirc) rolling over and performing despair in the Roy Moore thread but WTF??? YES, WE NEED TO FUCKING KEEP FIGHTING! Call your goddamn senators!
posted by sunset in snow country at 2:02 PM on September 16, 2018 [49 favorites]


from Rebecca Traister @rtraister

So much of my work as an adult has been spent considering/working through the impact that the mishandling of Anita Hill’s testimony had on American politics, feminism and law; I’m quite honestly at a loss in the face of the possibility that we’re just going to do it all again.
posted by bluesky43 at 2:02 PM on September 16, 2018 [65 favorites]


the combination of "I'm a rich frat boy who can rape you and then have the entire community call me an angel" and "I'm here to take away your birth control" is so helllooooo Gilead, and given the addition of MeToo, it's a fascinating cultural moment.

Too bad it's now and not something we're reading about in history class tho
posted by angrycat at 2:07 PM on September 16, 2018 [74 favorites]


Carrie Burdoff Brown:
A lawyer close to the White House said the nomination will not be withdrawn. “No way, not even a hint of it. If anything, it’s the opposite. If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried.”
Well, they know their base.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:14 PM on September 16, 2018 [104 favorites]


And now a quick update on the Texas senatorial race:

“Former President George W. Bush is hosting a series of fundraising events for vulnerable Republican candidates, including a couple of House members facing tough re-election bids in his home state of Texas,” the Dallas Morning News reports.

Noticeably absent from the list is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican who is facing a surprisingly robust challenge from Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX).”

As someone once said, "heh heh heh".
posted by petebest at 2:17 PM on September 16, 2018 [37 favorites]


So, if this is a done deal, what can be done to remove him if there's a blue wave in November? Is it politically possible to increase the number of justices on the court? Is that the only recourse short of violence? Because if so, democracy is done.
posted by photoslob at 2:17 PM on September 16, 2018


Why Brett Kavanaugh Might Lose Supreme Court Seat After Rape Allegation From NYMag

The White House’s response to the allegation raises the cultural stakes of the fight. “A lawyer close to the White House” tells Politico not only that Kavanaugh will not be withdrawn, but that his confirmation represents a higher cause: “No way, not even a hint of it. If anything, it’s the opposite. If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried.” It’s perfectly obvious why Donald Trump would be eager to defend the principle that men must not have their careers derailed by accusations of sexual assault. It’s less clear that 50 Republican senators will be eager to join him.
posted by bluesky43 at 2:19 PM on September 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


So, if this is a done deal, what can be done to remove him if there's a blue wave in November? Is it politically possible to increase the number of justices on the court? Is that the only recourse short of violence? Because if so, democracy is done.

In all practicality? Absolutely nothing can be done to remove him. It's not possible to increase the number of justices on the court without blowing up the filibuster.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 2:19 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


Impeaching him would require 67 votes in the Senate. Packing the court would require 60 votes in the Senate. (Both assuming everyone votes). Whether that's politically possible is left as an exercise for the reader.
posted by Justinian at 2:19 PM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


Is it politically possible to increase the number of justices on the court?

This has been covered repeatedly in previous threads.
posted by Candleman at 2:21 PM on September 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


It's not impossible that Kavanaugh has committed assaults that are within the statute of limitations. He's a man who (allegedly) was an inch away from rape on at least one occasion and reportedly has drinking, gambling, and other self-control issues. The prosecution of a sitting Justice for sexual assault would be very unseemly, maybe so unseemly that even Republicans wouldn't defend him.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:42 PM on September 16, 2018 [7 favorites]




Ds need to go on record that they will investigate Kavanaugh and his background and subpoena documents withheld even if he is confirmed if they take the House or Senate. Delegitimize him and the Roberts court, gather evidence for impeachment or ammunition for expanding.
posted by chris24 at 2:44 PM on September 16, 2018 [58 favorites]


Be aware that polygraphs are bullshit. They are pure garbage.

There was a suggestion that Trump was going to have his staff take polygraph tests to identify the author of the NYT adults-in-the-room op-ed. Like a lie-detector test.

When the war with the machines begins, putting a lie-detector in this white house will be one of the stated grievances.
posted by adept256 at 2:46 PM on September 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


Ds need to go on record that they will investigate Kavanaugh and his background and subpoena documents withheld even if he is confirmed if they take the House or Senate. Delegitimize him and the Roberts court, gather evidence for impeachment or ammunition for expanding.

And question and interrogate anyone involved in getting his name to Trump to be nominated.
posted by ZeusHumms at 2:50 PM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


Striking that Kavanaugh's big character witness and fellow accused won't give a definite denial.

Daniel Dale
The other person Blasey Ford is accusing, Mark Judge, tells the Weekly Standard: "...I repeat my earlier statement that I have no recollection of any of the events described in today’s Post article or attributed to her letter."
posted by chris24 at 2:54 PM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


It's not impossible that Kavanaugh has committed assaults that are within the statute of limitations.

Paging Ronan Farrow.
posted by bluesky43 at 2:57 PM on September 16, 2018 [15 favorites]


I don’t think the White House will withdraw the nomination, but I bet some staffer somewhere is drawing up a list of alternatives in case Kavanaugh withdraws it himself.

Pressure can work. I hope reporters are muckraking very, very hard.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:58 PM on September 16, 2018 [10 favorites]


Also, not for nothing, but if the GOP is genuinely worried about the possibility of losing the Senate, too, you have to imagine there are Republican Senators and Senate hopefuls who don’t want to have to run on “we approve of rapists.”
posted by schadenfrau at 3:00 PM on September 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


We were already well on on our way to the largest gender gap in history. One reason to keep fighting even if we don't stop Kavanaugh is to make that gap even larger by forcing Rs to embrace and own this despicable man and action. Winning elections is really the only thing that will protect women.
posted by chris24 at 3:03 PM on September 16, 2018 [14 favorites]


Christ, these people...

@riotwomennn
The Kavanaugh witness who suggests nothing happened, he would tell us that Christine Blasey Ford is a liar.

I believe her.

Here is his page from the Kavanaugh yearbook:

A quote from Noel Coward,

"Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs"



This entire country’s shitty “elite” is basically an endless parade of awful side characters from a Brett Easton Ellis book.
posted by Artw at 3:11 PM on September 16, 2018 [114 favorites]


@WaPoSean: NEWS: Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) tells me in an intv he that doesn’t think the Judiciary Cmte should move ahead with its Thursday vote on Kavanaugh until they hear more from Christine Blasey Ford. “For me, we can’t vote until we hear more.”

I'm sure he'll just go along with Grassley when the time comes, because that's what Jeff Flake does, but yeah.
posted by zachlipton at 3:12 PM on September 16, 2018 [41 favorites]


If you live in NYC, Jerry Nadler is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. He's my congressman and I'm calling tomorrow morning to ask that he make a statement promising to investigate the entire Kavanaugh background and proceedings if Ds take the House.

You can call him too at (212) 367-7350.
posted by chris24 at 3:14 PM on September 16, 2018 [15 favorites]


Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) tells me in an intv he that doesn’t think the Judiciary Cmte should move ahead with its Thursday vote on Kavanaugh until they hear more from Christine Blasey Ford. “For me, we can’t vote until we hear more.”

Graham also said they should invite her to speak before the committee. Assuming they can do it fast because they can't mess up their precious rushed scheduled vote Thursday.
posted by chris24 at 3:15 PM on September 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


The problem with “forcing Rs to embrace and own this despicable man” is that there will never be a “surely this” moment. Releasing a tape of Trump boasting aboyt grabbing women didn't lead to wave of revulsion among Trump supporters; they just further normalised misogynistic speech by calling it locker-room talk. If Republicans “own” Kavanaugh's behaviour it will be by saying that boys will be boys, and what was she doing up there anyway.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:21 PM on September 16, 2018 [11 favorites]


Have people learned NOTHING?

It can be very hard to make a man understand something when his patriarchy depends on his not understanding it.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:22 PM on September 16, 2018 [87 favorites]


The problem with “forcing Rs to embrace and own this despicable man” is that there will never be a “surely this” moment.

He's at 40% with a strong economy. The gender gap is largest in history. He's not immune. They're not immune. This accusation or any other isn't the silver bullet that will take them down, the elections they lose because they drove away enough white women will be what takes them down.
posted by chris24 at 3:25 PM on September 16, 2018 [47 favorites]


Seeing a lot of people (largely white dudes, shockingly) twist themselves into knots over Kavanaugh and "Should we hold someone's high school misdeeds against them? How many of us were saints in high school?" and I'm like, 1) WHEN IT'S SEXUAL ASSAULT YES WE SHOULD OBVIOUSLY and 2) Okay, on that "bbbut high school" point: is Kavanaugh handling this like an ethical adult now? Like, right now?

But I don't believe anyone arguing "bbbut high school" is arguing from a place of good faith, anyway, and at that point I want to skip straight to setting everything on fire.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:31 PM on September 16, 2018 [43 favorites]




Thank you, chris24, and everyone else who periodically reminds me that yes, things are piling up. I read the "there is no 'surely this' moment" comments and nod along, and my pessimism takes over. I'm not trying to correct anyone's behavior, or comments, or moments of deep despair. Mine comes from a place of self-protection. It hurts too much to keep getting so disappointed. No single "surely this" will ever be the thing. It is so, so helpful to have people remind me that yes, things are sticking. Not a lot with each thing, and not fast, but more and more. It helps me remember that the aggregate weight of each "surely this" is what is needed to pull them to their knees.
posted by tllaya at 3:42 PM on September 16, 2018 [14 favorites]


CNN now has the letter Blasey wrote to Feinstein. Since some of it may be triggering, I won't quote it. It does have a bit more info than the WaPo article.

CNN: Read the letter Christine Blasey Ford sent accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct
posted by chris24 at 4:02 PM on September 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


The problem with “forcing Rs to embrace and own this despicable man” is that there will never be a “surely this” moment.

Further to chris24's comment, see Lawyers, Guns, and Money: "Things can Matter at the Margin":
[It is said] that this won’t affect Trump with “his base.” Indeed it won’t. It also won’t lead to Trump resigning, or cause the Republican conference to start investigating him or vote against his judicial nominees. But elections are decided at the margin. Republicans are already staring at a wave in 2018, and losing even a point on the generic ballot would be a big deal. And Trump has almost no votes so spare; anything that accelerates the exodus of educated suburbanites from the GOP or motivates people of color or young people to come to [t]he polls is a serious problem even if the effects are relatively small.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 4:03 PM on September 16, 2018 [35 favorites]


I’ve posted this before but it remains relevant. Research shows a tipping point for large scale social change. Importantly, you won’t know when you’re close to the point. You could literally be one person away and then after that things change all at once. Keep hammering, there’s no one surely this moment, but they are surely building into a surely this avalanche and we don’t know which surely this snowflake it will be that brings it all down. Maybe it’s this one or the next one or another one but I have to believe one is coming eventually. Keep the faith and keep pushing! Link to article.
posted by robotdevil at 4:14 PM on September 16, 2018 [91 favorites]




Here's a picture of refugee children arriving in NY in 1946.

Because that last link is too much.
posted by adept256 at 4:21 PM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


My horror dreams are coming true. Systematic abuse and acceptance that it's ok to abuse/rape/murder the weakest among us is now cool.

Yay merica.
posted by kiwi-epitome at 4:28 PM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


Vox: The striking parallels between Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas

Hill addressed the allegations against Kavanaugh on Friday, saying through a spokesperson that “the reluctance of someone to come forward demonstrates that even in the #MeToo era, it remains incredibly difficult to report harassment, abuse or assault by people in power.” She added that “the Senate Judiciary Committee should put in place a process that enables anyone with a complaint of this nature to be heard.”
posted by bluesky43 at 4:32 PM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


Graham also said they should invite her to speak before the committee. Assuming they can do it fast because they can't mess up their precious rushed scheduled vote Thursday.

So I guess this is going to be a direct repeat of what happened to Anita Hill.
posted by dilaudid at 4:34 PM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


It's not impossible that Kavanaugh has committed assaults that are within the statute of limitations.

I don't know law, or even how to google it, but this page says that Maryland's statute of limitations for Assault is "No Time Limit"
posted by pjenks at 4:38 PM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


So I guess this is going to be a direct repeat of what happened to Anita Hill.

Except with crowdfunding, because no good citizen should have to take on this pack of rampaging horrors and ever have to work another day in their life unless they want to.
posted by Scram at 4:39 PM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


A U.S. Border Patrol supervisor was charged Saturday with murder in the deaths of four female sex workers following what authorities called a two-week killing spree that ended when a fifth woman escaped from him at a Texas gas station and found help. [AP]

Also breaking, Newsweek: ICE Agent Arrested On Charges Of Sodomy, Incest

Trump last month, Townhall: Trump Praises ICE, CBP: ‘People Respect Law and Order’
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:50 PM on September 16, 2018 [7 favorites]




What's legit frightening to me, is that of the seven women with whom I've had a deep conversation about Mrs Ford's attack by kavanaugh is that every single one of us has had a similar experience. Granted, we are all around the same age as they are, and I'd like to think that sort of behavior is uncommon now, but all of us went to the same type of schools, i.e., Single gender, Catholic or prep, and, for example, Mrs. Ford made mention that she was wearing a one piece bathing suit. At my schools, we all wore body suits and panty hose, as defensive measures.

And when confronted about their behavior, boys were all "oh, I'm sorry, I was so wasted, and you were so pretty ." The only consequences were for the girls, ranging from rumors to pregnancy .

Men ask, why do women go to the bathroom in packs? This is why. We learned it from you, men. We learned it from you.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:09 PM on September 16, 2018 [111 favorites]




for example, Mrs. Ford made mention that she was wearing a one piece bathing suit. At my schools, we all wore body suits and panty hose, as defensive measures.

Jesus Christ I didn’t realize that’s what it was for. I thought there was, like...a pool.

Jesus Christ.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:16 PM on September 16, 2018 [64 favorites]


[…] for example, Mrs. Ford made mention that she was wearing a one piece bathing suit. At my schools, we all wore body suits and panty hose, as defensive measures.

Wow, I wondered why she mentioned she was wearing a bathing suit but I didn't connect the pieces.

I wish someone would ask Kavanaugh's 68 signatories how they handled invitations from Kavanaugh's crew.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:16 PM on September 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


She is being doxxed on Twitter of course, with her home address and phone number being posted.

And being dismissed as a D donor. For a total of three donations totaling $72 over the last 4 years.
posted by chris24 at 5:23 PM on September 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


Corker joins Flake.

Burgess Everett (Politico)
More news: Sen. Bob Corker tells me that the Senate Judiciary panel shouldn't vote on Kavanaugh until Ford is heard out. "I think that would be best for all involved, including the nominee. If she does want to be heard, she should do so promptly."
posted by chris24 at 5:27 PM on September 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


I thought there was, like...a pool.

The WaPo article makes it sound like she had been to the pool earlier in the day:
Ford said she does not remember how the gathering came together the night of the incident. She said she often spent time in the summer at the Columbia Country Club pool in Chevy Chase, where in those pre-cellphone days, teenagers learned about gatherings via word of mouth. She also doesn’t recall who owned the house or how she got there.

Ford said she remembers that it was in Montgomery County, not far from the country club, and that no parents were home at the time.
posted by peeedro at 5:28 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


So I guess this is going to be a direct repeat of what happened to Anita Hill.

Complete with Orrin Hatch on Judiciary ready to be a complete bastard. Some things never change. If Ford testifies and someone doesn't duct tape Hatch's mouth, he might succeed in getting Kavanaugh confirmed but losing the Senate.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:31 PM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm not going to go crawling back through whatever online sewer of a comments section I found it in, but apparently she's also being smeared as a partisan accuser because she (allegedly -- the commenter was not someone whose credibility I would rely on) signed a letter protesting the Trump administration's family separation policy.

So somewhere out there on the internet a bot army is undoubtedly warming up, preparing to depict this poor woman, who didn't ask to be in this situation, as a hysterical (you KNOW they're going to use that word) SJW who is fabricating her accusation because that's just how deranged those SJWs are.
posted by Nerd of the North at 5:32 PM on September 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


because that's just how deranged those SJWs are.

And psychic too, planting the story with her therapist 6 years ago.
posted by chris24 at 5:35 PM on September 16, 2018 [22 favorites]


The gender gap is largest in history. He's not immune. They're not immune. This accusation or any other isn't the silver bullet that will take them down, the elections they lose because they drove away enough white women will be what takes them down.

I second this. Leading up to the election, I lost many Facebook acquaintances (and some actual “friends” and some family) but I could not bring myself to unfriend someone I used to be close with long ago, but had only reconnected with once Facebook came around. She was no fan of Trump in particular, but she wanted Republicans to win, Hilary is horrible etc. The day after the election she left a comment on a mutual friend’s post asking if thing were going to be that bad, really. I responded that maybe not for her as a white upper-middle-class person but certainly for a lot of other people and provided links to stories about children being taunted on the first day after the election and gave examples of many people who were soon going to have many problems.

She never posted about politics after that, so I imagined hopefully she at least had sense enough to be embarrassed by what was happening in the White House. Then this week suddenly she is posting and totally ripping Trump apart. I believe it was the story about Braille in the elevators that put her over the top, but it looks like this had been building up for a long time.

So there is one the story of one person reaching a tipping point, and hopefully it is being repeated with increasing frequency as we move forward!
posted by mikepop at 5:36 PM on September 16, 2018 [69 favorites]


So somewhere out there on the internet a bot army is undoubtedly warming up

For brevity, WaPo article edited to:

She said she often spent time in the summer at the CCCP
posted by adept256 at 5:37 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


Oh, she's also untrustworthy because her counselor's notes don't mention Kavanaugh by name [eyeroll]. Like there was any reason for that to come up or for the therapist to note it if it did.

So obviously this assault she's inventing was perpetrated by someone else, and she thought in July, "Say, if Brett Kavanaugh were nominated, I could stop him from being confirmed by saying he's the guy from my shrink's notes from 6 years ago that I've never seen."
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:37 PM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


Unless she were to decline to testify (which would be understandable, but she seems to have now indicated willingless) I don't think Flake and Corker can walk this one back. It's one thing to express concern, etc, and then go about your business. It's another to flat-out say "we won't go forward until X happens" and then to go forward anyway despite X not happening.

Yes, Yes, Flake is gonna Flake. Corker seems more likely to not pull a Flake to me.
posted by Justinian at 5:39 PM on September 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


Burgess Everett (Politico)
More news: Sen. Bob Corker tells me that the Senate Judiciary panel shouldn't vote on Kavanaugh until Ford is heard out. "I think that would be best for all involved, including the nominee. If she does want to be heard, she should do so promptly."


This isn't a promise to hold up the nomination, it's a threat by Corker against the victim that she has to come forth even more publicly than she already has and expose herself to even more personal danger from Corker's own party, or else he will confirm Kavanaugh on the vote scheduled for Thursday.

Corker is threatening the victim, not Trump or McConnell or Kavanaugh.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:56 PM on September 16, 2018 [78 favorites]


This occurred to me too. Hearing from Ford alone is not an investigation.
posted by bluesky43 at 5:59 PM on September 16, 2018 [6 favorites]


I wonder if it would make a difference if a million women showed up to support her during her testimony. Fill the chamber, fill the building, fill the streets. Just reminding them all that we’re here.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:00 PM on September 16, 2018 [65 favorites]


Count me in.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:01 PM on September 16, 2018 [9 favorites]


Well, and like a law professor and parent can just drop everything to perform for the Inquisition.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:02 PM on September 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


I'll see your 65 women rolodex with this pussyhat flashmob
posted by adept256 at 6:02 PM on September 16, 2018 [39 favorites]


But she has to do it by the COMPLETELY MADE UP DEADLINE because otherwise... err... more incriminating documents might show up?
posted by Artw at 6:03 PM on September 16, 2018 [23 favorites]


Yeah, it's bullshit. The alternative is they ram Kavanaugh through anyway though.
posted by Justinian at 6:07 PM on September 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


This isn't a promise to hold up the nomination, it's a threat by Corker against the victim that she has to come forth even more publicly than she already has and expose herself to even more personal danger from Corker's own party, or else he will confirm Kavanaugh on the vote scheduled for Thursday.

Corker isn't on the Judiciary Committee.
posted by chris24 at 6:10 PM on September 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


@LauraLitvan: Dems reject Chuck Grassley's idea of having staff interview Kavanaugh and his accuser `There’s a lot of information we don’t know and the FBI should have the time it needs to investigate this new material,' Feinstein says. `Staff calls aren’t the appropriate way to handle this'

Yeah, this goes beyond something that can be handled in a conference call.
posted by zachlipton at 6:16 PM on September 16, 2018 [38 favorites]


Remember how happy everyone was when Obama tried to close Guantanamo but couldn't get the votes for it? Remember how people lionize him for his effort, however quixotic? Ha. Ha ha. No. People think it's his fault because he couldn't get the votes together. Do you think people will give the Dems an A for effort when the Senate fails to remove Trump from office?

I don't know. I remember countless investigations against the Clintons that stuck despite being hot air. I'd like to see articles of impeachment against Trump for simply being a disgusting human being, and then watch the Republicans argue that he's not for years. At the end of those arguments, even when Democrats ultimately lose impeachment, it would be crystal clear that, yes, in fact, Trump is a disgusting human being. This could be done ad nauseum with Trump as a criminal, Trump as a traitor, Trump as incompetent, etc. This stuff is all true, and putting a magnifying glass on Trump day after day might eventually make even his staunchest supporters nauseous.
posted by xammerboy at 7:01 PM on September 16, 2018 [18 favorites]


It occurs to me that when Kavanaugh and the GOP were organizing the PR campaign with teenage girls at the hearing and carpool letters, they probably didn't know about Ford specifically. Only a handful of people in Democratic offices did. But they knew enough about his past to know what kind of surprises to expect.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:12 PM on September 16, 2018 [28 favorites]


At the end of those arguments, even when Democrats ultimately lose impeachment, it would be crystal clear that, yes, in fact, Trump is a disgusting human being. This could be done ad nauseum with Trump as a criminal, Trump as a traitor, Trump as incompetent, etc. This stuff is all true, and putting a magnifying glass on Trump day after day might eventually make even his staunchest supporters nauseous

That sounds pretty good to me as long as the midterms deliver the House (or in a perfect world the Senate too).
posted by bluesky43 at 7:31 PM on September 16, 2018


It occurs to me that when Kavanaugh and the GOP were organizing the PR campaign with teenage girls at the hearing and carpool letters, they probably didn't know about Ford specifically.

I agree that they seem not to have known about Ford specifically, but I also don't think this is just general "Well, probably he raped somebody" preparedness. I think they definitely know about some specific people that he raped or attempted to rape or impregnated and forced to get an abortion, and Ford just wasn't one of the names on their list.
posted by IAmUnaware at 7:31 PM on September 16, 2018 [7 favorites]


I believe it was the story about Braille in the elevators that put her over the top, but it looks like this had been building up for a long time.

Oh my that Braille thing was real? I just assumed it was all hypothetical, he said she said with maybe a few dropped [fake] tags.
posted by RolandOfEld at 7:45 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


You can only do opposite on the rape victims you’re not blacked out for I guess. Fatal flaw, motherfuckers.
posted by Artw at 7:47 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


Maybe you're familiar with 'Don't be a sucker', a post-war effort to educate the public about fascism, and predicts the rise of Trump 70 years ago.

This educational 1949 cartoon, 'Why play leap-frog?', explains economic growth:

Wages and prices often play leapfrog, one jumps up, and then the other. Which leads to a steady rise in our cost of living.

That's in the first minute, but please stay for how value is added to beef, incurring labour costs, because they give the bull a salon make-over on the way to the abattoir.

It all makes good economic sense in cartoon form. Really! What it misses is that increases in productivity haven't correlated with wages in half of the 70 years since this cartoon was made.

This cartoon, and 'don't be a sucker', were aimed at people that saw depression, fascism, and world war. There was seen a need for movies like this, because nobody wanted any of those things happen again.

I know the information is dated, and a modern economist could drill holes in this film. But, it seems like the effort to educate the public died with the memories of why it was needed.
posted by adept256 at 7:48 PM on September 16, 2018 [21 favorites]




Lauren Duca recently tweeted this:
Do you understand the power that has been awakened among women? We were always angry. The difference is now we’re angry and supercharged with fully-realized political agency. This is final wave feminism, honey. Get on board or get the fuck out of the way.
FINAL WAVE FEMINISM
posted by waitangi at 8:53 PM on September 16, 2018 [91 favorites]


FINAL WAVE FEMINISM

It's over 9000!
posted by Marticus at 8:55 PM on September 16, 2018 [19 favorites]


@mj_lee: Sen. Murkowski tells @stevebruskCNN that Senate Judiciary might need to consider delaying Kavanaugh vote: "This is not something that came up during the hearings. The hearings are now over. And if there is real substance to this it demands a response." Murkowski also notes that Christine Blasey Ford's allegations -- while they are old -- "seem to go into fair amount of detail." She says it is her job to figure out if there is any "there there."

Something, I guess?, but not much. This seems like an appropriate time to mention that there are no Republican women on the Senate Judiciary committee.
posted by zachlipton at 9:01 PM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


I might be slow, but doesn't "delay the vote" mean "give Kavanaugh a window to take himself out?" I don't know what could possibly happen to his story other than festering, especially if anything else comes out.
posted by rhizome at 9:04 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


In other news...

NYT, North Korea’s Trump-Era Strategy: Keep Making A-Bombs, but Quietly
North Korea is making nuclear fuel and building weapons as actively as ever, the publicly available evidence suggests. But he now appears to be borrowing a page from Israel, Pakistan and India: He is keeping quiet about it, conducting no public nuclear demonstrations and creating no crises, allowing Mr. Trump to portray a denuclearization effort as on track.
...
But even some of the president’s top national security officials privately concede that Mr. Trump’s declaration in June that “there is no longer a nuclear threat” from North Korea was a huge error, because it was taken as a signal by China and Russia that the crisis was over and that they could resume trading with the country.

Current and former intelligence officials say new assessments suggest that Mr. Kim has carefully read Mr. Trump and concluded that as long as the optics are good, and the exchanges between the two leaders are warm, he can hold off demands for progress toward disarmament. If Mr. Kim does not conduct tests, Mr. Trump is unlikely to call out evidence of a continued nuclear buildup.

“I’m shocked at how superficial things have been,” said Jung H. Pak, the C.I.A.’s mission leader for North Korea until she left last year for the Brookings Institution. “I think the North Koreans smell dysfunction and they see dysfunction in the president’s tweets and his compliments and his willingness to meet again.”
...
Whether they do see each other soon depends largely on the initiatives of Mr. Moon, the South Korean president, during his trip to Pyongyang. He has emerged as the most important actor in this nuclear dance, and he sees his role less as an American ally and more as a critical intermediary. He is concerned, one senior South Korean official said, that if Mr. Trump loses the House or feels more pressure from the special counsel investigation, he may veer toward resuming threats of military action.
There's also a WSJ piece, clearly trying to set the table ahead of tomorrow morning's Security Council meeting, New Doubts Emerge About U.S.-Led Sanctions on North Korea, in which a UN report is set to explain that sanctions have been ineffective, with much blame cast on China.

There's a weird thing going on here though. The Times story cites Nikki Haley as accusing the Russians of working to alter the draft report and said the experts who wrote the report "caved." The WSJ story, which is all about the report, does not mention this.
posted by zachlipton at 9:10 PM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


FINAL WAVE FEMINISM
C'EST LA LUTTE FINALE
GROUPONS-NOUS ET DEMAIN
posted by runcifex at 9:10 PM on September 16, 2018 [12 favorites]


Friends of Graham’s say that on the things that matter to him most, his sycophancy has been a success.

...There, Graham and Trump discovered their mutual love for bro-ish trash talk and golf. “I think Lindsey likes the president a lot more than he thought he would,” says Steve Largent, the former NFL player who became close with Graham when they were freshmen in the House. But more, “I think Lindsey feels a little bit like the adult in the room, speaking with the president. I’m saying this — Lindsey has never said this to me — but there’s something about, I’m not going to say innocence, but the president’s affability as well as his naïveté that Lindsey is drawn to.”...

Oh god, the world's going to hell and Graham is doodling Trump's name in his notebook
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:28 PM on September 16, 2018 [13 favorites]


If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried.

you know there's one weird trick to avoiding this kind of anxiety: DON'T SEXUALLY ASSAULT PEOPLE
posted by murphy slaw at 9:37 PM on September 16, 2018 [76 favorites]


Here's a tweet by Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post. If you click into it you can scroll through an address Kavanaugh made at the Yale Law School Federalist Society Banquet in 2014.

He regales the guests talking about his falling down drunk hi jinks while at Yale Law School. So his drunk days continued from high school, through college and continued as a full-grown adult at law school.

Seems this guy has a real bro-ish drinking problem. The question is whether he still has one today given he still thinks it's hilarious in 2014. Seems some questions along these lines are in order. You don't want a black out drunk on the Supreme Court. Or perhaps gambling is just substituting one addiction for another. There's something, more than one thing, that just ain't right about this guy.
posted by JackFlash at 9:47 PM on September 16, 2018 [67 favorites]


FINAL WAVE FEMINISM

As a lefty/progressive guy whose eyes were opened at Boyzone and Schrödinger's Rapist and Emotional Labor, I say let's bring this on! We need more women and POC at every level of everything.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:47 PM on September 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


Eh, let's not equate addiction with being a bad person. If not just because that's an excuse for bad behavior, but it treats a disease as if it's a character flaw. I guarantee you know an addict that is not a rapist.
posted by adept256 at 10:16 PM on September 16, 2018 [5 favorites]


I’m gonna equate being a hidden addict that is also a judge that is also hiding that from the public as part of being appointed to the Supreme Court with maybe being a bit of a bad person TBH.
posted by Artw at 10:21 PM on September 16, 2018 [43 favorites]


Um.

@TomArnold: Mark Burnett just went apeshit & choked me at this huge Emmy party then he ran away with his torn Pink shirt & missing gold chain. I’m waiting for LAPD

I know we already have the batshitinsane tag, but does everything really need to be just this batshitinsane?
posted by zachlipton at 10:22 PM on September 16, 2018 [24 favorites]


Kavanaugh is Thomas 2.0, and will be expected to vote the same way, as a partisan hack. Is his wife a conspriacy theorist/lobbyist as well?
posted by benzenedream at 10:22 PM on September 16, 2018


Here's my latest circuit design from my day job. It's an active load for testing power supplies. I just sent the CAD files off to manufacturing.

Loadstar rev 1

[real]
posted by ryanrs at 10:23 PM on September 16, 2018 [14 favorites]


I know we already have the batshitinsane tag, but does everything really need to be just this batshitinsane?

apeshitinsane, surely.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:36 PM on September 16, 2018 [8 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 House:
-- ME-02: Siena poll has GOP incumbent Poliquin up 47-42 on Dem Golden [MOE: +/- 4.5%]. [Trump 51-41 | Cook: Tossup]

-- KS-02: Siena poll has Dem Davis up 45-44 on GOPer Watkins [MOE: +/- 4.8%]. [Trump 56-37 | Cook: Tossup]

-- CO-06: Siena poll has Dem Crow up 51-40 on GOP incumbent Coffman [MOE: +/- 4.8%]. [Clinton 50-41 | Cook: Tossup]

-- IA-04: Expedition Strategies poll has GOP incumbent King up 43-37 on Dem Scholten [MOE: +/- 5.0%]. Poll appears to have been commissioned by the Scholten campaign [Trump 61-34 | Cook: Likely R]

-- Enten: Based on historicals, polls likely understating Dem margin on Election Day (you might remember Elliott Morris found the same thing a few days back).

-- Interesting thread from Wasserman pointing out you really need to dig beneath the headline numbers to see who's doing better in a race, and look at stuff like favorability and district partisan balance. This is why the raters have looked at those Siena polls with narrow leads for GOP incumbents and said, "Oooh, that is not good for the Republicans."

-- Lots to chew on in this faaaaascinating NYT story on the midterms. Takeaways:
* GOP internal polling has 23 incumbents tied or trailing. That's not even mentioning all of the open seats.
* NRCC and CLF (main super PAC) are at odds over strategy, each thinking the other is wasting money.
* Polling continually shows GOP voters don't think the Dems can win, leading to turnout concerns. See also this Axios piece.
** 2018 Senate:
-- MT: YouGov poll has Dem incumbent Tester up 47-45 on GOPer Rosendale [MOE: +/- 5.2%].

-- MO: YouGov poll has Dem incumbent McCaskill tied 45-45 with GOPer Hawley [MOE: +/- 3.3%].

-- NM: Albuquerque Journal poll has Dem incumbent Heinrich at 47, GOPer Rich at 26, and Libertarian Johnson at 16 [MOE: +/- 3.1%].

-- MN (A): Mason-Dixon poll has incumbent Dem Klobuchar up 60-30 GOPer Newberger [MOE: +/- 3.5%].

-- MN (B): Same Mason-Dixon poll has appointed incumbent Dem Smith up 44-37 on GOPer Housley.

-- NV: Gravis poll has Dem Rosen up 47-45 on GOP incumbent Heller [MOE: +/- 3.7%].
** Odds & ends:
-- NM gov: Same ABQ Journal poll has Dem Lujan Grisham up 50-43 on GOPer Pearce.

-- MN gov: Same Mason-Dixon poll has Dem Walz up 45-36. | RGA appears on the verge of giving up on this race, as they've begun cancelling ad buys.

-- OR gov: Hoffman Research poll has Dem incumbent Brown up 46-36 on GOPer Buehler [MOE:+/- 3.8%].

-- NV gov: Same Gravis poll has Dem Sisolak up 50-38 on GOPer Laxalt. | Downballot: LG: Dem Marshall up 45-35 on GOPer Roberson; AG: Dem Araujo tied 40-40 with GOP incumbent Cegavske

-- KS gov: Former and current GOP officeholders declining to endorse Kobach, or outright endorsing Dem candidate Kelly.

-- Total primary turnout in all states versus 2014: GOP up 24.5%; Dem up 64.4%.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:37 PM on September 16, 2018 [42 favorites]


I’m gonna equate being a hidden addict that is also a judge that is also hiding that from the public as part of being appointed to the Supreme Court with maybe being a bit of a bad person TBH.

At the very least a person with serious blackmail potential, which is definitely not a good thing for a SC justice.
posted by Pouteria at 11:24 PM on September 16, 2018 [28 favorites]


Arsenal For Democracy Episode on the Mass and Del primaries, good people on the ground information.
posted by The Whelk at 11:29 PM on September 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


The moment I saw this my heart sank. It's as inevitable as an egg that's already rolled off the kitchen counter & is halfway to the floor.

Flake opposes quick vote on Kavanaugh, putting confirmation in doubt
Three of those people also said they expect the president to go after Kavanaugh's accuser rather than to turn on the judge. They noted that Trump has done so before, not just denouncing his own accusers but also attacking those of others, notably, failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.
posted by scalefree at 12:01 AM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


I had this thought earlier. To get the plea deal, Manafort's would have already unloaded everything he knows to Mueller's team. More evidence that things may start happening at breakneck pace *

* for a federal court.
posted by mikelieman at 2:30 AM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


I got a call from Beto O'Rourke's campaign last night, asking me to join them for a GOTV event. I thanked them, wished them luck, and told them I'm really not much good for this sort of thing on account of living in Maryland.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:29 AM on September 17, 2018 [15 favorites]


I know we've been bad in so many ways, but I still can't wrap my head around what we've done to deserve this hell.

Talking with our mouths full, not using our inside voice, not washing behind our ears, stepping on cracks, eating with our elbows on the table, not using sir or ma'am, and all the other things our mothers told us not to do but we did anyways. It's all coming back to us hard now.
posted by LizBoBiz at 4:43 AM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


@TomArnold: Mark Burnett just went apeshit & choked me at this huge Emmy party then he ran away with his torn Pink shirt & missing gold chain. I’m waiting for LAPD

TIL that Tom Arnold has been doing an investigative-journalism show for Viceland called "The Hunt For The Trump Tapes", and Episode 1 is about The Apprentice and apparently Mark Burnett didn't like it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:43 AM on September 17, 2018 [27 favorites]


I got a call from Beto O'Rourke's campaign last night, asking me to join them for a GOTV event. I thanked them, wished them luck, and told them I'm really not much good for this sort of thing on account of living in Maryland.

Me too—last week, but via text. I told the texter I live in Va. she asked if I’d care to update my address in their records. I said no, that my address had never been and will never be local to Texas. They need to do a basic sort of donor addresses before wasting their time and efforts asking people in other time zones to come knock doors for Beto.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 4:53 AM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


Tom Arnold's story is apparently now backed up by a witness account by, of all people, Alyson Hannigan.

2018, y'all
posted by zombieflanders at 5:04 AM on September 17, 2018 [45 favorites]


Christine Blasey Ford's attorney, Debra Katz, just now on CBS This Morning:
Would your client be willing to testify under oath?

"My client will do whatever is necessary to make sure that the Senate Judiciary Committee has the full story...to allow them to make a full informed decision," says Debra Katz

"This is not an exercise that designed to get the truth, this an exercise that's designed to terrify somebody who's already been traumatized" says Katz on her client testifying in front of Judiciary
So they're calling the Senate GOP's bluff…

As for the greater significance of this charge against Kavanaugh, Shareblue editor Caroline Orr (@RVAWonk): "As you're considering the sexual assault accusation against Brett Kavanaugh, don't separate that from his anti-choice stance and his views on birth control (an 'abortion-inducing drug'). IT'S. ALL. ABOUT. CONTROLLING. WOMEN."
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:06 AM on September 17, 2018 [73 favorites]


According to Newsweek, Ted Cruz is mailing donation letters disguised as a legal summons:
The brown envelopes read “SUMMONS ENCLOSED- OPEN IMMEDIATELY” in large black letters, and have a return address of “official county summons.”

While the letter inside the envelope is a donation form for the Cruz campaign, there is some fear that certain voters may be confused by the mailer and think that they are required by law to pay a fee.

“Received this for my 88-year-old grandma,” wrote Sean Owen of Austin on Twitter. “Says it's a summons from Travis County, but is actually asking for money for Ted Cruz. Did your campaign authorize this? Is this even legal? Shame on you.”

posted by TwoStride at 5:45 AM on September 17, 2018 [73 favorites]


Severe moment of WTF:

@peteralexander
FLAGGING: Kellyanne Conway, moments ago to Fox News, on Kavanaugh’s accuser: “This woman should not be ignored and should not be insulted. She should be heard.”
posted by Artw at 5:57 AM on September 17, 2018 [27 favorites]




“Received this for my 88-year-old grandma,” wrote Sean Owen of Austin on Twitter. “Says it's a summons from Travis County, but is actually asking for money for Ted Cruz. Did your campaign authorize this? Is this even legal? Shame on you.”

@GeneforTexas Hello.

This is violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA).

I know, because I passed this law in 2015.

See below:
posted by scalefree at 6:06 AM on September 17, 2018 [90 favorites]


Kellyanne Conway, moments ago to Fox News, on Kavanaugh’s accuser: “This woman should not be ignored and should not be insulted. She should be heard.”

Well, she’s white, wealthy, and one of their own, is the first thing that came to mind. So that...”helps.”

NYTimes: Bloomberg May Run for President as a Democrat.

Every time I see this, I laugh. Literally the only thing in Bloomberg’s pro column is “has billions of dollars,” which is a significant con to the most active wing of the left. And no one likes him. He’s got the charisma of a toad.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:08 AM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


Kellyanne Conway, moments ago to Fox News, on Kavanaugh’s accuser: “This woman should not be ignored and should not be insulted. She should be heard.”

Greg Sargent:
Folks, treat this Kellyanne claim with skepticism.

In this exchange, Kellyanne is *not* saying the Judiciary Committee will bring in Ford for public testimony.

She's saying the Committee will decide *how* she'll be "heard," which could mean *private* phone calls w/Senators.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:10 AM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


Conway is the Trump White House's fig leaf. Her job is to seem like a facsimile of a reasonable woman without actually taking a genuinely principled stance. She even claims she had conversations about this with Trump (who supposedly agrees, if you can believe that) instead of, say, resigning in disgust over the number of confirmed abusers in his administration.

Talking to reporters, she went on to say, "She should testify under oath and she should do it on Capitol Hill but that’s up to the Senate Judiciary Committee they need to decide." And also that this allegation "has to be weighed against what we already know, which is that Judge Kavanaugh is a man of character and integrity... he has been lauded by women from every different aspect of his life."

But Debra Katz just told CNN that no one has asked her to testify yet: "We've heard from no one. We've seen various statements made on television, but statements that are being bandied about for political reason. But no one's asked her."
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:12 AM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


A lawyer close to the White House said the nomination will not be withdrawn.

“No way, not even a hint of it,” the lawyer said. “If anything, it’s the opposite. If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried. We can all be accused of something.”


It's almost as if... these Republican men have certain things in common...
posted by delfin at 6:18 AM on September 17, 2018 [35 favorites]


Anita Hill was allowed to testify. Thomas was confirmed anyway. Maybe certain R's just think it doesn't matter who testifies, Kavanaugh will get confirmed regardless? I hope enough has changed since the Thomas hearings for god's sake, but who knows.
posted by gwint at 6:21 AM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


‘The House Is Probably Lost’: GOP Frets Blue Wave Could Decimate Party - Cameron Joseph, TPM
Democrats are still the underdogs for Senate control, and the high number of essentially tied seats means their chances of losing ground may be as likely as them capturing the chamber. But in past years, most close races tend to break towards one party or the other on Election Day. That could mean Republicans end up netting a seat or two — but it could also give Democrats the narrowest of majorities in the Senate.

“We’ve held the pieces together through Labor Day. If we can hold the pieces together for another two months this could happen,” said one Senate Democratic strategist. “I still wouldn’t call us favorites, we’ve got to hit an inside straight here, but it’s entirely possible.”
Far from a done deal though.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:24 AM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


(Meanwhile during this new Kavanaugh controversy, the mainstream media has been diligently avoiding the proverbial GOP elephant in the room: Donald Trump is a rapist.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:24 AM on September 17, 2018 [67 favorites]


Conway is the Trump White House's fig leaf.

They're all fig leaves. Nothing they say should be reported on, ever. This White House and its allies and its proxies and its wholly owned subsidiaries have proven that they have not so much as a nodding relationship with the truth, and what they say should be treated as not only worthless, but actively corrosive to discourse and the nation.

Report what actions are taken. Report what regulations are lifted, what laws are passed, what orders are given and carried out. None of their words about these things are true and germane and useful. Treat them that way. Give them the consideration they deserve, which is to say none whatsoever, not even to report that they were said.
posted by Etrigan at 6:24 AM on September 17, 2018 [20 favorites]


If somebody can be brought down by accusations like this, then you, me, every man certainly should be worried.

"Who among us HASN'T gotten blackout drunk and groped a woman? I mean, it was just college hijinks! Hahaha, how hilarious we were. Now, if we were to prosecute that kind of sexual assault as though it were REAL sexual assault, there'd hardly be a man left standing, would there?"

It's like they can't comprehend that there are people out there who aren't deeply fucked-up sexual predators. The only way their worldview works is if every man alive has the same sociopathic contempt for women.
posted by Mayor West at 6:27 AM on September 17, 2018 [68 favorites]


Susan Collins blames the Democrats:
Ms. Collins said in an interview on Sunday night that she considered the allegations serious and that Ms. Ford needed to be personally interviewed to get a fuller account. But Ms. Collins, who could conceivably decide the outcome in the narrowly divided Senate, said Democrats had done a disservice to both Ms. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh with their handling of the accusations.

“What is puzzling to me is the Democrats, by not bringing this out earlier, after having had this information for more than six weeks, have managed to cast a cloud of doubt on both the professor and the judge,” she said. “If they believed Professor Ford, why didn’t they surface this information earlier so that he could be questioned about it? And if they didn’t believe her and chose to withhold the information, why did they decide at the 11th hour to release it? It is really not fair to either of them the way it is was handled.”
Feinstein should have at least brought this to the committee in closed session, but it's not like this was a clear case, she was probably weighting the credibility of the information with what she knew Republicans like Collins would do to Ford's life, and that's not a light choice, and that's being proved as we speak with Republican attacks against the victim and her family.

Collins just wants this to go away. She's looking for every excuse to vote yes. There's a reason for that, Collins wants to overturn Roe. Period. There's no mysterious 11th dimension motive, that's the policy outcome that she wants. She just doesn't want to be blamed for it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:28 AM on September 17, 2018 [36 favorites]


I don’t think any of the GOP Senators who are still tethered to reality are relishing the idea of doing what they did to Anita Hill to a very suburban looking white woman in the month before a midterm election. An election where they’re already facing a massive enthusiasm gap and need suburban white women.

If I had to guess, I’d say the sociopathic misogynist wing of the GOP is relishing exactly that, because they have been chafing away as #metoo unfolded, all of them secretly afraid they were next. There might be a sense of putting these hysterical women in their place, once and for all.

The remaining members of the GOP who are not full on delusional see this as a very, very bad for them and want no part of it. I stress “not delusional,” because we all know they are still evil. But there are still a few who are not completely stupid, and have well-honed survival instincts. And I think most of them are Senators.

So. This should be interesting.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:28 AM on September 17, 2018 [42 favorites]


They’ll Crawl Over Broken Glass for Kavanaugh - Josh Marshall, TPM OpEd
... Republicans and the conservative legal movement (led by and typified by The Federalist Society, but not limited to it) have been working to get this fifth vote for more than forty years. This is the pay-off. They got one part of the way there with the corrupt Gorsuch nomination. Now they have the fifth vote in their sights.

The chance of letting that opportunity slip through their fingers is unthinkable. The White House and Senate Republicans are likely thinking that regardless of the credibility of the claim or what they think of it, Kavanaugh absolutely positively has to be confirmed. Because it’s not just about Kavanaugh. If he’s not confirmed it opens up the possibility that they won’t get the chance to replace Justice Kennedy and secure the fifth vote on the Court at all. Given that the Garland seat was stolen, should Democrats reclaim the chamber, I don’t think they should approve any nominee from President Trump. That’s unlikely. But Democrats [if they control the Senate] won’t give the President the opportunity to nominate a maximalist right wing judge the way Republicans are now. That’s a big difference.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:31 AM on September 17, 2018 [13 favorites]


We've been here before: Jan, 15 2008: Draft Bloomberg Movement Launched
Two veteran political consultants from different political parties have joined forces and formed an independent committee to nudge New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg into running for President in 2008.

The two consultants, Douglas Bailey and Gerald Rafshoon, told reporters Tuesday that Bloomberg's name recognition, independent political affiliation and personal fortune make him unusually well positioned to break the partisan gridlock in Washington. "Michael Bloomberg, if he runs," said Bailey, "will be elected President of the United States."
Somehow his name comes up every election but no one but Washington political consultants and columnists have ever had any interest in him running.
posted by octothorpe at 6:35 AM on September 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


Also, what are the odds that some of the delay talk is about giving them time to do some polling and assess the possible damage of forcing Kavanaugh through immediately?
posted by schadenfrau at 6:36 AM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


Susan Collins: “What is puzzling to me is the Democrats, by not bringing this out earlier, after having had this information for more than six weeks, have managed to cast a cloud of doubt on both the professor and the judge,” she said. “If they believed Professor Ford, why didn’t they surface this information earlier so that he could be questioned about it? And if they didn’t believe her and chose to withhold the information, why did they decide at the 11th hour to release it? It is really not fair to either of them the way it is was handled.”

The interview with one of Ford's lawyers this morning on NPR indicated that Ford requested anonymity after delivering her letter and Feinstein respected that. It was Ford's decision to go public. At least that's the story they're telling now (I somehow have a feeling this was cover for Feinstein but I could be wrong). The lawyer also indicated - as well she should - Ford was concerned about her and her family's safety but ultimately felt it was her civic duty to come forward.

Ford also has agreed to testify.

posted by bluesky43 at 6:39 AM on September 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


Here's the thing, why Kavanaugh? They have a list of 24 other ghouls vetted by the Federalist Society that would all rule indistinguishable from Kavanaugh, and surely all 24 weren't blackout fratboi rapists in highschool. They could easily force Kavanaugh to withdraw, nominate Hardison or Coney Barrett, and have this wrapped up before November with nothing the Democrats could really do about it.

Unless there's something special about Kavanaugh. Like he's the only one on that list who believes the president is unable to be prosecuted and has already pledged allegiance to Trump behind closed doors.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:41 AM on September 17, 2018 [96 favorites]


Doktor Zed: Conway is the Trump White House's fig leaf. Her job is to seem like a facsimile of a reasonable woman without actually taking a genuinely principled stance.

Absolutely true, but it's reassuring that "taking the accusation seriously" is apparently what a fig leaf looks like now, as opposed to total dismissal. I mean, I don't think very many Republicans reacted to the Roy Moore horrors with "Let's hear the women out" (except for the few who already opposed him for his many other problems).

It's possible they think they can somehow spin even an undeniable story (the usual creeps are already doing a "Who among us" routine). That was somewhat more difficult with Moore (though a few people definitely tried, with the whole "Mary was underage" thing). But just like I felt that after Helsinki, Trump would be better served by openly embracing Putin instead of waffling, so too would I imagine the optimum "strategy" for Kavanaugh's supporters to be total, unrelenting denial.

ZeusHumms: They’ll Crawl Over Broken Glass for Kavanaugh - Josh Marshall, TPM OpEd

Some people perceive this as a reason to lose hope, but I think it's better framed as a reason to scatter broken glass in their path; they'll probably reach the destination but in considerably worse shape than they started.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:42 AM on September 17, 2018 [64 favorites]


Also, what are the odds that some of the delay talk is about giving them time to do some polling and assess the possible damage of forcing Kavanaugh through immediately?

Polling of voters in Maine on Kavanaugh has shown him underwater for a month now, and Collins is still playing dumb fucking games with us. This is about something else for her, be it personal and ideological, a sociopathic (if not entirely inaccurate) assumption that this will all blow over in time for her re-election bid in 2020, or just straight-up quid pro quo.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:45 AM on September 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


Yup. The real question for the three GOP Senators who have said they favor "delaying" the vote on Kavanaugh is whether or not they will vote no if (when) McConnell brings his confirmation to the floor for a vote. And I think the answer is no.

This is just thoughts and prayers level blather to try and burnish their image as mavericky independents, not any sort of actual statement of intent to block Kavanaugh. As several people have noted, this is absolutely critical to the entire Republican plan for decades. There is no possible way they'll let it fail.

In theory they could give Kavanaugh the boot and even if they lose the Senate in November (unlikely) rush through Trump's next appointee during the lame duck session. I highly doubt they'd want to take that risk, especially as giving Kavanaugh the boot now might seriously harm their odds of keeping the Senate after November.

I still think the political calculus is that there's no real risk to any Republican in confirming Kavanaugh and there's a great deal of risk for them in not confirming him. Vote no on Kavanaugh and the Trump cultists will be so outraged they might stay home, vote yes on Kavanaugh and at some future point there may be nebulous blame floating around that won't really hurt any Republicans. The clear choice for any Republican Senator is to vote yes on Kavanaugh.

I'm cake bet sure that McConnell will put Kavanaugh's nomination to a vote soon, and that he will be confirmed.

T.D. Strange Because he's already started the process and there's no actual downside for any Republican voting to confirm him. And the "fuck you" value of voting to confirm Kavanaugh has gone up with the allegations of sexual assault, which makes him perversely more attractive to many Republican voters.

The question is always: will this depress the Republican turnout? And while there may be a number of Repubican voters who aren't exactly enthuzed about placing (another) sexual predator on the Court, they're not going to care enough about it to stay home in November. More important, there's a **LOT** of Republican voters who really like "fuck you" as a position from their candidates, and voting yes on Kavanaugh now will both look stronger ("they stood up to the Democrat smear machine!") and gives them that "fuck you" answer that the Republican voting base loves.

There's no downside to voting yes, and there is a downside to voting no. Therefore they will vote yes.
posted by sotonohito at 6:46 AM on September 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


Unless there's something special about Kavanaugh.

Something something Anthony Kennedy, Anthony Kennedy's son and Deutschbank something something
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:47 AM on September 17, 2018 [68 favorites]


Kavanaugh wasn't on the original Federalist Society list that Trump swore he'd take all his nominees from. He was only added after Mueller was appointed. It's not too hard to draw a line connecting those events.
posted by scalefree at 6:47 AM on September 17, 2018 [87 favorites]


Also, going against Trump in any way at all is known to be very bad for Republican politicians. Unless Trump withdraws Kavanaugh's nomination, they're positioned between either voting Yes, or going against Trump, which will infuriate his base.

And Trump's base is about 50% of the Republican voters, even if only a few of them stay home in November that's enough to tip a lot of elections.
posted by sotonohito at 6:49 AM on September 17, 2018


They need to do a basic sort of donor addresses before wasting their time and efforts asking people in other time zones to come knock doors for Beto.
Textbanking databases come from different sources, and addresses may not be part of it, or current.
Any texting op I've been on has a box for 'out of state', so by answering that, you've made their database a little better.
posted by MtDewd at 6:51 AM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


So when's the pussyhat flashmob?

From the "tipping point" link above,

When organizations turn a blind eye to sexual harassment in the workplace, how many people need to take a stand before the behavior is no longer seen as normal?

According to a new paper to be published tomorrow in Science (link is external), there is a quantifiable answer: roughly 25% of people need to take a stand before large-scale social change occurs. This idea of a social tipping point applies to standards in the workplace, and any type of movement or initiative.


Seems do-able.
posted by petebest at 6:51 AM on September 17, 2018 [15 favorites]


Jr. has weighed in on Ford's allegations on instagram.

I really hope Mueller takes this guy down. Hard.
posted by Tabitha Someday at 6:53 AM on September 17, 2018 [27 favorites]


The special thing he brings to the table is “being corrupt as shit, no, more corrupt than that”. Everyone is very aware of this, hence the rush, and at a guess I’d say the history of sexual assaults is something that was known at some level and even approved of for ensuring the corruption. That a victim would slip through the cracks and not get stomped on before going public is maybe not what they intended, but to not exactly a minus to them. These guys love to wink and gloat, remember.
posted by Artw at 6:54 AM on September 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


The evil but not delusional Republicans are quaking in anticipation of more women coming forward.
posted by jointhedance at 6:58 AM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


So Hillary Clinton wrote an excellent op-ed in the Atlantic which was published yesterday. I encourage you to read it. If nothing else, it feels pretty great to read a cogent summary (with some omissions, but still) of what the hell is going on and some real solutions.

She opens with exactly the three things that to my mind at least are the worst of the worst - baby jails, Puerto Rico, and Russian election interference. Doesn't directly call him on collusion, which I kind of get.

Goes on to outline 5 ways that Trump is destroying our democracy: assault on the rule of law, election legitimacy (e.g. Russia AND gerrymandering and vote suppression), on truth and reason (e.g. lying constantly, attacks on the press), corruption, undermining national unity through hate speech.

Goes further to really call him out and a lot - transgender military service, Muslim ban, police oversight, civil rights protection, ICE. Like Obama recently did, she then describes him as a symptom while calling out the Kochs and Mercer. She explicitly notes that "both sides" stuff is bullshit and this is not a symmetrical problem.

And because she is an actual adult , she then offers solutions:

1. Turnout and vote in the midterms.
2. Serious housecleaning "after Trump" e.g. implementing Intelligence committee recommendations on election security, repairing the Voting Rights act, overturn Citizens United, abolish the Electoral College.
3. Try to heal social fabric through national service programs, civics education, economic reform.

I really needed this article this morning. This is what some semblance of real leadership looks like from the party, in my opinion. And kinda feels like a shift in the window, especially re: electoral college.
posted by lazaruslong at 6:59 AM on September 17, 2018 [155 favorites]


The evil but not delusional Republicans are quaking in anticipation of more women coming forward.

The speed of pulling together the 65 women who didn't go to high school with Kavanaugh makes me suspicious but is there any sourced indication of more women? I haven't seen any. If there are, I hope they make the decision with some speed to come forward - Ford is going to be a rush testimony followed by a rushed Kavanaugh and then boom, another sexual harasser on the SC.
posted by bluesky43 at 7:01 AM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Sen. Collins: “... If they believed Professor Ford, why didn’t they surface this information earlier so that he could be questioned about it? And if they didn’t believe her and chose to withhold the information, why did they decide at the 11th hour to release it?

Remember that Grassley had his "65 women for Kavanaugh" letter all ready to go. The question is *not* why didn't the Democrats release the information sooner, it's why did Senator Collins' own party keep this information out of the public hearings, and damn near keep it from becoming public at all?

Collins is a fraud, through and through.
posted by martin q blank at 7:02 AM on September 17, 2018 [12 favorites]


HRC: 2. Serious housecleaning "after Trump" e.g. implementing Intelligence committee recommendations on election security, repairing the Voting Rights act, overturn Citizens United, abolish the Electoral College.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by bluesky43 at 7:02 AM on September 17, 2018 [17 favorites]


surely all 24 weren't blackout fratboi rapists in highschool

To be honest, at this point, the only reason I agree with this "surely" is that some of them are women. Otherwise I'd put it no higher than "possibly".
posted by howfar at 7:03 AM on September 17, 2018 [30 favorites]


sotonohito, that analysis just strikes me as wrong. There is a very clear, quantifiable downside to Susan Collins for voting yes, and it’s currently at about 1.2 mil.

And I think they’re all wondering what happens if they lose the Senate entirely. If they delay on Kavanaugh until after the midterms, they probably keep the Senate and still get him on the bench. If they rush him through now they might lose the Senate. Some of them may think that’s worth it, but I bet some of them are having to think about it.

I’d say they’re waiting to see if more accusers come forward, to see what the new info does to polling, and to figure out their own fortunes.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:03 AM on September 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


They have a list of 24 other ghouls vetted by the Federalist Society that would all rule indistinguishable from Kavanaugh, and surely all 24 weren't blackout fratboi rapists in highschool.

Citation needed. But also, my guess is that Kavanaugh bent the knee, kissed the ring, and otherwise ingratiated himself with Trump in a way that put him at the top of the list. Some of the other candidates might not have, or not done so enthusiastically enough.
posted by emjaybee at 7:04 AM on September 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


but is there any sourced indication of more women?

I've not heard of any. I am predicting based on my belief that an entitled privileged man who got away with assaulting one woman has probably assaulted other women.
posted by jointhedance at 7:08 AM on September 17, 2018 [12 favorites]


I would just like to highlight the fact that Kavanaugh is currently a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court. Stopping his appointment to the Supreme Court is not enough. He needs to be investigated and impeached and removed from his current position as well. I'm making this clear to my Senators and rep today when I call them -- this goes way beyond SCOTUS; this is about a sexual predator who is right now a circuit court judge with considerable power. He isn't qualified for the job he's applying for OR the one he currently has. I'm coming for both and I will continue moving goalposts as necessary until he has no say in the life or actions of any woman or girl, including his own daughters.
posted by melissasaurus at 7:09 AM on September 17, 2018 [96 favorites]


I wonder if Kavanaugh will still be allowed to coach girl's basketball after all this.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:10 AM on September 17, 2018 [44 favorites]


Collins is still playing dumb fucking games with us. This is about something else for her

I don't understand this thinking. We're talking about a Supreme Court justice. This is one of, if not the, most valuable prizes in U.S. politics- especially for conservatives, who have for decades laid the groundwork to attack a number of SCOTUS decisions they want reversed. There doesn't have to be anything else. This is it. This is the prize. Like Josh Marshall said, they'll crawl over glass to get this.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:17 AM on September 17, 2018 [13 favorites]


There is a very clear, quantifiable downside to Susan Collins for voting yes, and it’s currently at about 1.2 mil.

Another downside is around 550,000: the number of women of voting age in Maine in 2020. How many of them who were okay with her playacting at being the Adult Moderate Republican Woman are going to be okay with her sitting face-to-face with a nice, respectable white woman and ignoring her?
posted by Etrigan at 7:18 AM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


Does anyone know if Collins has thought about retirement to the right wing grift? The classy kind, with seats on boards and such, not the kind where you sell nonsense books and supplements to addle-brained racists. I wonder if there are some straight up bribes being offered right about now.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:22 AM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


This is it. This is the prize. Like Josh Marshall said, they'll crawl over glass to get this.

I've said this before here but I'll say it again, many moons ago in the early 2000's I picked up a an old revision of Understanding American Government in a discount book shop. I don't remember much about that book but one thing I remember clearly is that it stated unequivocally the most important and significant action of the President is placing Justices on the Supreme Court.
posted by PenDevil at 7:23 AM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


Empress, my kids are in seventh grade in public school in Florida, and right now they're doing a year-long civics class. (The teacher is also giving them one extra credit point for each time, up to five, that they publicly recite the preamble to the Constitution today. It's Constitution Day, y'all!) The syllabus is really impressive. Could MeMail it to you if you're interested.
posted by martin q blank at 7:25 AM on September 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


While we're at this whole "getting rid of judges who have sexually edit: assaulted women" can we get some justice for Anita Hill too?
posted by nikaspark at 7:25 AM on September 17, 2018 [40 favorites]


The other thing is the uncertainty. Do any of them know how compromised Kavanaugh is? I bet not, which is worse, because they suspect, along with the rest of us. He’s got addiction, gambling, sexual assault, and money problems, and he was picked to put the fix in on an investigation about the President, the GOP, and Russia.

If you’re a Republican Senator who wants to stay a Senator, or who is already wary of what’s going to happen in 2020, do you want a Democratic House investigating Kavanaugh for the next two years?

Actually, that’s the a though. Have any Dems come out and said they will thoroughly investigate Kavanaugh if they take back the House and he’s on the court?

Because the one thing they might still fear is sunlight, and none of them know what investigations will turn up, or who they’ll take down.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:27 AM on September 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


Actually, that’s the a though. Have any Dems come out and said they will thoroughly investigate Kavanaugh if they take back the House and he’s on the court?

Jerry Nadler has, yes.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:29 AM on September 17, 2018 [17 favorites]


Does anyone know if Collins has thought about retirement to the right wing grift?

The U.S. Senate is not Step 3 on anyone's Grift Plan. That's what the House is for. You only get to the Senate by knowing that you are Important and Necessary to the Security of the Republic, and the only way you leave is when you already know you're dead. She might retire, but only after she knows she's not going to win in 2020.
posted by Etrigan at 7:31 AM on September 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


Fully grasping how integrated the entire republican infrastructure is to nominate supreme Court nominees is breathtaking, from local municipal elections to vote suppression initiatives, entire societies built around nurturing lawyers and protecting vile people as long as they'll vote the right way... I think if I stared at the entire system I wouldn't believe it.

And then I realize the Conservatives probably have this in Canada too right under my nose, and despair.
posted by Yowser at 7:41 AM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


Hmmm, justice for Anita Hill in the form of Justice Anita Hill maybe? Cuz I think she'd do pretty well on the Court. I mean, she's 62 so I don't really support her as a nominee because I'd rather we nominated some left wing 30 somethings. But it'd be appropriate as a belated apology to impeach Thomas and replace him with Hill.
posted by sotonohito at 7:44 AM on September 17, 2018 [11 favorites]


@green_footballs
UPDATE: In a creepy right wing convergence, Brett Kavanaugh’s high school friend Mark Judge has written pieces attacking rape victims for Holocaust denier Chuck C. Johnson’s blog.

Not a fan of that source but it seems like something that should be readily confirmable.
posted by Artw at 7:44 AM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


adept256: I know the information is dated, and a modern economist could drill holes in this film. But, it seems like the effort to educate the public died with the memories of why it was needed.

Just like anti-vaxers who sprouted up once polio no longer haunted parents with visions of their once-lively children being crippled for life, inoculating people against fascism seemed like less of a problem when Hitler and Mussolini are reduced to cartoon caricatures of themselves. Similarly, if you believe that the "enemy" has been defeated and won't return, you don't need to be ready for a (political) battle --

Chrysostom: Polling continually shows GOP voters don't think the Dems can win, leading to turnout concerns. See also this Axios piece.
A source who has seen recent polling, conducted by the Republican National Committee, told me the data show that a majority of Trump voters don't believe the mountain of evidence that Democrats will win back the House in November.

By the numbers: 57% of strong Trump supporters believe it's unlikely Democrats win the House, according to the source, who wasn't authorized to share findings from the RNC poll with the media. (The survey of 800 registered voters — 480 via landline calls and 320 via cellphone calls — was conducted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2 and has a margin of error of 3.5%.)
Ohohoho ... if the Trump Reality Distortion Bubble is a factor in taking down Trump ... *kisses fingers* Delicious!
posted by filthy light thief at 7:46 AM on September 17, 2018 [30 favorites]


Johnson posted an archive.is, which is a sketchy site but they have never modified saved pages to my knowledge.
posted by Yowser at 7:46 AM on September 17, 2018


Actually, that’s the a though. Have any Dems come out and said they will thoroughly investigate Kavanaugh if they take back the House and he’s on the court?
---
Jerry Nadler has, yes.


While Nadler is great and has called for the delaying of any vote and a full investigation of Kavanaugh, to my knowledge he has yet to state that he will lead an investigation post-comfirmation if necessary if Ds take the House and he is Judiciary Committee Chairman. So please call to push for this.

Also, yesterday I gave the NYC number for his office, but in calling that number this morning they are referring this matter to their DC office. That number is 202-225-5635. The lady who answered in DC said that they hadn't definitely made a decision but that it was a good point that she would pass on the congressman. And I got right though to her (as well as his NYC office) so jam the phones.
posted by chris24 at 7:46 AM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


Ohohoho ... if the Trump Reality Distortion Bubble is a factor in taking down Trump ... *kisses fingers* Delicious!

Of course there’s always the chance that they’ll lose, decide they actually have won, and retain power anyway. That’s what Trump is teeing up, anyway.
posted by Artw at 7:48 AM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


Not a fan of that source but it seems like something that should be readily confirmable.

FWIW the LGF guy pretty much had a 180 in terms of his ideology, and is if not a full-on leftist, is at least liberal/progressive.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:49 AM on September 17, 2018 [10 favorites]




Ohohoho ... if the Trump Reality Distortion Bubble is a factor in taking down Trump ... *kisses fingers* Delicious!

The other edge to this sword is that no victory by democrats will ever be seen as legitimate by these people. And it’s going to be ugly when those conspiracy theories get into full swing.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 7:49 AM on September 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


CrowdPac raised enough to match Collins' coffers, apparently & is closing in on 93% of an additional total goal of $1.5M.
posted by yoga at 7:52 AM on September 17, 2018 [21 favorites]


FWIW the LGF guy pretty much had a 180 in terms of his ideology, and is if not a full-on leftist, is at least liberal/progressive.

There's two bloggers with that name. Charles Johnson (LGF) is an ex right winger who converted. Chuck Johnson is a racist right winger (but I repeat myself).
posted by scalefree at 7:53 AM on September 17, 2018 [9 favorites]


data show that a majority of Trump voters don't believe the mountain of evidence that Democrats will win back the House in November

You know what would get them out to vote? Having to protect a SC pick from the vile Democrats.

Things have gotten really complicated for Republicans. Couldn't happen to worse people.

I'm off to call Jerry Nadler's DC office and ask that he publicly commit to fully investigating Kavanaugh even after he's confirmed. Thanks to chris24 for the number to his DC office: 202-225-5635.

Once again, senior Dem on the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler's DC office number:

202-225-5635

Call and tell him to commit to fully investigating Kavanaugh even if he's confirmed.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:54 AM on September 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


Ohohoho ... if the Trump Reality Distortion Bubble is a factor in taking down Trump ... *kisses fingers* Delicious!

That's a nice fascist goverment you got there, shame if it were to be constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 7:54 AM on September 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


More on Kavanaugh's rape-y friend: Brett Kavanaugh's Alleged Accomplice Has Spent Years Trying to Discredit Rape Accusations Online
Judge is a conservative author who has written for publications like the Daily Caller and American Spectator and published the book Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk, in which he describes his experience as a teenage alcoholic. In her account, Ford alleged that both Judge and Kavanaugh were “stumbling drunk” at the time of the incident. (In the Weekly Standard, Judge denied the alleged events ever took place.) In his book, Judge describes someone named “Bart O’Kavanaugh” puking after drinking too much, according to Mother Jones.

That’s just the beginning of Judge’s checkered history in publishing. The magazine summarized another bit of his illustrious career:
Judge’s more controversial writings include a 2012 Daily Caller column about his bike getting stolen and “the very high odds” the thief was a black man. A piece he wrote in 2006 on PoliticalMavens.com starts out with a incendiary question: “You’re thinking it even if you don’t say it: Are gay people perverts?”
As several journalists on Twitter pointed out, Judge has also spent a significant amount of time questioning other accounts of sexual assault and asserting other deeply gross ideas about sexuality, including suggesting that a clothing choice could incite rape.
[...]
From there, things just get weirder. Though Judge quickly deleted his social media profiles as attention focused on him in the wake of the allegations, much of it was documented by internet sleuths. They found a YouTube channel that appeared to belong to Judge onto which he uploaded bizarre videos that intercut innocuous visuals of books and cityscapes with sexualized videos of young women. Twitter user TheDiscomfiture screenshotted many of the videos (some of them have been re-uploaded here). A deleted Flickr account users also linked to Judge featured similar images. Other photos that allegedly originated on Judge’s deleted Facebook page featured young girls in bikinis at a resort.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:59 AM on September 17, 2018 [29 favorites]


Graham: Trump came 'really close' to moving U.S. dependents out of South Korea
Sen. Lindsey Graham confirmed on Sunday “there was a point in time” when he and President Donald Trump seriously discussed pulling U.S. military dependents out of South Korea — a move that would have been widely seen as a precursor to military action on the peninsula.
First of, what the fuck, second off, what the fuck, why did we learn about this in a Bob Woodward book, and now you're just offhandedly admitting that yeah, we nearly went to war on the Korean Peninsula but not to worry, we're all okay now? and third off, he's not even in the Administration, making this decision isn't really up to him, why was he involved?

I mean, this is terrifying. And it's not going to make the news.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:01 AM on September 17, 2018 [56 favorites]


From there, things just get weirder.

Predators of a feather flock together.

Wonder if they're starting to regret the whole "but he coaches girls basketball" thing.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:02 AM on September 17, 2018 [21 favorites]


First of, what the fuck, second off, what the fuck, why did we learn about this in a Bob Woodward book, and now you're just offhandedly admitting that yeah, we nearly went to war on the Korean Peninsula but not to worry, we're all okay now?

Like the dossier, the reveals in FEAR just keep getting confirmed.
posted by chris24 at 8:04 AM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


A source who has seen recent polling, conducted by the Republican National Committee, told me the data show that a majority of Trump voters don't believe the mountain of evidence that Democrats will win back the House in November.

That's good for November, but I'm really not looking forward to the inevitable Dolchstoßlegende.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:04 AM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


@dlippman
.@AndrewRestuccia and I called many of Kavanaugh's 65 female HS acquittances who signed a letter supporting him. After his accuser came out on Sunday, only TWO said they still stood by him. More than two dozen didn't respond, and two declined to comment.

Maybe they are regretting some life decisions there.
posted by Artw at 8:06 AM on September 17, 2018 [98 favorites]




FYI, Kavanaugh has turned up at the White House as of about ten or so minutes ago.
posted by anastasiav at 8:07 AM on September 17, 2018 [17 favorites]


As a person who was raped in high school in a very similar manner to Professor Ford, who actually threatened a peer counselor who found out about the "incident" with revealing their drug use if they told anyone what they had heard (which I'm not proud of, but you do what you need to in order to survive) if they pull Kavanaugh's nomination because of her coming forward, I will eat an entire cake in her honor.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:11 AM on September 17, 2018 [84 favorites]


schadenfrau: Wonder if they're starting to regret the whole "but he coaches girls basketball" thing.

On Twitter, Jeet Heer suspects something more disturbing: that it's exactly why they did that. It wasn't just the basketball -- the testimonials on him really seemed to emphasize his conduct around women. Was that to establish some image of his "character" before anything else came out?

Meanwhile: I second/third/etc the recommendations to read the Hillary Clinton Atlantic piece. This part make me do a small fist-pump though I'm sure some would find it too lukewarm:

I don’t agree with critics who say that capitalism is fundamentally incompatible with democracy—but unregulated, predatory capitalism certainly is. Massive economic inequality and corporate monopoly power are antidemocratic and corrode the American way of life.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:12 AM on September 17, 2018 [25 favorites]


Kavanaugh summoned to the White House, comes out with a statement that he wants to testify to answer the rape allegations.

So they think they need to answer the accusations ...sufficiently? before they confirm him, so they grok that this is bad. But they do not grok that there is literally no way for public testimony to go well for them with the constituencies they need, because they are monsters.

This has Donald Trump's idiotic fingerprints all over it. McConnell and the other competent-evil ghouls must be apoplectic.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:16 AM on September 17, 2018 [26 favorites]


There's two bloggers with that name. Charles Johnson (LGF) is an ex right winger who converted. Chuck Johnson is a racist right winger (but I repeat myself).

Chuck looks like a malevolent leprechaun & is known for posing with other despicables using the racist 3 finger salute & a long list of trolling efforts. It's his site the pro rapist columns would have appeared.
posted by scalefree at 8:17 AM on September 17, 2018


This has Donald Trump's idiotic fingerprints all over it.

From Woodward's Fear, via Axios:
Trump life advice: "Trump gave some private advice to a friend who had acknowledged some bad behavior toward women. Real power is fear. It's all about strength. Never show weakness. You've always got to be strong. Don't be bullied. ... 'You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women.'"

"'If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you're dead. That was a big mistake you made. You didn't come out guns blazing and just challenge them. You showed weakness. You've got to be strong. You've got to be aggressive. You've got to push back hard. You've got to deny anything that's said about you. Never admit.'"
Journalists should be chasing down every possible lead as to the identity of this "friend". It would be too good a coincidence if this were Kavanaugh, but the way the Trump White House is run, it's eminently possible.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:26 AM on September 17, 2018 [24 favorites]


The Disturbing Symmetry Between Trump and Kavanaugh - Jesse Lee and Talia Dessel, Washington Monthly
If Kavanaugh is confirmed, ... echoes of Trump’s authoritarianism will ring through Supreme Court opinions for decades to come. But we should step back and ask ourselves: if virtually every senator is horrified at the lawless, autocratic themes of Trump’s mis-capitalized tweets, why should we not be just as revolted when they are dressed up in legal sophistry by a career partisan political operative? We don’t know whether Kavanaugh himself is corrupt, but we do know his Supreme Court nomination was made with corrupt intent.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:28 AM on September 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


They might still ram it through, but my feeling is that the wheels are starting to come off.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:30 AM on September 17, 2018 [17 favorites]


“This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes—to her or to anyone," Kavanaugh said. "Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday."

Umm, that last bit doesn't come across as great as it did in your head, Brett.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:30 AM on September 17, 2018 [73 favorites]


There's two bloggers with that name. Charles Johnson (LGF) is an ex right winger who converted. Chuck Johnson is a racist right winger (but I repeat myself).
---
Chuck looks like a malevolent leprechaun & is known for posing with other despicables using the racist 3 finger salute & a long list of trolling efforts. It's his site the pro rapist columns would have appeared.


Chuck is a Holocaust denier who was kicked off Twitter for fundraising/organizing to "take out" civil rights activist Deray Mckesson. He's full Nazi.
posted by chris24 at 8:39 AM on September 17, 2018 [11 favorites]


Poking around the darker, mustier corners of Daily Kos and the like, there are still people salty at Kirsten Gillibrand and the Democratic senators on behalf of poor, martyred Al Franken. But with the Kavanaugh case, it's easier and easier to see the wisdom of Gillibrand's actions and the Senate's stance on Franken and his resignation. It was apparent when Doug Jones won in Alabama and it's even more obvious to me now - nobody can "whatabout" the Democrats. We're not perfect, but we do our best to keep our noses clean and make our party the big tent.

I'm so glad we've come a long way since Anita Hill (and, no, Uncle Joe, I have not forgiven or forgotten). We wouldn't have the moral force to oppose Kavanaugh so thoroughly if we tolerated a harasser in our midst. Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it, Gillibrand haters.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:39 AM on September 17, 2018 [87 favorites]


nobody can "whatabout" the Democrats.

Oh they're doing their best with Keith Ellison and Bill Clinton.
posted by chris24 at 8:41 AM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


They might still ram it through, but my feeling is that the wheels are starting to come off.

You know, the Temporal Distortion Field we're all living in means many have forgotten that JUST FRIDAY, Trump's campaign manager cut a deal which means he's already given Mueller's team everything he can.

I believe that if everything goes right, this friday -- grand jury day -- we'll see Kushner and Donald Jr. get indicted.
posted by mikelieman at 8:45 AM on September 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


“This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes—to her or to anyone," Kavanaugh said. "Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday."

Yeah, but Kavanaugh, you're an alcoholic who blacks out when drunk, so what you claim to recall isn't really credible, is it?
posted by mikelieman at 8:46 AM on September 17, 2018 [61 favorites]


I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.

Uh... is this an implicit admission that this happened more than once?
posted by PenDevil at 8:58 AM on September 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


I mean, this is terrifying. And it's not going to make the news.
It and other Graham/Trump convos are present in Woodward's Fear.
Always when asked to end X war (Afghanistan, etc). Graham replies "It never ends!" It's his GOP control dystopian mantra apparently.
posted by Harry Caul at 8:59 AM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


I have seriously fucking had it with Glenn Greenwald and The Intercept.
-They outed Reality Winner and she's in jail now
-They set in motion the events that led to outing Dr. Ford and her family is getting death threats now
-Greenwald is now on Twitter attacking Feinstein for not revealing it sooner even though Dr. Ford said in the WaPo article that Feinstein honored her wishes to be kept anonymous
-Leftist bros are falling in place, attacking Feinstein and Dr. Ford for not being willing to take one for the team and destroy Dr. Ford's life to help derail the confirmation earlier
Women, as victims of systematic oppression, don't actually matter anywhere, in any of this. Even the men "on our side" cannot conceive of us anything other than inciting incidents, collateral damage, political pawns.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 9:03 AM on September 17, 2018 [140 favorites]


I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday.

Uh... is this an implicit admission that this happened more than once?

I find it hard to believe that it didn't happen more than once - what Ford describes sounds so... practiced.

But, to stay logical, if someone were to anonymously accuse you of doing something you truly had never done, you would have no way to know who made the accusation. We don't need to twist his words to make Kavanaugh seem repugnant.
posted by Kriesa at 9:05 AM on September 17, 2018 [22 favorites]


Even the men "on our side" cannot conceive of us anything other than inciting incidents, collateral damage, political pawns.

In no way, shape or form is GG on your side.
posted by jaduncan at 9:06 AM on September 17, 2018 [40 favorites]


Haven't seen this posted yet. From Andrea Wolfson on Friday:
FWIW, a DC lawyer told me this morning he'd been waiting for Kavanaugh's #MeToo moment ... but the story he knew wasn't from high school but a summer clerkship.
And last night:
Turned my mentions off because YIKES, but let me add he's already shared what he heard with a reporter as did the person with firsthand knowledge.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:10 AM on September 17, 2018 [84 favorites]


In the the other Collins news, the NY GOP has given up on trying to get indicted Rep Chris Collins off of the ballot in NY-27. Sounds like this might even result in his bail getting revoked somehow?
posted by Chrysostom at 9:19 AM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


And then I realize the Conservatives probably have this in Canada too right under my nose, and despair.

Canada's judiciary is pretty non-partisan to the extent that when a judge wore a MAGA hat in court right after Trump's election he was immediately suspended with pay for most of a year until the disciplinary hearing concluded and he was ultimately sanctioned with a 30 day suspension without pay.
posted by srboisvert at 9:20 AM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


this seems significant:

@SenatorCollins

Professor Ford and Judge Kavanaugh should both testify under oath before the Judiciary Committee.

9/17/18 12:03pm
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:43 AM on September 17, 2018 [25 favorites]


The GOP would like to make a thing out of the absence of Kavanaugh's name in the therapist's notes, but a therapist chimes in:
Hi, Mr [Mike Lee (R-UT) comms director Conn] Carroll. Ethically, we therapists are discouraged from naming accused individuals in therapy notes even if they are named in session. That Kavanaugh’s name is not in the notes is meaningless & just says the therapist was observing ethical protocol when writing them.

Rather than name accused perpetrators, we are trained to write about them in purposely detailed-but-vague language. Instead of naming Kavanaugh, it would be standard practice to write the verbiage that is in the notes to document the patient’s statements in a therapy session.

If you had taken a breath and a few minutes to consult with a psychologist, psychiatrist, or other mental health specialist, we could have told you that we generally don’t name the subjects of allegations in therapy notes, particularly when not related to mandated reporting.

Because the professor was an adult reporting a past assault that was not the subject of mandated reporting laws but was subject to laws re privileged communication, the therapist did the right thing keeping names out of notes.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 9:44 AM on September 17, 2018 [80 favorites]


Haven't seen this posted yet. From Andrea Wolfson on Friday:
FWIW, a DC lawyer told me this morning he'd been waiting for Kavanaugh's #MeToo moment ... but the story he knew wasn't from high school but a summer clerkship.


Who is Andrea Wolfson? Her twitter profile doesn't indicate any news affiliation and I'm wondering about the source.
posted by bluesky43 at 9:48 AM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


From the AP last night ( via Chicago Tribune )
A committee spokesman said late Sunday that its chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, was trying to arrange separate, follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and Ford, but just for aides to Grassley and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., before Thursday's scheduled vote. Critics have already accused the GOP of fast-tracking the process to get Kavanaugh on the court by Oct. 1, the first day of the fall term.
I presume this has already been shot down.
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:49 AM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Google says Wolfson is a freelance writer/editor, but I'm not finding any bylines so either that's incorrect or what she writes/edits isn't public-facing and bylined.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:56 AM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Uh... is this an implicit admission that this happened more than once?

Perhaps. Regardless, anyone who would offer such an awkward and ambiguous statement and pretend that it's in any way dispositive shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a federal bench (except possibly as a defendant).
posted by HillbillyInBC at 10:04 AM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Oklahoma Police Chief Resigns Over Neo-Nazi Ties, Gets Job in Neighboring Police Force

Who says the USA can't have a guaranteed employment program? We already have one for Nazis.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:12 AM on September 17, 2018 [41 favorites]


Media Matters:
Trump ally and conservative political operator Roger Stone: “This is a woman looking for her Anita Hill moment. This is her 15 minutes.”
Oooh boy. I think they are really misreading the room on this. And I think it’s genuine. I think they think this will work.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:20 AM on September 17, 2018 [87 favorites]


Somebody should ask Anita Hill if she's thrilled about having her "Anita Hill moment". Good lord, these people are detached from reality.
posted by mcstayinskool at 10:27 AM on September 17, 2018 [28 favorites]


Yes, who among us didn’t dream, as young girls, of the day when we could be gaslighted by Congress.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:27 AM on September 17, 2018 [146 favorites]


Oh man this one broke me. I’m crying laughing. Like yes I had my Anita Hill Barbie, didn’t you?
posted by schadenfrau at 10:30 AM on September 17, 2018 [36 favorites]


Perhaps. Regardless, anyone who would offer such an awkward and ambiguous statement and pretend that it's in any way dispositive shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a federal bench (except possibly as a defendant).

This dude played dumb so hard under questioning from Kamala Harris I wondered if he was fit to stand trial, let alone serve as a judge. It was all transparently an act, of course; he didn't want to answer her questions. But that's what was so gross about his whole charade. He can't be that dumb and have gotten as far as he has in his career.

But he can be that dishonest. Because he is.

There is clearly more than one victim out there. I hope they come forward, but I absolutely can't and don't blame them if they stay silent. One should be enough, damn it. One is too many.

And I'm increasingly enraged by all the assholes still clinging to the "bbbut high school!" and "they could come for all of us!" shit as if all of us guys have been awful to women all our lives.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:30 AM on September 17, 2018 [30 favorites]


Like yes I had my Anita Hill Barbie, didn’t you?

I mean, fuck the entire world for the fact that an Anita Hill Barbie is a joke when she should ACTUALLY have been a heroine for all time with whom companies were desperate to ally so they could co-opt and monetize her image and sell it to young girls because she was so brave.
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 10:33 AM on September 17, 2018 [50 favorites]


Remember when Obama's solicitor general Neal Katyal endorsed Kavanaugh because he's so nice and smart? After endorsing Gorsuch?
Katyal, July 13: Regardless of where one stands on the Kavanaugh nomination, this is 100% right. I’ve seen it myself many times firsthand with his former clerks. His mentoring and guidance is a model for all of us in the legal profession.
Yglesias: Congratulations to all the fancy lawyer democrats who embarrassed themselves for the sake of Brett Kavanaugh and higher loyalty to Yale

And resistance hero Ben Wittes, September 8th:
There are a lot of good reasons for liberals to oppose Kavanaugh. He’s a genuine conservative who will do a lot of the things liberals are afraid of. One of the reasons to oppose him is not that he’s some kind of terrible person. He’s a thoroughly decent and honorable person.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:38 AM on September 17, 2018 [17 favorites]


I want to remind Roger Stone that the only person who has recanted in the Anita Hill situation is the Republican!Political!Operative! (Dave Brock) who wrote a hit job book about her. He has backed up and reversed himself on what he wrote. This doesn't lend extra credibility to known sleazeball operatives like Stone.
posted by puddledork at 10:46 AM on September 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


Since Mark Judge was a participant and witness to this attack, it seems the Judiciary Committee also needs to bring him in for testimony. That's going to be a real problem for them because he is not a sympathetic character and has a long trail of anti-women writing. He is the author of a book "Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk," which sort of blows away any testimony of "I have no recollection" of this event.

If Republicans are going to put Ms. Ford on trial, they should also put Mark Judge on trial and burn him down. He is recorded in the high school yearbook as being Kavanaugh's partner in crime, glorifying their drinking exploits. Democrats need to paint a picture of what shitty people Kavanaugh and Judge were.
posted by JackFlash at 10:50 AM on September 17, 2018 [58 favorites]


Meanwhile, in economic news, the WSJ finds Trump Promised a Rush of Repatriated Cash, But Company Responses Are Modest—President Trump had said trillions of dollars would flow back to the U.S. quickly in the wake of the new tax law, but a WSJ analysis finds many companies are taking their time
The Wall Street Journal reviewed securities filings from 108 publicly traded companies accounting for the vast majority of an estimated $2.7 trillion in profits parked abroad, and asked each company what it was doing with the funds. In their filings and responses, they said they have repatriated about $143 billion so far this year.

About two-thirds of the money came from two corporations—networking-equipment giant Cisco Systems Inc. and drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc. Beyond that, companies have announced plans to repatriate an additional $37 billion. Some with the largest stockpiles, including Apple Inc., have made general promises to repatriate profits without saying when or how much.

More than a dozen large companies, including General Electric Co. and Boston Scientific Corp. , have said they don’t need past foreign earnings in the U.S. or have no immediate plans to bring cash home. Far more are waiting or won’t say.
And because Trump needs a distraction from Kavanaugh, an unnamed senior administration official told Reuters over the weekend that Trump is 'likely' to announce new China tariffs as early as Monday. Stocks and the dollar are down on the news (Bloomberg).
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:51 AM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


Stone has dirty tricks as his primary claim to fame. I can't imagine trusting his good faith regarding anything.
posted by jaduncan at 10:52 AM on September 17, 2018


Two worthwhile columns from the WaPo:

About the allegations, There’s nothing unusual about the timing of the Kavanaugh allegations. Lawyers familiar with sexual assault cases know delays in reporting are common.

About the reporting on the allegations, The claim against Kavanaugh is not a suspicious 11th-hour bombshell. Because we’re not in the 11th hour.
This isn’t the 11th hour, because the clock isn’t running out; in fact, there is no clock.

There’s time for more reporting. There’s time to hear out Ford publicly, as she now says she’s willing to make happen. There’s time for deliberate consideration and second thoughts.

Let senators — and the country — be informed, as they were about Schwarzenegger, as they were not fully about Thomas.

Journalism is known for its punishing deadlines.

But there is no deadline here.
posted by peeedro at 10:54 AM on September 17, 2018 [52 favorites]




But there is no deadline here.

The “deadline” (in GOP world) is 11/6.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 10:59 AM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Johnny Verhovek, political reporter at ABC News:
NEW:
@WeDemandJustice
, leading anti-Kavanaugh group on the left is planning a $700,000 TV/digital ad buy focused on the Blasey Ford allegations in AK/ME and for the first time since Kennedy's retirement is adding NV and CO to pressure Heller/Gardner
/The wheels on the bus come the fuck off
Come the fuck off
Come the fuck off
posted by schadenfrau at 11:01 AM on September 17, 2018 [46 favorites]


Trump’s ‘Apprentice’ Backstage Tapes Now In Possession Of Ronan Farrow, According To Tom Arnold

Even if this is 100% bullshit, Farrow should just never comment on it to see how much people sweat.
posted by zombieflanders at 11:01 AM on September 17, 2018 [61 favorites]


(Although I thought Gardner wasn’t running for re-election?)
posted by schadenfrau at 11:02 AM on September 17, 2018


He is (as far as anyone knows) but he's not up until 2020.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:04 AM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Gardner is up in 2020.

Latest NV poll has Heller about 10 points underwater with approval among women.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:05 AM on September 17, 2018


Trump Promised a Rush of Repatriated Cash, But Company Responses Are Modest

These companies are in no hurry to repatriate foreign held cash because they effectively already have. Instead of a 20% tax on domestic earnings, the Trump tax cuts allow companies to bring home their foreign cash at a 8% tax rate.

But what big companies like Apple and Microsoft have done in the past is borrow billions of dollars at very low interest rates using their foreign cash holdings as collateral. This allows them to use the borrowed cash for dividends and stock buybacks without paying taxes on the foreign cash by bringing in home. The result of this financial engineering is to return cash to stockholders without paying taxes. Apple has over $250 billion in foreign earnings and Microsoft has over $150 billion. Incidentally, the cash actually sits in New York banks, but it is recorded as foreign earnings not subject to taxes.

Very low interest rates allowed these big corporations to borrow billions for almost free. They are in no hurry to actually bring their cash back and pay even the low 8% tax rate until interest rates on borrowed money increase significantly.
posted by JackFlash at 11:14 AM on September 17, 2018 [38 favorites]


Even if this is 100% bullshit, Farrow should just never comment on it to see how much people sweat.

He might be able to resist commenting but Jon Lovett would need his mouth taped shut to keep from gloating. (Bless them both.)
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 11:14 AM on September 17, 2018 [20 favorites]


Trump’s ‘Apprentice’ Backstage Tapes Now In Possession Of Ronan Farrow, According To Tom Arnold

My hand to God this is the first time anything in this whole sorry mess has given me a glimmer of hope.

And Tom Arnold being the investigative reporter that cracks the case? I did not see that one coming.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:20 AM on September 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


I didn’t see Ronan motherfucking Farrow coming either, but 2018 is on the good stuff, so.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:22 AM on September 17, 2018 [30 favorites]


LACaldwellDC: NEWS: @OrrinHatch just spoke to Kavanaugh and Kavaaugh denies being at the party in question per a Hatch aide. Hatch told me kavanaugh is “honest” and “straightforward” and said after talkng to Kavanaugh the woman might be “mixed up”

Setting Hatch's effluent aside, that's a significant escalation if Kavanaugh is denying he was there at all. Ford said four boys were at the party. I have to assume reporters are trying to run down who else was there that night.
posted by zachlipton at 11:22 AM on September 17, 2018 [29 favorites]


Schumer Says FBI Should Reopen Kavanaugh Check

From CNN: According to multiple sources, Kavanaugh has also hired an attorney.

Reuters, via
posted by petebest at 11:26 AM on September 17, 2018 [43 favorites]


Hatch told me kavanaugh is “honest” and “straightforward” and said after talking to Kavanaugh the woman might be “mixed up”

Orrin's going straight-up wandering womb.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:27 AM on September 17, 2018 [9 favorites]


Here’s why the allegation against Kavanaugh is credible: He’s smeared and attacked women before - Heather Digby Parton, Salon
"[Brett Kavanaugh] is not just a conservative jurist. He's not John Roberts. He's not even Neil Gorsuch. He's a Republican operative who is posing as a judge" -- Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, on Pod Save America.
...
Here is [an example] just to illustrate the depth of his character deficiencies. Back in the 1990s, conservative activists went to DefCon One when Bill Clinton came into office. A whole group of young conservative lawyers joined the cause, Kavanaugh among them. His first big job for the movement was as Ken Starr's point man on the Vince Foster case.

Indeed, it was Kavanaugh who pushed for the investigation even though Foster's death had been amply covered by congressional committees, the local police, the FBI and the first special counsel Robert Fisk, all of whom had concluded found that the former deputy White House counsel had committed suicide. But Kavanaugh was deep in the right-wing fever swamp and argued to Starr that they could unscrupulously use the fact that there were unfounded conspiracy theories surrounding Foster's death to reopen the case, despite the grieving family's desperate pleas for the government to stop the "outrageous innuendo and speculation for political ends."

Kavanaugh was apparently particularly interested in Rush Limbaugh's odious suggestion to his legions of listeners that Foster had been murdered in an apartment secretly owned by Hillary Clinton. He spent three years and $2 million attempting to dig up dirt on the dead man, at one point demanding that Foster's teenage daughter give the authorities specimens of her hair -- an apparent attempt to prove or imply that a hair found on Foster's jacket had belonged to Hillary Clinton.

Kavanaugh asked everyone involved about this nonexistent affair between Clinton and Foster -- even, eventually, Clinton herself. It later became clear that Kavanaugh knew all along that Foster had committed suicide, and that he had used the power and resources of the independent counsel's office to lend credibility to vulgar sexual rumors about the first lady, in the process needlessly torturing the family of a dead man.
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:33 AM on September 17, 2018 [100 favorites]


not just the basketball -- the testimonials on him really seemed to emphasize his conduct around women. Was that to establish some image of his "character" before anything else came out?

My cynicism runs deeper on this: I bet the whole reason he coaches a girls basketball team in the first place was to establish some public “nice to girls” PR, because I doubt that Dr. Ford is the only woman whom Kavanaugh has assaulted, and his “problem behavior” would be a Known Thing in his judicial grooming from years ago. These assholes absolutely would cynically assess ‘so he may have a few drunken rapes in his past’ as an image problem they should get out in front of and preemptively astroturf by having him do something like coach girls basketball (rather than, you know, disqualify him from further consideration and grooming).
posted by LooseFilter at 11:35 AM on September 17, 2018 [21 favorites]


> Kavaaugh denies being at the party in question per a Hatch aide

Wait, to make this denial, wouldn't one necessarily have to have a recollection of the specific party in question? Why would one remember this party among (or even along with) others after 35 years?
posted by klarck at 11:36 AM on September 17, 2018 [47 favorites]


Schumer Says FBI Should Reopen Kavanaugh Check

The FBI routinely does security clearance investigations and a big part of that is uncovering possible alcohol, drug and gambling issues. Looking at his credit card receipts for the last year or two would be interesting.
posted by JackFlash at 11:36 AM on September 17, 2018 [15 favorites]


Imagine being given the gift of holding the highest elected office on earth—one of only 45 people in history to do so—and literally spending most of it watching TV and tweeting nonsense
posted by growabrain at 11:39 AM on September 17, 2018 [19 favorites]




In NO COLLUSION! news, Wikileaks' Julian Assange sought a visa from Russia in 2010, per AP.

2010 was when Sweden issued an arrest warrant for Assange.

2010 was the year ol' Paulie The Ostrich borrowed $10 meellion dollars from Kremlin sweetheart and oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
posted by petebest at 11:41 AM on September 17, 2018 [13 favorites]


And resistance hero Ben Wittes, September 8th:
There are a lot of good reasons for liberals to oppose Kavanaugh. He’s a genuine conservative who will do a lot of the things liberals are afraid of. One of the reasons to oppose him is not that he’s some kind of terrible person. He’s a thoroughly decent and honorable person.
Manners are not character and the delusion that they are is a luxury most easily afforded by those who do not fear that they will be personally affected by the misdeeds of those in power.

You can be an outwardly polite person who behaves publicly in societally acceptable fashion while still being an awful person and Ben Wittes should be smart enough to realize that even if he doesn't personally have much to lose from a Kavanaugh appointment.
posted by Nerd of the North at 11:42 AM on September 17, 2018 [38 favorites]


Looks like I lost the link to the example in the excerpt I posted from Digby's Salon post. Here it is again:

The Partisan Battle Brett Kavanaugh Now Regrets - By Michael D. Shear and Adam Liptak, NYTimes.
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:43 AM on September 17, 2018


He might be able to resist commenting but Jon Lovett would need his mouth taped shut to keep from gloating. (Bless them both.)

Bless all four of their little cotton socks, they are my favorite Democrat power couple by several orders of magnitude. I'll be honest, until Ronan's name was dropped I had 100% assumed that all of this was Tom Arnold's unfortunately public psychotic break, but now I'm kind of down to 95% and 2018 y'all. Alyson Hannigan tweeting about the fight might take me down to 93%.
posted by soren_lorensen at 11:45 AM on September 17, 2018 [20 favorites]


You can be an outwardly polite person who behaves publicly in societally acceptable fashion while still being an awful person, and Ben Wittes should be smart enough to realize that even if he doesn't personally have much to lose from a Kavanaugh appointment.
I think Ben Wittes, as with many members of the purported Resistance, said exactly what he meant to say, to further exactly the political agenda he wants furthered.
posted by rorgy at 11:46 AM on September 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


zachlipton: Setting Hatch's effluent aside, that's a significant escalation if Kavanaugh is denying he was there at all.

I'd say it's his only available option if he wants to feign any kind of innocence. It's still a Hail Mary tactic because the 2012 documentation renders any exculpatory narrative into nonsense. Did she lie to the therapist for no reason? Or she was assaulted, but now she's mistaken or lying about the perpatrator's identity and the "real" attacker remains unknown to the public? None of that computes. They know it, which is one reason some creeps are going for "boys will be boys" instead of total denial. Nothing in between is available to them.

One remarkable thing about the backlash to MeToo is the flexibility of the notion of "due process" in their complaints. We're basically reaching the point where it sounds like coherent English for someone to rant: "I can't believe my brother is being arrested and tried... all because of an accusation! I mean, whatever happened to due process?"
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:50 AM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


Nerd of the North: "Manners are not character and the delusion that they are is a luxury most easily afforded by those who do not fear that they will be personally affected by the misdeeds of those in power."

"Manners ARE character!" - New GOP slogan
posted by Krazor at 11:51 AM on September 17, 2018




It's the MeToo backlash, but it's also the daily campaign of bullshit against the Russia investigation, and really anything that might call Republicans to account for their behavior.

"The cops investigating me think I might have done something bad! It's so unfair!"
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:53 AM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


scaryblackdeath: It's the MeToo backlash, but it's also the daily campaign of bullshit against the Russia investigation, and really anything that might call Republicans to account for their behavior.

Right, but there's a patriarchy-specific flavor that happens to overlap some with Republicanism. For example, "Due process!!" was a big thing among lefty defenders of Al Franken.

I'm saying their current framework has stretched the parameters to the point that the simple existence of a public accusation is already regarded as an excessive punishment. From this, they imply (without articulating explicitly) it's wrong to reach even that point without some unspecified "due process" first, even though that's where it begins. Or perhaps they feel it's acceptable to make the accusation, but for anyone to consider that it could be true is something poor Mr Kavanaugh doesn't deserve -- hence, a permanent shield for him.

Equating the first and last steps of the reckoning procedure (whether a criminal trial or confirmation hearing) has an important flipside, which is that the people doing this equation can arbitrarily decide that law enforcement does have an absolute right to treat any arrested person as badly as they please. Conservatives typically spit on the concept of "due process" and "technicalities" by figuring that arrest may as well be conviction, because "Why would you be arrested if you didn't do anything wrong?"

Their trick is to switch from one mode to the other depending on whether the accused is a white man. And they do it to absurd extremes that confuse everyone else's conversations. When someone is simply raising the question of whether Kavanugh assaulted someone, that's treated as equivalent to the horrors of lynching. But when cops shoot someone, this actual lynching becomes "law and order" in action. Sexual misdeeds are "shades of gray", but how one reacts to cops is, well, black and white.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 12:14 PM on September 17, 2018 [29 favorites]


> Schumer Says FBI Should Reopen Kavanaugh Check

From CNN: According to multiple sources, Kavanaugh has also hired an attorney.


This is where a sane party with sane leadership would understand that, regardless of the outcome of the investigation and the testimonies of Ford and/or Judge, the winning move now is to give the Democrats a symbolic victory by asking Kavanaugh to step aside (with some language about how he's a good and honorable man, but the dastardly Democrats have gummed up the works) and then immediately railroad some generic alternative in, preferably a woman to help undercut the abuse angle (not that women can't be abusers, of course.) There are plenty of "qualified" women with the same reprehensible views on reproductive freedom, social safety net programs, etc., and I'm sure most of them would go along with Kavanaugh's crackpot views on executive power, perhaps without the liability of having said so on the record the way Kavanaugh has.

But this is not a sane party with sane leadership, it's a crime family with the world's dumbest and most misogynistic Don in charge. He can't stand folding now to win a stronger hand later, especially if it means having a woman save his ass. So the shitshow will go on.
posted by tonycpsu at 12:25 PM on September 17, 2018 [75 favorites]


I bet the whole reason he coaches a girls basketball team in the first place was to establish some public “nice to girls” PR

going by my personal experience in high school, and some of the unseemly stuff in Kavanaugh's emails, and in Judge's whole... oeuvre... i think it's perhaps less complicated than that. he could coach a girls basketball team simply because he wants to ogle girls and this gives him both plausible deniability and an opportunity to continue being around young girls in a socially-sanctioned way.
posted by halation at 12:27 PM on September 17, 2018 [38 favorites]


It does all sort of fit together. If anybody who attracts the attention of a police officer deserves to be executed on the street (or in their living room, etc), then any investigation into me, or someone like me, must be wrong and unfounded, because I don't deserve to be executed!
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:34 PM on September 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


It's like how a lot of the conversation out of older, more conservative, white men has been worry about their "youthful indiscretions" (read: fucked up thing they did because it was the '70s) wrecking their lives at 50-something. But at some point, shouldn't a position like, I don't know President, or SCOTUS justice maybe be one of those professions that requires someone to not do shitty things at all points in their lives?
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 12:44 PM on September 17, 2018 [31 favorites]


Yeah, I've had my share of indiscretions and that is why I will never run for public office, and probably shouldn't be famous either. It's a pretty simple calculus: is there anything in your past you'd rather people didn't know? Then don't choose a life where people find out.
posted by rhizome at 12:48 PM on September 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


This isn’t the 11th hour, because the clock isn’t running out; in fact, there is no clock.

There’s time for more reporting. There’s time to hear out Ford publicly, as she now says she’s willing to make happen. There’s time for deliberate consideration and second thoughts.

Let senators — and the country — be informed, as they were about Schwarzenegger, as they were not fully about Thomas.

Journalism is known for its punishing deadlines.

But there is no deadline here.


Well there is the open question of just how long the current president and majorities last which I suspect is the major driver behind the rush.
posted by srboisvert at 12:48 PM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


This new turn of events really seems like a perfect opportunity for Susan Collins to switch to a "no" vote while still being able to deny that it had anything to do with the (now $1.37 million!!) Crowdpac or, ya know, the massive outrage and pressure from her own fucking constituents. C'mon, do the right thing in your own gross way!
posted by robotdevil at 12:50 PM on September 17, 2018 [25 favorites]


The outrage that Kavanaugh isn't getting due process can be easily understood by reference to this distillation of the conservative view of government and police in general, which I first saw in a recent politics thread:

The law exists to protect the powerful without binding them, and bind the weak without protecting them.

Kavanaugh is a prototypical product of white male privilege, and so for his reputation to be called into question by the mere accusation of a woman is antithetical to this worldview. It's scary and infuriating, almost as bad as if minorities were made to feel that they need not fear extrajudicial executions.
posted by skewed at 12:52 PM on September 17, 2018 [31 favorites]


Noted in the prior catch-all thread: The Trump Administration Is Shutting Down the Palestinian Office in Washington (Matthew Lee & Susannah George for AP via TIME Magazine, September 11, 2018)
The Trump administration ordered the closure of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington on Monday and threatened sanctions against the International Criminal Court if it pursues investigations against the U.S., Israel, or other allies. The moves are likely to harden Palestinian resistance to the U.S. role as a peace broker.

The administration cited the refusal of Palestinian leaders to enter into peace talks with Israel as the reason for closing the Palestinian Liberation Organization office, although the U.S. has yet to present its plan to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians accused the administration of dismantling decades of U.S. engagement with them.
Update from this weekend: Trump Administration Revokes Visas For Palestinian Envoy (NPR, Sept. 16, 2018)
Relations between the Trump administration and Palestinian officials continue to deteriorate. A Palestinian official says the U.S. has revoked the visas of a Palestinian envoy's family in Washington, D.C. This is just the latest point of friction after the Trump administration cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians.
...
last week, the Trump administration ordered the Palestinians' diplomatic office in Washington to close, and that's supposed to happen by next month. And the State Department says that is because the Palestinians are not engaging with Trump's peace team that's trying to broker a peace deal between the Palestinians and the Israelis. And, indeed, the Palestinian Authority did cut ties with the administration. That happened when the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Palestinians also wanted to establish their own capital in Jerusalem. And they say, the U.S. is undercutting one of our biggest demands and can't be a fair mediator in this conflict.

So the Palestinian envoy to Washington returned back to the Palestinian territories. And now, a Palestinian official says the U.S. is even revoking the envoy's wife and 5 and 7-year-old kids' visas. They had to leave their schools in Washington and leave the country, and the Palestinians are saying the U.S. is being spiteful.
The art of the deal bullying and instigation.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:53 PM on September 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


Jeet Heer (New Republic)
I want a venn diagram of people willing to argue "Give Kavanaugh a break, he was only 17" and "Trayvon Martin got what he deserved."
posted by chris24 at 12:56 PM on September 17, 2018 [161 favorites]


It may be a little thing, but to me, I'm not looking for someone never to have had any youthful indiscretions. I'm looking for someone, if they did have a youthful indiscretion, that they have sufficiently matured beyond that indiscretion such that they fully own it, have made amends, indicate with the trajectory of their life that they are different person, etc.

It's the gas-lighting & pretending it never happened coupled with the hope that with a little "youthful indiscretion" thrown in for good measure the whole thing will blow over that infuriates me. That very clearly indicates the same shitty person who did the thing then & didn't think it was that big a deal remains a shitty person & continues to believe it's not that big a deal. That person is indeed a shitty person & doesn't deserve a position of authority. It also speaks volumes about the people who would prop up & defend such a person.
posted by narwhal at 12:59 PM on September 17, 2018 [80 favorites]




U.S. Is Ending Final Source of Aid for Palestinian Civilians
The move to prevent Palestinians — including, in many cases, children — from benefiting from the funds squeezes shut the last remaining channel of American aid to Palestinian civilians.

The money had already been budgeted by Congress for allocation in fiscal year 2017, which ends this month. In the past, these designated funds went mostly to programs that organized people-to-people exchanges between Palestinians and Israelis, often for youth. Some went to programs for Israeli Jews and Arabs.

Advocates had hoped this last $10 million pot of money would remain available to projects with Palestinians, even as the Trump administration cut all other aid.
[...]
“The bottom line is if you’re a Palestinian, you don’t have access to any of this,” said David Harden, a former American aid agency official who managed projects for 11 years in the West Bank and Gaza and who had been briefed on the decision. He called the decision vindictive. “Once you cut out East Jerusalem hospitals and cut out girls playing soccer with each other, it’s the end of hope.”

“Reconciliation activities should be beyond politics,” he added, saying that the programs had been very effective.

R. Nicholas Burns, a Harvard Kennedy School professor and former senior American diplomat who worked on Palestinian issues, said that “cutting off all American economic and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people is meanspirited and beneath a great nations like ours.”
And who was behind this blatant dehumanization of Palestinians and clear sabotage of the peace process? Guess:
The broad push to cut all funding to Palestinian civilians is promoted by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Trump and the top White House adviser on the Middle East. Mr. Kushner has been working on a peace proposal for the Israelis and Palestinians, and is seeking maximum negotiating leverage over the Palestinians.
posted by zombieflanders at 1:06 PM on September 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


Also: US funding cuts risk life-saving surgeries for Gaza children
The training of Palestinian doctors and life-saving surgery for children from Gaza could be terminated due to the US decision to halt funding for the Conflict Management and Mitigation Program, which—according to a New York Times's report Friday—is the latest funding program the United States has yet to budget.

US officials said the Conflict Management and Mitigation Program would not receive further funding in addition to the aid which was already approved and is expected to end in September.

Among the organizations that could be severely affected by this decision is the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, which runs programs for joint Palestinian and Israeli football teams, training programs for Palestinian doctors, and promotes life-saving surgeries for Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank.

Another program that is at risk is the Palestinian Peace Coalition—Geneva Initiative (PPC-GI) which ran a project that brought 500 Israeli and Palestinian young people together to participate in peace activities, learn about the conflict, and suggest different ways of resolving it.
posted by zombieflanders at 1:06 PM on September 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


chris24: Jeet Heer (new Republic) -- I want a venn diagram of people willing to argue "Give Kavanaugh a break, he was only 17" and "Trayvon Martin got what he deserved."

Here's your diagram.

[Spoiler: it's a circle.]


Ajit Pai calls California’s net neutrality rules “illegal” -- CA enforcing neutrality because "Pai abdicated his responsibility," senator says. (Jon Brodkin for Ars Technica, Sept. 17, 2018)
California's attempt to enforce net neutrality rules is "illegal" and "poses a risk to the rest of the country," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said in a speech on Friday [at the Maine Heritage Policy Center - transcript (PDF), hosted by FCC.gov].

Pai's remarks drew an immediate rebuke from California Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who authored the net neutrality bill that passed California's legislature and now awaits the signature of Governor Jerry Brown.

California's net neutrality rules are "necessary and legal because Chairman Pai abdicated his responsibility to ensure an open Internet," Wiener said in a press release.

"Unlike Pai's FCC, California isn't run by the big telecom and cable companies," Wiener also said. "Pai can take whatever potshots at California he wants. The reality is that California is the world's innovation capital, and unlike the crony capitalism promoted by the Trump administration, California understands exactly what it takes to foster an open innovation economy with a level playing field."
...
Wiener also criticized Pai for remaining silent on Verizon's recent throttling of Santa Clara County firefighters while they fought the state's largest-ever wildfire.

"When Verizon was caught throttling the data connection of a wildfire-fighting crew in California, Chairman Pai said nothing and did nothing," Wiener said. "That silence says far more than his words today."
posted by filthy light thief at 1:06 PM on September 17, 2018 [71 favorites]


Attempted rape is not an “indiscretion,” youthful or otherwise.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:07 PM on September 17, 2018 [84 favorites]


I get the feeling that Mr Wiener has had a file on his PC desktop called "burns 4 pai.txt" for quite some time.
posted by howfar at 1:12 PM on September 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


Attempted rape is not an “indiscretion,” youthful or otherwise.

As Michelle Goldberg pointed out, the Central Park 5, who were innocent, were 14, 14, 15, 15, and 16 when Donald Trump called for them to be executed.
posted by JackFlash at 1:13 PM on September 17, 2018 [112 favorites]


@schadenfrau: 100% agreed, 0 argument. I'm only speaking to the larger issue of what we should expect of our leaders. I do not personally require a pristine record devoid of mistakes. I also do not believe attempted rape is simply a mistake.
posted by narwhal at 1:14 PM on September 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


Alexandra Petri, Every man should be worried. At least, I’m worried.
I mean, it’s not as though they’re people, are they? At the moment of conception, yes, but then they come out Daughters, not people! They grow into objects; some become Wives or Mothers, others Hags or Crones. Then they die! If they were people, we would not expect dominion over their bodies, surely; if they were people, we would not feel entitled to their smiles. If they were people, I could read a novel with a female protagonist and not be instantly confused and alarmed.
posted by zachlipton at 1:16 PM on September 17, 2018 [74 favorites]


@mkraju: Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn throws cold water on a public hearing for Brett Kavanaugh. What Senate Democrats want to do is “create a show trial,” and “I think it would be a mistake to reward bad behavior,” he told us

Gross as hell.

Beyond that, what Democrats are calling for is to have the FBI reopen the background check, investigate, and report back, and then the Judiciary Committee can "conduct hearings as necessary" based on the results. Grassley, on the other hand, thinks this can be cleared up in a staff-level conference call so they can still rush to the vote this week.
posted by zachlipton at 1:31 PM on September 17, 2018 [11 favorites]


Coach K is so dedicated, he can be found at high-school girls' basketball games when his own damn team isn't on the court.
Kavanaugh would even attend games at another school, Georgetown Visitation, just because he admired the school’s coach.

“I’d show up for a game, and one of the only other people in the stands would be Brett Kavanaugh,” said Tom Conaghan, a lawyer whose daughter played for Kavanaugh at one point.
That article, The Post's The Elite World of Brett Kavanaugh, from July, also opens with a quote from his bartender:
The Chevy Chase Lounge is a neighborhood joint where bartender Tim Higgins is accustomed to bantering with long-standing patrons, including a middle-aged guy named Brett who likes to pop in for a Budweiser and a burger after coaching his daughters’ basketball games... “Most people in Washington tell you what they do,” Higgins said from behind the bar Tuesday, the day after Trump nominated Kavanaugh. “I never knew Brett was a lawyer. I expect we’ll be seeing him in here a lot less.”
... and closes with a quote from the bar's owner.

[No idea where his kids go post-game.]
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:33 PM on September 17, 2018 [21 favorites]


> “I think it would be a mistake to reward bad behavior,”

said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, "and that is why I am calling on Judge Kavanaugh to step aside from this Supreme Court nomination."

What, he didn't say that?
posted by RedOrGreen at 1:35 PM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]




ok so Cornyn is saying there wont be testimony . . . but Collins said 4 hours ago that both Ford and Kavanaugh should testify before the committee. . . is someone going to ask her if she will withold her yes vote UNLESS there is further testimony/investigation on this issue?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:37 PM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


Schumer Says FBI Should Reopen Kavanaugh Check

Bloomberg: White House Hasn’t Asked FBI to Vet Kavanaugh Allegations, Sources Say
The White House hasn’t asked the FBI to investigate the allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a woman when they were in high school, a request required for the bureau to take further action, according to two people familiar with the matter.[...]

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have said they want the FBI to investigate the allegation. But FBI background investigations are conducted under specific procedures and through requests from government agencies -- which in Kavanaugh’s case would come from the White House, said the two people who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive matter.
Trump's verbal chaff remarks to the White House press pool this afternoon suggest he's in no hurry to do so:
The FBI has I think gone through a process six times with him over the years where he went to higher and higher positions. He is somebody very special. At the same time, we want to go through a process. We want to make sure everything is perfect, everything is just right. I wish the Democrats could have done this a lot sooner, because they had this information for many months. And they shouldnt have waited til literally the last days. They should have done it a lot sooner. But with all of that being said we want to go through the process. One thing I will say is that as I understand it, Judge Kavanaugh spent quite a bit of time with Senator Feinstein and it wasnt even brought up at that meeting and she had this information. So you would have thought certainly that she would have brought it up at the meeting not wait til everythings finished and then have to start a process all over again. But with all of it being said, we want to go through a full process. I have great confidence in the US Senate and in their procedures and what theyre doing and I think thats probably what theyre going to do. Theyll go through a process and hear everybody out. I think its important. I believe they think its important. But again, he is one of the great intellects and one of the finest people that anybody has known. You look at his references Ive never seen anything quite like it.
Then in answer to the question of delaying the confirmation vote, he replied, "It depends on the process. Id like to see a complete process." At no point does he indicate he has any idea of what this "process" entails.
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:01 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


NBC News, Suzy Khimm, Federal mine safety official warned the Trump administration is putting miners in danger, violating law
Two days before his term ended, a member of the independent federal commission overseeing mine safety accused the Trump administration of an "unlawful" action that he warned could endanger the "lives of the nation's miners."

Robert F. Cohen, whose term expired last month on the mine safety and health panel, alleged in a scathing dissent that Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta had undertaken an illegal move cutting back on a worker safety rule that threatens to undermine the "most powerful tool for protecting the lives of the nation's miners."

Cohen's criticism was in response to the Trump administration easing enforcement of a key worker safety rule against a West Virginia coal mine, despite finding "significant and substantial" violations at the facility.
I was told Trump loves miners, right?
posted by zachlipton at 2:16 PM on September 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


John Harwood, CNBC: McConnell complains that Democrats aren’t following “standard bi-partisan process” and “regular order” on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court

ARE YOU KIDDING? I am shocked that McConnell could choke those objections out with a straight face.
posted by gladly at 2:16 PM on September 17, 2018 [95 favorites]


Forgot to link: McConnell's remarks from the Senate floor today.
posted by gladly at 2:20 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Sec of State Pompeo just announced that FY19 refugee acceptance ceiling is being lowered to 30k from 45k (and it appears this includes asylees as well who have traditionally come from a separate pool).

Its probably worth pointing out that because of excess delays in vetting we only let in about 21k/45k this year, and that this did NOT seem to be the way that Pompeo and the DoD wanted things to go (they remain concerned about Iraqi translators were turning our backs on). Stephen Miller gets the win.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:22 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


Brett Kavanaugh at his nomination ceremony at the White House in July:
"No president has ever consulted more widely or talked to more people from more backgrounds to seek input for a Supreme Court nomination."

We knew he was a partisan sycophant and a liar from day one.
posted by JackFlash at 2:25 PM on September 17, 2018 [12 favorites]


WaPo, John Hudson, Trump administration disowns Haley’s plan for a U.N. meeting on Iran
Focusing the meeting on Iran, however, drew immediate concerns from U.S. allies who believed that the topic would expose sharp disagreements between the United States, France and Britain over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Trump unilaterally withdrew from in May.

Other U.S. officials also voiced concerns that an article of the U.N. Charter would allow Iran to participate in the meeting because it is a “party to a dispute under consideration,” raising the prospect of an awkward and contentious standoff between Trump and a representative from Iran. “Trump risked a collision with the UK and France over Iran at the U.N. Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron would have had no choice but to defend the nuclear deal in the council,” said Richard Gowan, a senior fellow at the United Nations University, a global affairs think tank.
...
Instead of leading a meeting on Iran, Trump will chair a debate on nonproliferation, constitutionalism and sovereignty, said the diplomats, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss future planning.
That Haley frequently seems to run into these weird public policy conflicts with the White House has been a really weird and under-covered subplot of this administration.
posted by zachlipton at 2:29 PM on September 17, 2018 [11 favorites]


Statement from the Press Secretary
At the request of a number of committees of Congress, and for reasons of transparency, the President has directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice (including the FBI) to provide for the immediate declassification of the following materials: (1) pages 10-12 and 17-34 of the June 2017 application to the FISA court in the matter of Carter W. Page; (2) all FBI reports of interviews with Bruce G. Ohr prepared in connection with the Russia investigation; and (3) all FBI reports of interviews prepared in connection with all Carter Page FISA applications.

In addition, President Donald J. Trump has directed the Department of Justice (including the FBI) to publicly release all text messages relating to the Russia investigation, without redaction, of James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, and Bruce Ohr.
Please make the news stop.
posted by zachlipton at 2:30 PM on September 17, 2018 [18 favorites]



Attempted rape is not an “indiscretion,” youthful or otherwise.

As Michelle Goldberg pointed out, the Central Park 5, who were innocent, were 14, 14, 15, 15, and 16 when Donald Trump called for them to be executed.


The same people saying Kavanaugh was "only" 17 just a couple months ago told us that Roy Moore's accuser knew what she was doing at 14. And called 12 year old Tamir Rice a grown man. And called Don Jr. a "kid", at forty-fucking-one.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:37 PM on September 17, 2018 [93 favorites]


the President has directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice (including the FBI) to provide for the immediate declassification of the following materials:

Reading tea leaves, Trump has finally lost it over Paulie Ostrich flipping, has to do something to stoke his ego.

The "ONE TRICK" he has is the whole crackpot hypothesis that the Russian Collusion investigation is based on Page and the Steele Dossier, which was the reason the FBI was wiretapping him.

Which ignores the reality that Paul Manafort went down for financial crimes, and that Donald Jr. already confessed to the illegal meeting with Russian criminals in Trump Tower.
posted by mikelieman at 2:39 PM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


News oclock just wont quit today:

Leaving McConnell's office, Se. John Kennedy said there will be a public "opportunity" to hear from Ford and Kavanaugh.

"There will be a full opportunity for the accuser and the accused to be heard - in public."

[as repored by Manu Raju's twitter moments ago]
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:40 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


@LACaldwellDC: NEWS: sen Kennedy says there will be a public hearing with Kennedy [sic: should be Kavanaugh] and Ford.
A source close to the process says Kennedy’s statement is accurate.

I'm reading elsewhere that this will take place next week.

I hope Mark Judge can be called as a witness as well.
posted by zachlipton at 2:40 PM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


They're really going to re-run the Anita Hill hearings like they think that's going to help.

Except this time we have Kamala Harris in place of Creepy Granddad Joe.
posted by T.D. Strange at 2:43 PM on September 17, 2018 [44 favorites]


And pretty crucially the accuser is a white woman [i wish it didnt matter but i know it does].
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 2:44 PM on September 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


I'm reading elsewhere that this will take place next week.

I hope Mark Judge can be called as a witness as well.


MARK JUDGE REMARKS MARK JUDGE
posted by Barack Spinoza at 2:44 PM on September 17, 2018 [63 favorites]


This is almost fascinating. They’re going to risk their Senate majority to hold hearings that might also cost them this SC seat, all at the insistence of the doddering narcissist they’ve desperately been trying to manage. Senate republicans know this is horribly self destructive, and yet they’re compelled to do it anyway.

It’s like an institutional wraithing.
posted by schadenfrau at 2:46 PM on September 17, 2018 [39 favorites]


Senate republicans know this is horribly self destructive, and yet they’re compelled to do it anyway.

Arguably, at least some of them don't, or tell themselves that it's less of a risk -- if you believe that Ford is lying, if you believe she won't come off well during her testimony, if you believe that America's love-affair for clean-looking white men will prevail, then open court testimony could help. After all, didn't Anita Hill testify publicly? Didn't Clarence Thomas get on the court anyways?

Personally, I'm really hoping that this backfires on them, and that these completely out-of-touch assholes will overplay their hand with Ford on public TV. Ford shouldn't have to go through with this, but by all accounts, her lawyer is the real effing deal, and Ford is an actual real hero.

Which is also to say, fuck Mitch McConnell.
posted by joyceanmachine at 3:01 PM on September 17, 2018 [47 favorites]


@mkraju: Buckle up: Public hearing will be Monday, per @SunlenSerfaty

The hearing will include Judge Kavanaugh and Professor Ford.

----

On declassification:

@rcohen [Sen. Warner's comms director]: Note, category #3 (“all FBI reports of interviews prepared in connection with all Carter Page FISA applications”) is HIGHLY source-revealing. If the WH does it wrong, they will irreparably damage intelligence relationships and quite possibly **put lives at risk**

On the other hand, @Tom_Winter: This is truly unprecedented. It has the potential the backfire on the President as information that would normally not find its way into a court filing (such as raw intel, tips, hearsay, law enforcement discussions) will be made public.
posted by zachlipton at 3:13 PM on September 17, 2018 [26 favorites]


President Donald J. Trump has directed the Department of Justice (including the FBI) to publicly release all text messages relating to the Russia investigation, without redaction

Ugh. This is why @realDonaldTrump retweeted Fox News yesterday: ".@DevinNunes: “I think full transparency is in order here.” #SundayFutures @MariaBartiromo"

Meanwhile, key Senate Republicans expressed support for Mueller probe—Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Kennedy of Louisiana said on the Sunday shows that Mueller should be allowed to finish his investigation, as did Ken Starr and Chris Christie (Atlantic)
Graham spoke up on CBS’s Face the Nation. “I trust him to be honest and fair,” the Judiciary Committee member said of Mueller, adding that he was intent on “making sure that Mueller can complete his investigation without political interference.” When asked whether it was a “witch hunt,” Graham did not defend the president’s label. Instead he promised that “nothing's going to happen to Mueller’s investigation politically. He's going to be allowed to finish it.”

Kennedy, also a member of the Judiciary Committee, said on Fox News Sunday that the special counsel should not be fired before finishing his work. “I want him to report to the American people, give them the facts. The American people are smart enough to figure it out,” he said. Kennedy’s earlier statements had signaled greater impatience, as in May when he opined that it was “time to wrap things up.”
Either Manafort's plea deal has Graham and Kennedy so spooked they're back-pedalling like mad, or they'd learned something truly hideous was coming down from the Trump White House and desperately wanted to wash their hands of it. Maybe something even worse than this declassification-palooza.
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:16 PM on September 17, 2018 [11 favorites]


Either Manafort's plea deal has Graham and Kennedy so spooked they're back-pedalling like mad, or they'd learned something truly hideous was coming down from the Trump White House and desperately wanted to wash their hands of it. Maybe something even worse than this declassification-palooza.

But it's not like SC or LA would ever vote Democratic in their lifetime. They have more to lose hanging Dear Leader out to dry.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:19 PM on September 17, 2018


Louisiana has a Democratic governor. You might also remember that Alabama could never elect a Democratic Senator, until they did.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:26 PM on September 17, 2018 [48 favorites]




Exceptional_Hubris: "Sec of State Pompeo just announced that FY19 refugee acceptance ceiling is being lowered to 30k from 45k (and it appears this includes asylees as well who have traditionally come from a separate pool)."

Apparently, they did not consult Judiciary, and people are not happy:
@seungminkim: Dem and GOP aides on the Judiciary Committee both tell me they were not consulted nor notified as required under law

@nahaltoosi: Guess what else! @SecPompeo made the announcement on the refugee cap before the admin consulted with all of the top lawmakers on the judiciary committees. So umm, some people on the Hill are pissed right now.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:30 PM on September 17, 2018 [31 favorites]


Lauren Gambino (Guardian)
Hatch, if hearings found her allegations to be credible: "If that was true, I think it would be hard for senators to not consider who the judge is today. That’s the issue. Is this judge a really good man? And he is. And by any measure he is."

---

If the allegations are true, he's a rapist who shows no remorse and instead is lying about assaulting her and trying to smear her character. By any measure he's despicable.
posted by chris24 at 3:34 PM on September 17, 2018 [61 favorites]


CNN: An investigation targeting Brock Long, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been referred to federal prosecutors to determine whether criminal charges should be pursued, the Wall Street Journal reports.

NYT: House Oversight Committee to investigate Long.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:35 PM on September 17, 2018 [29 favorites]


Vox, Dara Lind, Under Trump, refugee admissions are falling way short — except for Europeans. The US has set regional goals for the numbers of refugees it accepts. The administration is way, way, way below those goals for every region of the world except Europe, where they're exceeding them, as shown in the handy chart in the article. Many of those admitted from Europe are evangelical Christians from Ukraine. Yet Iranian Christians applying for refugee status don't seem to be getting the same consideration.
posted by zachlipton at 3:36 PM on September 17, 2018 [21 favorites]


Statement from the President
Today, following seven weeks of public notice, hearings, and extensive opportunities for comment, I directed the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to proceed with placing additional tariffs on roughly $200 billion of imports from China. The tariffs will take effect on September 24, 2018, and be set at a level of 10 percent until the end of the year. On January 1, the tariffs will rise to 25 percent. Further, if China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries, we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.
Welp. Can we please stop just calling it a tariff as though that's a magical thing? It's a tax. That Americans pay. Trump just ordered a tax increase.
posted by zachlipton at 3:39 PM on September 17, 2018 [74 favorites]


People ask me why I listen to Sean Hannity's radio show on a regular basis on my way home from work. One reason is, of course, that I am a masochistic knucklehead.

But another is that it gives a very clear roadmap as to what the President is thinking and what he is reasonably likely to do. Hannity's Usual Gang Of Idiots has been calling for precisely this declassification for months now, and upped the volume significantly on it in the last week. It's ALMOST as if they knew what was coming.

It is, of course, a ridiculous maneuver because the people most likely to be swayed by this "evidence" are the people who ALREADY believe that the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt, that it is irrevocably tainted, and that the Deep State is working hard to hide Hillary's felonies and frame Donald Trump. His base is already motivated to come out and vote Republican in 50 days because otherwise THE PRESIDENT WILL BE UNJUSTLY IMPEACHED!, or so they keep hearing; they don't need more "proof."

But in a close election year, if even a tiny percentage of the unswayed buy this narrative, it's a problem. So it is up to we, the people who Actually Read, to debunk this horrorshow.
posted by delfin at 3:40 PM on September 17, 2018 [13 favorites]


This is almost fascinating. They’re going to risk their Senate majority to hold hearings that might also cost them this SC seat

It won't cost them the seat. The alternative to Kavanaugh isn't a liberal justice, it's another Federalist judge. Hell it might be one that McConnell and the rest actually prefer to Kavanaugh since he wasn't their first - or second - choice. The person who really wants Kavanaugh is Trump. For obvious reasons.

If Kavanaugh crashes and burns they'll get Kethledge or Hardiman. Not, like, Garland or Michelle Obama or whatever.
posted by Justinian at 3:46 PM on September 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


Even if they lose the election they still have two months to push through whatever crap justice they want through the Senate.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:48 PM on September 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


From the WaPo article about the White House undermining Haley on her plans for an Iran session at the UN Security Council:
During his debut address at the General Assembly last year, Trump emphasized the importance of the sovereignty of individual nations as opposed to multilateral approaches to global problem solving. He also referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "Rocket Man" and threatened to "totally destroy" his country.

The president's penchant for bold and improvised remarks has captured the focus and anxieties of nation's preparing for this month's global summit in New York. […]
Also, the emperor's president's new clothes are so very elegant and subtle, not to say translucent, that rival nations confess themselves unable to compete.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:49 PM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


Republicans will spend the next week finding every despicable manner they can think of to attack Ms. Ford, as they did Anita Hill. They will not be hearing from her, they will be swarming to destroy her. This will be an obscenity, a patriarchal inquisition.

The only decent thing left to do is to remove the nominee from consideration. As they are the party of Sauron, they can be counted upon to crawl and slither across the broken glass.
posted by riverlife at 3:50 PM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


If Kavanaugh crashes and burns they'll get Kethledge or Hardiman. Not, like, Garland or Michelle Obama or whatever.

Well, sure, but I'd still rather have it be, you know, not a rapist.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:51 PM on September 17, 2018 [72 favorites]


It won't cost them the seat. The alternative to Kavanaugh isn't a liberal justice, it's another Federalist judge.

I believe there are still a few timelines left where they drag this out too long, get hammered by a bunch more reveals and some more Trump clownery, and the concurrent fuck ups snowball (as with ACA repeal) so that they end up in a political situation where they can’t confirm anyone so close to the midterms and also can’t NOT confirm anyone and make a recess appointment. And then the Dems win the Senate and refuse to bring anyone but Garland to a vote.

Admittedly that is stretching my knowledge of Senate procedure pretty thin, and I do not *technically* know if that is possible or just fanfic based on muddled understanding of The Rules. But it feels right, in a writerly sort of way.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:53 PM on September 17, 2018 [6 favorites]


5,000 lies. Holy shit. That is impressive. I just wish this were a cartoon and he the villain instead of the leader of my very real country full of actual humans.
posted by GoblinHoney at 4:00 PM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


There are 108 days until the new Congress is sworn in. That’s enough time to get a new nominee through. You wouldn’t want *much* less time than that, and Republicans would probably rather not hold the vote any closer to the midterms than they have to. I would think if Kavanaugh were to withdraw they’d vote on the next nominee after the election.
posted by EarBucket at 4:02 PM on September 17, 2018


I assume if Kavanaugh is rejected, trump will just push someone through during the next senate recess, no? (Perhaps even Kavanaugh. Is there anything to prevent that kind of thing from happening?)
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:05 PM on September 17, 2018


Another complicating factor, the federal budget runs out again in 13 days. There's been practically no discussion of a budget deal and Trump has threatened to veto a CR. A protracted funding fight either before the election or during the lame duck will cut into the number of legislative days they have to do anything else, including confirm another nominee. There's a lot of opportunity for Democrats to wreak havoc with the calendar, if they win the Senate, AND if they decide to actually do their fucking jobs. Both open questions.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:06 PM on September 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


If Kavanaugh withdraws and someone convinces Trump to nominate someone with a cleaner, more accessible (e.g., less full of political scheming) record, it's entirely possible they could get it done before January 20.

But Trump is committed to Kavanaugh as the one guy on the list who he thinks will be His Guy on the Court. OTOH Kavanaugh may take the matter into his own hands, depending on his tolerance for the process. (He has shown no distaste for dirty politics so far, though.)
posted by suelac at 4:07 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


Trump to declassify documents relating to Russia investigation, Carter Page FISA warrant

Things are about to get very, very ugly, aren't they?
posted by howfar at 4:14 PM on September 17, 2018 [7 favorites]


Mandatory: About to?
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:16 PM on September 17, 2018 [21 favorites]


He has shown no distaste for dirty politics so far, though

He's also never been the target.

I think he should get a very full appreciation of what he's been dishing out, but I'm not in charge.
posted by schadenfrau at 4:16 PM on September 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


I should explain, that I've got a feeling that Trump is now so astonishingly desperate that moves like this are going to start coming thick and fast.
posted by howfar at 4:17 PM on September 17, 2018 [11 favorites]


So the Ford Kavanaugh hearings are next Monday. I didn’t catch if the Committee vote on the calendar for this Thursday has also been delayed. Has it?
posted by notyou at 4:28 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Yep, Committee vote delayed, per WaPo.
posted by notyou at 4:33 PM on September 17, 2018 [14 favorites]


It is, of course, a ridiculous maneuver because the people most likely to be swayed by this "evidence" are the people who ALREADY believe that the Mueller investigation is a witch hunt, that it is irrevocably tainted, and that the Deep State is working hard to hide Hillary's felonies and frame Donald Trump.

The media would never run some relatively benign leaked electronic messages 24/7 to drum up an exciting narrative before an election, no.

One really wonders in all of the various ways our three-letter agencies are being politicized behind the scenes, if this is happening in the public eye.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 4:41 PM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Mod note: immediate declassification of the following materials

This seems like an unwise plan. Anything remotely exculpatory would probably have been leaked already, and the material could contain things that are unflattering or incriminating to the administration. People express themselves differently in texts they think are private, for example, than they would in a memo for the record.

Funny way of making this point redacted.
posted by kirkaracha (staff) at 4:44 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]




So Flake is who we're hoping not to advance this out of committee? Ben 'Concerned Words' Sasse maybe?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:47 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Another complicating factor, the federal budget runs out again in 13 days. There's been practically no discussion of a budget deal and Trump has threatened to veto a CR

This is not true, unless you mean "no discussion" between Congress and the White House? The House and Senate have worked out consensus versions of two out of the three "minibus" spending bills for the next fiscal year, and the third seems doable (with conference committee talks ongoing).
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 4:48 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


via CNN:

release all text messages related to the Russia investigation from former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr, a Justice Department official. Trump has singled out all of those individuals in the past with withering criticism, often on Twitter.

NO ENEMIES LIST! YOU"RE THE ENEMIES LIST!
posted by vrakatar at 4:49 PM on September 17, 2018 [15 favorites]


Remember how Sec. Ross said that they wanted to add a citizenship question to the census at the request of DOJ to enforce the Voting Rights Act?

Yeah, that turns out to have been a lie. The ongoing lawsuit over this has pried loose an email in which DOJ says they don't want to touch the issue because they're getting enough bad press right now (because of "the whole Comey matter"). Then they tried to get Homeland Security to come up with a reason why the census needs to ask about citizenship, and DHS didn't want to touch it. They've repeatedly lied about this from the start.

----

Neither DOJ nor the FBI has any idea how the redaction process for this announcement is being handled, and they think it’s possible that the White House is just doing it on its own and could release this material as early as Monday night, according to a source familiar with the process.

For what it's worth, as that story came out, DOJ put out a statement that they're following a declassification review process.

Regardless, it remains entirely inappropriate for the President to declassify documents about an investigation into him and his staff in the middle of that investigation.
posted by zachlipton at 4:52 PM on September 17, 2018 [56 favorites]


I think there is a decent chance that Kavanaugh will be derailed. Now, odds are, someone else who will grant the GOP wish list will get appointed and confirmed. However, doesn’t matter right now. Right now the Dems need to run that ground ball out. Who knows, maybe something will come up with the next nominee, or something else that prevents them from seating the next justice. Cross the bridges when you get to them.
posted by azpenguin at 4:53 PM on September 17, 2018 [34 favorites]


This is not true, unless you mean "no discussion" between Congress and the White House? The House and Senate have worked out consensus versions of two out of the three "minibus" spending bills for the next fiscal year, and the third seems doable (with conference committee talks ongoing).

I mainly meant between the White House and Congress, although I don't think there's any way they don't pass a CR either into the lame duck or into the next Congress. There will not be a full year budget deal. And Dems have leverage on which one with Trump still threatening a veto as of like Friday. They could force only a short CR until just after the election.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:07 PM on September 17, 2018


I think there is a decent chance that Kavanaugh will be derailed. Now, odds are, someone else who will grant the GOP wish list will get appointed and confirmed. However, doesn’t matter right now. Right now the Dems need to run that ground ball out. Who knows, maybe something will come up with the next nominee, or something else that prevents them from seating the next justice. Cross the bridges when you get to them.

Part of the hope here is that none of the other ready candidates are full-on "prez is above prosecution" sycophants , no? so a win on that front if he gets derailed.
posted by OHenryPacey at 5:16 PM on September 17, 2018 [10 favorites]


@RonaldKlain [he was Chief Counsel to the Senate Judiciary committee during the Thomas nomination]: Here's some advice, based on the Thomas-Hill experience: Both Dems and GOP should want professional, outside counsel to question Kavanaugh and Ford at a public hearing -- not Senators. Make this a search for the truth, not a political platform for Senators of EITHER party.
posted by zachlipton at 5:17 PM on September 17, 2018 [27 favorites]


Make this a search for the truth, not a political platform for Senators of EITHER party.

Hah. Whatever few hobbled horses remain in that barn will have plenty of opportunity to scatter over the coming week.
posted by notyou at 5:31 PM on September 17, 2018 [5 favorites]


People who worked with Kavanaugh when he clerked for disgraced misogynist Judge Kozinski have stories to tell. Cyrus Sanai, an attorney who worked with Kavanaugh in the same office, via The Intercept:

The only way these important stories can be told is if Congress moves the spotlight . . . to the judges who made the judiciary safe for Judge Kozinski to satisfy his deviant needs. If this Committee, or the Judiciary Committee, does so, I have assurances that more people will step forward.”

In late July Sanai sent letters to Feinstein and Grassley, neither of whom has responded. He now suggests the Committee subpoena emails between Kozinski and Kavanaugh to reveal Kavanaugh's actual knowledge (and let's face it, likely collaboration) in what was clearly rampant scumbag behavior in that office.

I have no doubt there is more dirt on Kavanaugh. I don't know what it would take for Feinstein or anyone else to go after it.

Previously on the blue.
posted by 6thsense at 5:38 PM on September 17, 2018 [36 favorites]


Let's talk about Alex Kozinski - Ian Millhiser, Think Progress
I knew about Kozinski. I could have reported out his behavior and I did not. It is one of my greatest failings as a journalist.

But I tell this story not to self-flagellate. I tell it to convey just how widespread news of Kozinski’s behavior was among a certain kind of law school graduate. If I, a liberal who applied only to liberal judges’ chambers and didn’t have the stratospheric grades needed to secure a Kozinski clerkship even if I wanted it, knew so much about Kozinski’s behavior, imagine what Judge Kavanaugh must have known.

Imagine what Judge Kavanaugh must have heard while he was Kozinski’s law clerk...

Kavanaugh’s repeated claims that he has no recollection of Kozinski making sexually inappropriate comments to a law clerk — or that he never even heard anyone raise concerns about such behavior by Kozinski — are quite literally unbelievable...

All of which is a long way of saying that, when Judge Kavanaugh says that he has “never done anything like” holding a woman down and trying to rape her — as psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford says that Kavanaugh did to her in high school — it’s a good idea to take Kavanaugh’s own statement with a grain of salt.
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:56 PM on September 17, 2018 [60 favorites]


It would be nice if we could get Republican senators on the record answering: "You say there is no evidence he did X, Y or Z, and therefore you will be voting for him. If we later discover he did in fact do X, Y or Z, will you vote to remove him?"
posted by chortly at 5:58 PM on September 17, 2018 [21 favorites]


Rebecca Traister in the Cut: And You Thought Trump Voters Were Mad: American women are furious — and our politics and culture will never be the same.

After reading this I am literally shaking.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:03 PM on September 17, 2018 [15 favorites]


It is inconceivable that Kavanaugh didn't know what was going on. This article goes into great detail regarding potential evidence. In the end, Heidi Bond, one of the women who came forward regarding Kozinski's behavior, does not think that Kavanaugh's knowledge of Kozinski's sexual harassment and other troubling behavior is disqualifying. But denying that knowledge should be. She writes:

This country is in desperate need of honest conversations about how sexual harassment thrives. I am more willing to support someone who has thoughtfully considered his past than someone who is unable, even in hindsight, to recognize ways in which he could have been a better ally to women.

What I find disturbing is that when faced with a few simple questions, Kavanaugh decided that evasion was a better path than introspection. We should demand more from a nominee to the Supreme Court.

posted by 6thsense at 6:08 PM on September 17, 2018 [34 favorites]


So Ronald Klain needs someone to explain who Karmala Harris is to him?

I mean, I get that having it come from ostensibly non-partisan source but I have no doubt that Harris will be impressive if ends up questioning Ford and/or Kavanaugh.
posted by VTX at 6:19 PM on September 17, 2018


Kansas woman told birth certificate wasn’t enough to prove citizenship for passport

I was sincerely surprised to see that the person denied a passport apparently isn't a POC.
[via Boing Boing]
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:22 PM on September 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


Um, from that Rebecca Traister piece, about how men are moving right as fast as women are moving left:
Twenty-eight percent more white male millennials said they supported Republican congressional candidates in the spring of 2018 than did in the fall of 2016, according to a Reuters poll.
That is terrifying.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:29 PM on September 17, 2018 [72 favorites]


If Kavanaugh crashes and burns they'll get Kethledge or Hardiman. Not, like, Garland or Michelle Obama or whatever.

The new SCOTUS term starts on Oct 1. Even if we can't stop a conservative being confirmed, is there an advantage to Democrats in making sure that they can't confirm someone before the new term starts?
posted by duoshao at 6:31 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Twenty-eight percent more white male millennials said they supported Republican congressional candidates in the spring of 2018 than did in the fall of 2016, according to a Reuters poll.

From Pew: 14% of Americans have changed their mind on a political or social issue in the last year because of something they saw on social media. Among young men, it's 29%.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:36 PM on September 17, 2018 [18 favorites]


Louisiana has a Democratic governor.

After Jindal, yeah.
posted by Melismata at 6:52 PM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


I would imagine that having a horrible GOP incumbent is probably the best way for a Democrat elected.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:56 PM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Twenty-eight percent more white male millennials said they supported Republican congressional candidates in the spring of 2018 than did in the fall of 2016, according to a Reuters poll.

So much for the "just wait for them to die off" theory. Now more than ever we need to build our coalitions among women and people of color. Get everyone registered to vote, in every precinct in every state.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 7:01 PM on September 17, 2018 [66 favorites]


NARAL is giving out free "I Believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford" buttons, which I find interesting for a number of reasons. I see a lot of "donate and we'll send you this sticker" and occasionally even free stickers from political orgs, but nothing as substantial as a button. Even if they're getting my shipping address in exchange (which they probably already have), that says to me that they see this as a SERIOUS potential tipping point. (I'm curious too what kind of shipping they're using since this is all coming on so fast - if they're hoping to get these out to people in any sort of timely manner, that could be $$$.) In general I'm just really impressed with the leadership that NARAL and Ilyse Hogue have shown on Kavanaugh.

Someone said earlier that even if we have to have a terrible right-wing Federalist Society judge, they'd still prefer one who isn't a rapist. Let me agree and add to that a little. Forcing the withdrawal of the nomination of someone who appears to be a rapist is in itself an end. It shows that we take sexual assault seriously. It says to victims that we take their pain seriously and it says to abusers that they cannot expect to coast by. It is culture change. But I also think this has value not just as a warning to others. I fear Roe v Wade reversal, greatly, but I also truly believe that the difference between a judge who would reverse Roe v Wade but is not a rapist and a judge who would reverse Roe v Wade and IS, is significant enough to matter. Sure I'd rather have RBG 2, and I hate compromise. But the thought of someone who did what Kavanaugh is accused of, sitting on the court and passing judgment, is repugnant enough to me that his removal in and of itself would be a victory. It matters to me.
posted by sunset in snow country at 7:12 PM on September 17, 2018 [91 favorites]


If you look at this Pew piece from a few months ago, men aged 18-34 back the GOP over Dems by a slight margin (50-47), while women aged 18-34 back Dems over the GOP by a huge margin (68-24).
The gap narrows with age, and over 50 there's only a very slight shift to the Dems for women vs men.

So if you think millenials are liberal or natural Democratic voters, that's really only true for women. I suspect if you narrowed it to white millenial men you'd see an even bigger lean towards the GOP.
posted by thefoxgod at 7:14 PM on September 17, 2018 [9 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 House:
-- ME-02: Mellman Group poll has Dem Golden up 54-46 on GOP incumbent Poliquin [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. This poll design uses Maine's ranked choice voting system. Poll was commissioned by the Golden campaign. [Trump 51-41 | Cook: Tossup]

-- CA-22: Strategies 360 poll has GOP incumbent Nunes up 50-44 on Dem Janz [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. Poll was commissioned by the Janz campaign. [Trump 52-43 | Cook: Solid R]

-- IA-03: DCCC poll has Dem Axne up 46-43 on GOP incumbent Young [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. Poll was commissioned by the DCCC. [Trump 49-45 | Cook: Tossup]

-- OH-01: GBA Strategies poll has Dem Pureval up 46-44 on GOP incumbent Chabot [MOE: +/- 4.4%]. Poll was commissioned by the Pureval campaign. [Trump 51-45 | Cook: Tossup]

-- NM-01: ABQ Journal poll has Dem Haaland up 49-41 on GOPer Arnold-Jones [MOE: +/- 4.8%]. Haaland would be the first Native American woman ever elected to Congress. [Clinton 52-35 | Cook: Solid D]

-- NM-02: Same ABQ Journal poll has GOPer Harrell up 48-41 on Dem Torres Small. [Trump 50-40 | Cook: Leans R]

-- NY-27: Indicted GOP incumbent Collins will not be coming off of the ballot after all. District's strong red lean may be enough to save him, though. [Trump 60-35 | Cook: Likely R]

-- MA-03: Recount in the Dem primary here ends up with initial leader Trahan still the winner. [Clinton 58-35 | Cook: Solid D]

-- 538: California GOPers fighting to keep races about local issues, not Trump.

-- Generic ballot in the 538 average is D+9.1 (49.0/39.9).
** 2018 Senate:
-- WV: Emerson poll has incumbent Dem Manchin up 45-33 on GOPer Morrisey [MOE: +/- 3.5%]. FWIW, they also polled the House races, but a) had really small numbers of respondents and b) very high undecideds. So, they're probably not really worth anything.

-- TN: SSRS poll has Dem Bredesen up 50-42 on GOPer Blackburn (RV) // Bredesen up 50-45 (LV) [MOE: +/- 3.5%].

-- AZ: SSRS poll has Dem Sinema up 48-41 on GOPer McSally (RV) // Sinema up 50-41 (LV) [MOE: +/- 3.5%].

-- MI: Tarrance Group poll has Dem incumbent Stabenow up 49-38 on GOPer James [MOE: +/- 4.1%]. Poll was commissioned by the James campaign.


** Odds & ends:
-- TN gov: Same SSRS poll has GOPer Lee up 52-43 on Dem Dean.

-- AZ gov: Same SSRS poll has GOP incumbent Ducey up 48-45 on Dem Garcia.

-- TPM talks with party strategist types. Everyone sees House as lost for GOP, Dems with narrow but viable shot at Senate. tl;dr here.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:28 PM on September 17, 2018 [28 favorites]


Meanwhile on the Florida Senate trail:
.@FLGovScott exits back door after just 10 minutes in restaurant crowd booing and shouting “coward”
posted by Chrysostom at 7:30 PM on September 17, 2018 [85 favorites]


"I believe Anita Hill" buttons were a thing in 1991.

I keep reminding myself now that the hearing is scheduled that Professor Ford didn't choose this. Her identity was being kept secret by Sen. Feinstein's office at her request; she repeatedly declined to speak publicly. It was only after reporters were showing up at her door and workplace that she felt she had to come forward. That doesn't make her one iota less heroic for speaking up, but it emphasizes just how much the phenomenal cavalcade of awfulness that is ensuing wasn't her choice ~35 years ago and wasn't her choice now. And that's all the more reason to have her back.
posted by zachlipton at 7:32 PM on September 17, 2018 [58 favorites]


So if you think millenials are liberal or natural Democratic voters, that's really only true for women. I suspect if you narrowed it to white millenial men you'd see an even bigger lean towards the GOP.

53 percent of the white female voters in this country voted for Donald Trump.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 7:33 PM on September 17, 2018 [12 favorites]


53 percent of the white female voters in this country voted for Donald Trump.

Right, and you can see that in these polls where women over a certain age vote pretty much the same as men.

It's younger women who have a huge bias towards the Democrats, but since younger voters make up a much smaller slice of the electorate it doesn't move the overall needle as much.

Would be interesting to see white women 18-34, but if all women 18-34 are 68-24 Dem-GOP, we can safely say white women 18-34 are still much more Dem-leaning (given a country that is over 70% white).
posted by thefoxgod at 7:39 PM on September 17, 2018 [2 favorites]


Damn, I wish I had the resources to be able to drop everything and fly to DC for Monday, just so I could show support for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:43 PM on September 17, 2018 [11 favorites]


Statistics note: the conservatism of the white male millenials critically depends on both the race and gender aspects in combination. White millenials in general do lean Democratic, as do male millennials in general. (If that sounds confusing: the first stat includes women, the second people of color).

Playing with the Reuters poll online is a visually engrossing time-waster. I should clarify that I couldn't seem to filter to "millenials" as an age category, but rather 18-29 plus 30-39; millennials must be up to something like 25-35 now.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 7:49 PM on September 17, 2018 [8 favorites]


From Pew: 14% of Americans have changed their mind on a political or social issue in the last year because of something they saw on social media. Among young men, it's 29%.

Man, corporate ad-driven social media is just a threat to democracy, period.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:51 PM on September 17, 2018 [24 favorites]


but since younger voters make up a much smaller slice of the electorate it doesn't move the overall needle as much.

Not exactly. Younger voters make up a smaller slice of people who bother to vote. Millennials now out number Boomers in the electorate which is defined as those eligible to vote.
posted by JackFlash at 7:51 PM on September 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


as do male millennials in general

I guess it all depends on what "millenial" means. But the link I posted from Pew showed 18-34 males (which I guess is younger millenials + whatever comes after them)? skewing GOP slightly.

That said, it was close, so depending on the poll you might see the opposite. The interesting part was the dramatic difference between young men and young women.
posted by thefoxgod at 7:52 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


Younger voters make up a smaller slice of people who bother to vote

Sorry, yes, thats what I meant --- as you say electorate is the wrong word.
posted by thefoxgod at 7:52 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


The letter of support for Dr. Blasey Ford has been signed by more than 200 Holton-Arms School alumnae - including Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Class of '79.

Louis-Dreyfus, an active Twitter user, had given previous evidence that she might be skeptical of Kavanaugh’s nomination, but had not revealed her personal connection to Kavanaugh or his accuser.

(Her tweet reblogs a link to a Mother Jones article, The Many Mysteries of Brett Kavanaugh’s Finances, calling it a "crucial read." Both the tweet and the article were published THREE days ago.)
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:11 PM on September 17, 2018 [34 favorites]


Millennials are in the driver's seat of the electorate -- if we could just convince them to take the wheel.
posted by JackFlash at 8:13 PM on September 17, 2018 [1 favorite]


More on the support numbers.

Several Hundred Holton-Arms Alums Sign Letter In Support Of Kavanaugh Accuser by Rachel Kurzius

As of Monday afternoon, more than 430 people had signed the letter


...

Politico reached out to the 65 women after the details of Ford's allegations emerged, and so far, five of them continue to stand by him. Most of the others have not responded to requests for comment.
posted by phoque at 8:27 PM on September 17, 2018 [35 favorites]


The national archives today released Brett kavanaughs memo about what Kenneth Starr should ask President Clinton. He surely has changed his tune on presidential prerogative. Link to wapo staging of documents.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:29 PM on September 17, 2018 [16 favorites]


This "white women millenials are dems until they get married" thing is obvious, it's happened with my own friends.

Liberal women marry more conservative men and vote with him, regardless of their beliefs, to keep peace in the house. Eventually they either go all in or they divorce, usually after they've had kids, because their core beliefs diverge too much. I realize the plural of anecdote isn't data, but it's true for most of my friends circle (and I know a decent number of people).

Anyone else? According to 538, GOP men and 2x more likely to be married to Dem women than the other way around (6% vs. 3%, respectively). However, that number also doubles as these couples age (between about 35 and 60, based on their charts).

And it seems to come from shifting their identity from identifying as a woman among a group of women equally affected by issues to having a shared marital identity with the husband, based on another similar study from last year:
"Over 67 percent of never married women and 66 percent of divorced women perceive what happens to other women as having some or a lot to do with what happens in their own lives. Only 56.5 percent of married women hold the same views."
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:14 PM on September 17, 2018 [32 favorites]


I'm not saying Ted Cruz is getting desperate, but now he's falsely claiming Beto O'Rourke wants to ban barbecue.

Wait, I guess I am saying he's getting desperate.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:20 PM on September 17, 2018 [40 favorites]


flop sweat is just about the only thing ted cruz wears well
posted by murphy slaw at 9:47 PM on September 17, 2018 [9 favorites]


Gotanda: And to know you won't die wondering what might have happened if only you had tried to make a difference. The excerpt was hard to read because it emphasizes how Sisyphean the effort feels: like we're still rolling that same fucking stone, up and up that same hill.

But I won't stop rolling it just yet.

I canvassed 88 houses since Saturday and several GOP neighbors shook my hand and said I was too nice to be an actual Democrat.

By god, I'm going to show them. Hate may push me out my own front door, but just like my family, everyone in my g.d. neighborhood will remember me as the Good Liberal. I'm trying to lead by example, and I'm just so tired. But not TOO tired, not yet.

Not too tired to stop being a Nice Activist. Cause once I start yelling, I might never stop.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:52 PM on September 17, 2018 [110 favorites]


what a week to finally catch up on these threads
posted by ryanrs at 9:55 PM on September 17, 2018 [15 favorites]


As an avid PredictIt user who's taken a bit of a break from the site lately, this Onion headline is pretty damn enjoyable:

Kavanaugh Sweating Bullets After Betting Life Savings On Being Confirmed To Supreme Court
posted by Rhaomi at 9:57 PM on September 17, 2018 [51 favorites]


This "white women millenials are dems until they get married" thing is obvious, it's happened with my own friends.

Liberal women marry more conservative men and vote with him, regardless of their beliefs, to keep peace in the house.


This is possibly how it works in many cases.

I think it's also possible there can be other things at work:

* Women who are happily married -- particularly in traditional marriages where the husband is taking on a protector / provider role -- are arguably people for whom patriarchy is more or less working.
* If George Lakoff is correct, this probably paves some neural pathways related to Strict Father morality as a social and political metaphor, making such people more sympathetic to language that invokes it.

On top of that... I think a lot of progressives have yet to come to grips with the strength of the case that political beliefs are heavily correlated with psychological temperament rather than arrived at through a reasoned process. How new generations are socialized probably matters on a number of fronts, but conservative-leaning temperaments (high conscientiousness, low openness) are probably not going to stop being distributed across populations just because they're born after 1982.

And finally -- speaking from my own recollections of what it's like to evaluate the political system as a teenager and young adult, there's often a cheeky sense of caricatured corruption or incompetence, a tendency to thumb your nose at the whole thing, and very little understanding of what's at stake or how the system works. And that's what it was like for me as a pretty good student in classes like US History/Government and Debate and the things you'd expect would help, with no weird online kek / 4chan culture jamming. As obvious as it seems to me now that Donald Trump somehow manages to be both several forms of corruption incarnate and a buffoon, I wonder how I would have done in the 18-24 range (though I'm pretty sure by 24 some sense had started to bake in). It's not at all hard for me to imagine young adults making reasonable sounding but ultimately dangerous judgments like "Well, Trump's an outsider, obviously we need to shake Washington up" or "He's not like those career politicians" or "Yeah, I'm voting TRUMP because that's what our corrupt system DESERVES" or whatever sounds sufficiently earnest and engaged or ironically cool without costing too much actual attention.

Now, there's reason for hope, too. Young adults nowadays know that society hasn't handed them as much of a rung up the ladder as it handed the Boomers, and the culture has socially liberalized a bit, and criticizing capitalism ain't what it was like in the 1980s. But it's nevertheless totally correct to realize that letting the Boomers die off isn't going to solve our problems alone. The forces that animate conservatism -- and perhaps even energize it to monstrous excess -- aren't just temporary aberrations or moral failures. They come from inside humanity and can re-emerge or be activated in most generations.
posted by wildblueyonder at 10:02 PM on September 17, 2018 [33 favorites]


Politico reached out to the 65 women after the details of Ford's allegations emerged, and so far, five of them continue to stand by him. Most of the others have not responded to requests for comment.

It's pretty clear that what happened was one or two women who actually knew Kavanaugh saw an opportunity, went to her/their social tribe and said, "Tribe!" and the tribe in turn rallied around the tribal flag by virtue of signing a letter--without ever really looking at what was going on or why, because tribe!

Now that the details are coming out they're all clamming up publicly but I imagine their private talk is a whole lot of "WTF did she get us into?"
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:05 PM on September 17, 2018 [40 favorites]


Mod note: One deleted. Let's not veer off into broad speculation on why married women go bad etc. I realize you don't intend this, but it's a fast ticket to some sounds-pretty-misogynist stuff that we sure don't need in this thread. If nothing's happening, it is okay for nothing to be happening in here.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 10:24 PM on September 17, 2018 [31 favorites]


Well, The Guardian got ahold of an early copy of Stormy Daniel's upcoming book, Full Disclosure.
Whenever she saw Trump on television for years afterwards, Daniels writes, an internal monologue would play out: “‘I had sex with that’, I’d say to myself. Eech.”
Fair warning, there are some descriptions from the book you might not want entering your noggin.
posted by michswiss at 11:25 PM on September 17, 2018 [21 favorites]


Mod note: A few deleted. Yeah, no, we are not going to get into the whole "women angrily talking about sexism and sexual assault on social media makes men feel bad/turns them into Republicans" complaint.
posted by taz (staff) at 11:46 PM on September 17, 2018 [57 favorites]


Fair warning, there are some descriptions from the book you might not want entering your noggin

Yeah, I've just read that article and OMG and I suspect people at Nintendo are going to be horrified by it. Mario Kart, and the character of Toad in particular, now have a different connotation.

{I veered away from cut and pasting in the description because people in the UK especially will be eating their breakfast around now and don't need that graphic imagery}
posted by Wordshore at 12:37 AM on September 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


I see a lot of "donate and we'll send you this sticker" and occasionally even free stickers from political orgs, but nothing as substantial as a button. Even if they're getting my shipping address in exchange (which they probably already have), that says to me that they see this as a SERIOUS potential tipping point.

My local DSA chapter always has a table of buttons out at general meetings. At the first one I went to in July there were even some screw-backed cloisonnéd lapel pins, which disappeared quickly. So possibly the commanding heights of the heavy button production economy have been seized by socialists.

(Though also, more seriously and in case you're unaware, there are hand tools somewhat like a large paper punch which squeeze together a transparent protective film, printed image, and some pre-made metal parts into a button almost instantaneously. Perhaps there are corps of irregular rapid-response button makers throughout the countryside, like the French Resistance, awaiting only postage from the central organization to print out.)
posted by XMLicious at 12:48 AM on September 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


Karmala Harris

One hopes that that's going to turn into an entirely appropriate typo.
posted by Stoneshop at 12:57 AM on September 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


Whenever she saw Trump on television for years afterwards, Daniels writes, an internal monologue would play out: “‘I had sex with that’, I’d say to myself. Eech.”

Without getting into the unsavory physical details, the quote above combined with the below will bother him more than anything in FEAR.
“It may have been the least impressive sex I’d ever had, but clearly, he didn’t share that opinion.”
posted by chris24 at 4:15 AM on September 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


chris24, I had the same thought when I read the Guardian’s coverage – particularly the discussion of size. That will either crater him, or spur him to some kind of ludicrously compensatory over-reaction.

If the latter is fumbling and incompetent and strictly verbal, so much the better, but god help us all if he seeks to immanentize the big stick.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:33 AM on September 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


I suspect we'll have the joy of presidential tweets about size and prowess. As if this timeline wasn't bad enough.
posted by chris24 at 4:35 AM on September 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


There was a general agreement many, many, many Scaramuccis ago, perhaps even when Stormy Daniels' involvement was first discussed, that we would not share the salacious details of their affair in these threads. Please, for the sake of some of our final shreds of sanity - leave the details behind links that people can chose to follow or not.
posted by Molesome at 4:35 AM on September 18, 2018 [52 favorites]


538: Will Democratic Senators Lose Despite The ‘Blue Wave’?
This year, however, we have a seeming contradiction: The polls are pointing toward a wave in the House, with an average projected gain of 35 to 40 seats for Democrats and a popular vote win of 8 to 10 points.6 And yet, Democrats are at risk of losing several of their own Senate seats, which could offset any gains they may make among GOP-held seats and make it much harder for Democrats to take control of the Senate.
...
A handful of Democrats, such as West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown and Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey, are running slightly ahead of their fundamentals, but most Democrats are underperforming them. Florida, North Dakota and Missouri, where polls show near toss-ups in races that the fundamentals suggest should be Democratic-leaning, are the most important cases. Montana’s Jon Tester and Indiana’s Joe Donnelly, although they lead in most polls, also fall into this category, as fundamentals suggest they should have a slightly clearer advantage.
NYT (Haberman): Trump’s Growing Legal Team Has a Problem: It’s Operating Partly in the Dark
Mr. Dowd took Mr. Trump at his word that he had done nothing wrong and never conducted a full internal investigation to determine the president’s true legal exposure. During Mr. Dowd’s tenure, prosecutors interviewed at least 10 senior administration officials without Mr. Trump’s lawyers first learning what the witnesses planned to say, or debriefing their lawyers afterward — a basic step that could have given the president’s lawyers a view into what Mr. Mueller had learned. And once Mr. Dowd was gone, the new legal team had to spend at least 20 hours interviewing the president about the episodes under investigation, another necessary step Mr. Dowd and his associates had apparently not completed.
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:37 AM on September 18, 2018 [26 favorites]


Okay, just one:

Daniels’ alleged relationship with Trump included one moment in 2007, she writes, in which she is with Trump in a hotel room watching a Shark Week broadcast on cable television when he receives a phone call from Hillary Clinton, then running against Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“Then, to make it crazier, Hillary Clinton called,” Daniels writes. “He had a whole conversation about the race, repeatedly mentioning ‘our plan’...


That's. That is crazy.
posted by petebest at 5:14 AM on September 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


I have a suggestion for a slogan.
How about:
No, thank you - we already have one sexual assaulter on the court.
posted by growabrain at 5:21 AM on September 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


Guardian: Rightwing thinktanks unveil radical plan for US-UK Brexit trade deal
A radical blueprint for a free trade deal between the UK and the US that would see the NHS opened to foreign competition, a bonfire of consumer and environmental regulations and freedom of movement between the two countries for workers, is to be launched by prominent Brexiters.

The blueprint will be seen as significant because of the close links between the organisations behind it and the UK secretary for international trade, Liam Fox, and the US president, Donald Trump.

The text of the new trade deal has been prepared by the Initiative for Free Trade (IFT) – a thinktank founded by the longtime Eurosceptic MEP Daniel Hannan, one of the leaders of Vote Leave – and the Cato Institute, a rightwing libertarian thinktank in the US founded and funded by the fossil fuel magnates and major political donors the Koch family.

The “ideal UK-US free trade deal” was due to be launched later on Tuesday in both London and Washington but the Cato Institute appears to have accidentally posted it online early.
Cached version of the full pdf.
posted by runcifex at 5:22 AM on September 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


Rightwing thinktanks unveil radical plan for US-UK Brexit trade deal

If all of Britain started calling this "the Trump plan," would that crater any hope of it gaining political traction there? If so, take it as a humble suggestion.
posted by duffell at 5:39 AM on September 18, 2018 [24 favorites]


“Then, to make it crazier, Hillary Clinton called,” Daniels writes. “He had a whole conversation about the race, repeatedly mentioning ‘our plan’...
For some time in 2007-2008, Trump was very publicly in on getting Clinton elected. The man has no recurring tenets except greed, vanity and racism.
posted by Harry Caul at 5:45 AM on September 18, 2018 [34 favorites]


If all of Britain started calling this "the Trump plan," would that crater any hope of it gaining political traction there? If so, take it as a humble suggestion.

I like to think it just begging the “sell the NHS to US” plan would be enough to produce rioting on the streets, but we live in very dumb times and Brexit has its own momentum of stupidity. If you can assure people that it’s racist in some way half the UK will probably go for it, is the sad truth that has been revealed to us.
posted by Artw at 5:46 AM on September 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


For some time in 2007-2008, Trump was very publicly in on getting Clinton elected. The man has no recurring tenets except greed, vanity and racism.

If Daniels' account of the call is true, says a hell of a lot about Clinton's ethics too. Trump was a full on birther at that point.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:01 AM on September 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


If all of Britain started calling this "the Trump plan," would that crater any hope of it gaining political traction there? If so, take it as a humble suggestion.

Considering what the word means in these isles, one would think such a strategy might work. Unfortunately a certain fraction of people here, like their Stateside counterparts, seem entirely willing to submit to a life wreathed in the reeking mephitic vapors just so long as immigrants, cosmopolitans or their darker-hued neighbors suffer a little worse.
posted by adamgreenfield at 6:05 AM on September 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


The Guardian: “Then, to make it crazier, Hillary Clinton called,” Daniels writes. “He had a whole conversation about the race, repeatedly mentioning ‘our plan’...

Harry Caul: For some time in 2007-2008, Trump was very publicly in on getting Clinton elected. The man has no recurring tenets except greed, vanity and racism.

Lentrohamsanin: If Daniels' account of the call is true, says a hell of a lot about Clinton's ethics too. Trump was a full on birther at that point.

Are you possibly thinking of the next election cycle after that? As far as I can tell, before Obama won the 2008 nomination (and hence the time period Clinton was campaigning), Trump hadn't said anything about his birth.

In the Wikipedia article Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, the chronologically-earliest reference to Trump is 2010, when the National Enquirer pushed it at the behest of Michael Cohen, in conjunction with promoting a possible 2012 presidential campaign. Then his famous major public moves started in 2011, when he called himself "a little skeptical" in an interview, and it snowballed from there, all the way past the official publicizing of the certificate and well after the 2012 election.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:26 AM on September 18, 2018 [39 favorites]


Noted anti-feminist and usual pointless contrarian Caitlin Flanagan writes an essay in the Atlantic about her own Brett Kavanaugh.

This is why the GOP should be very, very worried. Republican women don’t seem to identify much with people who aren’t like them. But Christine Blasey Ford is like them. Worse: she’s like their image of themselves. They’ll believe her, and they’ll believe what happened to her matters in ways they haven’t been able to muster for people who don’t make them think, “that was me.”

And they genuinely do not see this. This is what’s so amazing to me. There was a leaked RNC poll recently that indicated that the GOP’s enthusiasm gap is getting worse because GOP voters buy the propaganda completely, and thus do not believe it is possible for the Democrats to win. They’ve gaslighted themselves to the point where they’re too disoriented to navigate political reality.

Their misogyny works the same way. They literally cannot see this as catastrophically damaging.

I think they’re really, really wrong.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:33 AM on September 18, 2018 [44 favorites]


NYT (Haberman): Trump’s Growing Legal Team Has a Problem: It’s Operating Partly in the Dark

Haberman's taking flack on Twitter over how this piece throws Dowd under a bus, courtesy of her sources at the Trump White House. And she tips her hand in a tweet about their agenda (rather than make it explicit in the article): "Dowd emerged as something of a hero in Woodward book. But multiple people connected to the case say he sold the president early on that he had a special bond with Mueller and could get the probe wrapped in a few weeks"

CNN legal analyst Ross Garber argues, "This ⁦@maggieNYT⁩ piece puts too much blame on Dowd. Yes, I never really got the cooperate and pray approach. But the legal operation has always been way too thin. Main issue is likely a client who doesn’t realize the scope or depth of the problem." and "Prep and debrief is critical. But hampered by court holdings finding no attorney-client privilege for WH lawyers. So wouldn’t have been done directly by Dowd, Cobb or any WH lawyer. Instead through cooperation and communication with witnesses’ lawyers."

Haberman also glosses over this significant detail: "What is more, it is not clear if Mr. Trump has given his lawyers a full account of some key events in which he has been involved as president or during his decades running the Trump Organization." Trump is famously the client so mendacious that his own lawyers had to meet with him in pairs, but delving into this aspect of Trump's legal representation would risk losing access, so the NYT's readers don't hear more on the subject. (Trump's lawyers did convey this much, before attacking Dowd again: "The sense of unease among the president’s lawyers can be traced, in part, to their client. Mr. Trump has repeatedly undermined his position by posting on Twitter or taking other actions that could add to the obstruction case against him.")

Among Team Trump, the big dog that didn't bark is Emmet Flood, who stays out of the fray until the article's conclusion (which contains the only piece of important real news in it): "Since [Trump's surprise tweet about McGahn's departure], Mr. Trump has had discussions with Mr. Flood about replacing Mr. McGahn. But Mr. Flood is hesitant, in part because that could pull him away from one of the main reasons he initially joined the White House: to represent another president in impeachment proceeding."
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:35 AM on September 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


If Daniels' account of the call is true, says a hell of a lot about Clinton's ethics too. Trump was a full on birther at that point.

As InTheYear2017 said, no he wasn't. The first time he went birther was 2011.

A timeline of Trump's birther comments.
posted by chris24 at 7:02 AM on September 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Mod note: A couple deleted. "Identity politics" reads to many people as a dismissive phrase and linking that to accusations of crimes reads like dismissing the crime; so let's not kick off that unintended but inevitable derail.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:09 AM on September 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


Another person confirms that Blasey Ford talked about the attempted rape before this year.
In an interview Monday with this news organization, White said that Blasey Ford had told her about the alleged assault — without naming Kavanaugh — in late 2017 during the height of the #MeToo movement and long before Kavanaugh was a Supreme Court nominee.

Last year, White had added her own #MeToo story about being raped as a teenager to a Facebook post.

“She reached out to me afterward, supporting me and my story and that she had something happen to her when she was really young and that the guy was a federal judge,” White said. “She said she had been assaulted. She said hers had been violent as well, physically scary, fighting for her life.”

It’s been difficult for Blasey Ford over the years, she told White, because the judge’s name would come up as “a super powerful guy and he might be a contender for a Supreme Court position one day.”
posted by chris24 at 7:16 AM on September 18, 2018 [54 favorites]


Caitlin Flanagan being suddenly useful is very on-brand for 2018.

Their misogyny works the same way. They literally cannot see this as catastrophically damaging.

They just won an election on the strength of it, though. I can see being cocky (pun intended?) after that.
posted by emjaybee at 7:17 AM on September 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


The Kavanaugh assault allegations are a reminder that Democrats were smart to push Al Franken out - Matthew Yglesias, Vox
But at the end of the day, cleaning up your own house isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s smart politics. If Kirsten Gillibrand and other women of the Democratic Senate caucus hadn’t pushed Franken out months ago, today’s strong political hand versus Kavanaugh could easily have been a Menendez-like fiasco instead.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:28 AM on September 18, 2018 [100 favorites]


I saw someone arguing that it's unfair to judge Kavanaugh by his actions when he was a teenager. I expect this line to be used more often as a fallback to the efforts to discredit Blasey Ford, so here's why it's obviously wrong.

First: repentance requires admitting fault. We can't give someone credit for growing past something they refuse to admit they did.

Second: Kavanaugh's lack of respect for women's bodily autonomy has continued in his career as a judge. In Garza v. Hargan he argued that an undocumented minor didn't have the right to choose abortion. In Doe v. DC he argued that intellectually disabled women don't have the right to refuse abortion.
posted by skymt at 7:31 AM on September 18, 2018 [48 favorites]


The Kavanaugh assault allegations are a reminder that Democrats were smart to push Al Franken out - Matthew Yglesias, Vox

And also a reminder to say fuck off to Soros and all the other donors and party hacks attacking and blaming Gillibrand for supposedly pushing him out. It was never even true and just a reflection of the misogyny still present in many circles in the Democratic Party.
posted by chris24 at 7:31 AM on September 18, 2018 [24 favorites]


I saw someone arguing that it's unfair to judge Kavanaugh by his actions when he was a teenager.

As I posted before, even if you grant this, then you should be judging him as an adult who's an unrepentant rapist who's lying to smear his victim.

And also Trayvon fucking Martin. These same fucks thought that 17 year old deserved to die.
posted by chris24 at 7:33 AM on September 18, 2018 [50 favorites]


A corollary to my comment above: the extent to which GOP Senators are blind to how Kavanaugh will play is the extent to which they see themselves in him.

So. Hoooo boy.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:37 AM on September 18, 2018 [22 favorites]


yeah, one of the most obvious tells of white supremacy is that for white dudes, anything that happened more than a year ago is a youthful indiscretion, even if you're in your fifties
posted by murphy slaw at 7:40 AM on September 18, 2018 [43 favorites]


As InTheYear2017 said, no he wasn't. The first time he went birther was 2011.

Yep, I was ahead on the timeline.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:41 AM on September 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


I saw someone arguing that it's unfair to judge Kavanaugh by his actions when he was a teenager.

Even if you were to grant this, what about everyone else he’s raped since then? Because under no circumstances was “drag someone into a room, turn the music up and attempt to violently rape them” a one-off, especially given that he got away with it at the time.

Even if they don’t want to come forward now (which, fair enough) - his other victims are certainly out there somewhere.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 7:44 AM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


Wow. Caitlin Flanagan wrote a personal essay that doesn't make me want to scream at her...? Shit is getting hell of bizarre.
posted by Don Pepino at 7:47 AM on September 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


Judge to Georgia voting officials: You’re terrible at digital security -- "Advanced persistent threats… and ordinary hacking are unfortunately here to stay." (Cyrus Farivar for Ars Technica, Sept. 18, 2018)
Georgia’s upcoming November 6, 2018 election will remain purely electronic and will not switch to paper to ward off potential hackers, a federal judge in Atlanta ruled on Monday evening.

But as US District Judge Amy Totenberg wrote, she is not at all happy with the inadequate efforts by state officials to shore up their digital security measures.

"The Court advises the Defendants that further delay is not tolerable in their confronting and tackling the challenges before the State’s election balloting system," she wrote in her order.

"The State’s posture in this litigation—and some of the testimony and evidence presented—indicated that the Defendants and State election officials had buried their heads in the sand."
Emphasis mine, because this is slightly terrifying.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:49 AM on September 18, 2018 [25 favorites]


under no circumstances was “drag someone into a room, turn the music up and attempt to violently rape them” a one-off, especially given that he got away with it at the time.

He was blackout drunk and doesn't remember any of it. He might've done the flopping on top but not the dragging and the music upturning. I can totally see a case for this being a one-off. But so? It shouldn't be a survivable one-off, since it was violent and ruined someone's life for years on end. Fuck him. He got so stupid drunk he doesn't even remember the goddamn party? Then he's at fault for whatever happened just like every high school girl who ever got too drunk to fuck and was sexually assaulted has been held accountable for what happened to her because it's illegal to be a girl, 17, and drunk.
posted by Don Pepino at 7:55 AM on September 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


Because what even is this world anymore—Mario Rubio is doxxing Salt Bae on twitter dot com.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:58 AM on September 18, 2018 [8 favorites]




What I don't get is how Totenberg can acknowledge that the Georgia system of elections is massively fucked and basically an invitation for cheating, hacking, and foreign interference and then say that it's totally fine to use in November's elections.

Let's be serious here: paper ballots aren't really complex or difficult, the idea that there isn't enough time to print them between now and November is absurd. And the State of Georgia is **ALREADY** printing paper ballots in the form of absentee ballots and postal ballots. So clearly they have the capability to print more and just use those.

So WTF is wrong with her? She clearly sees and understands the problem, but she refuses to order it be remedied.
posted by sotonohito at 7:59 AM on September 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


Cook Political moves NY-27 in light of indicted incumbent staying on the ballot: Likely R => Leans R

Current totals:

Solid D: 182 D, 0 R
Likely D: 9 D, 3 R
Leans D: 1 D, 8 R
Tossup: 2 D, 28 R
Leans R: 0 D, 28 R
Likely R: 1 D, 25 R
Solid R: 0 D, 148 R
posted by Chrysostom at 8:00 AM on September 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


He got so stupid drunk he doesn't even remember the goddamn party? Then he's at fault for whatever happened just like every high school girl who ever got too drunk to fuck and was sexually assaulted has been held accountable for what happened to her because it's illegal to be a girl, 17, and drunk.

He would be at fault, full stop. Being drunk (even blackout drunk) is not a criminal defense.*

* There's an exception if the defendant was involuntarily drunk (e.g. someone spiked their drinks without their knowledge), but that's clearly not what happened here.
posted by jedicus at 8:01 AM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


He got so stupid drunk he doesn't even remember the goddamn party? Then he's at fault for whatever happened just like every high school girl who ever got too drunk to fuck and was sexually assaulted has been held accountable for what happened to her because it's illegal to be a girl, 17, and drunk.

Not to mention that his reflex is to lie about it so transparently that the parsing of his lie is going to become "the real story".
posted by Etrigan at 8:06 AM on September 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


She clearly sees and understands the problem, but she refuses to order it be remedied.

She didn't "refuse" anything. She decided based on the available evidence that ordering a switch this close to the election would be more likely to cause harm to voters than to let the existing electronic system slide for another cycle:
The Court’s greater concern, in considering the evidence, is that the massive scrambling required to implement such injunctive relief in roughly 2,600 precincts and 159 countries will seriously test the organizational capacity of the personnel handling the election, to the detriment of Georgia voters.
...
Further, early elections begin mid-October. This poses an even earlier deadline for action and organization. Fulton County’s Elections Director testified that the County would only be able to cope with the challenges of an immediate ballot requirement by limiting early voting to one central location, rather than offering it at 20 locations spread throughout the county. This, of course, would likely directly impact voter turnout and access to voting.
...
There is nothing like bureaucratic confusion and long lines to sour a citizen. And that description does not even touch on whether voters themselves, many of whom may never have cast a paper ballot before, will have been provided reasonable materials to prepare them for properly executing the paper ballots.
The risk due to hacking is unacceptably high, but the risk due to ordering recalcitrant state and local officials to switch their voting infrastructure, print ballots and instructions, train poll workers, etc in 7 weeks is near certain.
posted by jedicus at 8:09 AM on September 18, 2018 [28 favorites]


Final nominee numbers in (not counting Louisiana):

Women are 43% of all Dem House nominees (previous record: 29% in 2016)

Women are 50% of all non-incumbent Dem House nominees (previous record: 29% in 2012)
posted by Chrysostom at 8:12 AM on September 18, 2018 [63 favorites]


I really, really want to see the Dems dig into his drinking history, especially in light of those emails about the fishing trip from 2000. “You wrote this email apologizing for a violent outburst during a game of dice – even though you said at the time you didn't remember having that outburst. You accepted that it happened because other people who were there told you that it did. Because you have a pattern of getting blackout drunk and needing witnesses to fill you in on your actions. But today you're telling us that this outburst can't have happened, because you'd remember it. Really?”
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 8:14 AM on September 18, 2018 [139 favorites]


Ongoing reminder that Bari Weiss is garbage.

Between her and Megan "I would be cool with a teen murderer getting a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court" McArdle, they're practically singing a duet of "Excitable Boy."
posted by octobersurprise at 8:28 AM on September 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


On solidarity and Professor Ford. This is a little off-topic, so I'm sorry, and mods please delete if you think so. But yesterday I was standing at the bus stop when a man started threatening and pushing around a young woman - she said later he was her boyfriend. Now all the men all kind of sidled away and all the young women gathered around her and shouted at the guy to leave her alone. And he was very threatening, pushing her and running up to her, chasing her and making blood curdling threats. The women gathered around her, they held her hand, one of them called the police and another one got her phone out and filmed what was happening. They were like her bodyguard. They saw the guy off, once he realised he was being filmed. The police turned up later to take statements. That is real solidarity and I hope this is what Prof. Ford is surrounded by in the coming weeks: good, tough, competent women who have her back. She's going to need it, but they can do wonders.
posted by glasseyes at 8:43 AM on September 18, 2018 [162 favorites]


I suspect we'll have the joy of presidential tweets about size and prowess. As if this timeline wasn't bad enough.

This is your occasional reminder that Trump bragged about his junk on live TV during a Republican primary debate. And here we are.
posted by Gelatin at 8:53 AM on September 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


That is real solidarity and I hope this is what Prof. Ford is surrounded by in the coming weeks: good, tough, competent women who have her back.

It would also be swell if, unlike those cowardly assholes at the bus stop, men had some solidarity to spare for her the way they didn't for Anita Hill once upon a time.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 8:53 AM on September 18, 2018 [60 favorites]


Anita Hill: How to Get the Kavanaugh Hearings Right - Anita Hill, NYTimes OpEd
"The Senate Judiciary Committee has a chance to do better by the country than it did nearly three decades ago."

Today, the public expects better from our government than we got in 1991, when our representatives performed in ways that gave employers permission to mishandle workplace harassment complaints throughout the following decades. That the Senate Judiciary Committee still lacks a protocol for vetting sexual harassment and assault claims that surface during a confirmation hearing suggests that the committee has learned little from the Thomas hearing, much less the more recent #MeToo movement.
...
In 1991, the phrase “they just don’t get it” became a popular way of describing senators’ reaction to sexual violence. With years of hindsight, mounds of evidence of the prevalence and harm that sexual violence causes individuals and our institutions, as well as a Senate with more women than ever, “not getting it” isn’t an option for our elected representatives. In 2018, our senators must get it right.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:57 AM on September 18, 2018 [74 favorites]


Megan "I would be cool with a teen murderer getting a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court" McArdle

She leaves out the teeny-tiny part of what juvenile record expungement advocates want where the teen murderer is getting caught, convicted, punished and rehabilitated and showing remorse preceding the forgiveness.

Because in the current context that's awkward since none of it has happened.

So pretty much a typical 'libertarian' argument where all of the actual important details are ignored in favor of the strategic and limited deployment of abstract principles to further an anti-liberty far right cause.
posted by srboisvert at 9:03 AM on September 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


I just popped into Talking Points Memo and found this. It looks as if Kavanugh's defense is shifting from didn't do it to can't remember to it was just horsing around:
Interesting and perhaps disturbing moment a short time ago as Carrie Severino, spokesperson of the Judicial Crisis Network, was interviewed on CNN. The JCN is the central campaign arm for Republican judicial nominations. The Federalist Society grooms and chooses the nominees. The JCN runs the campaigns, runs political ads in Senators’ states, as necessary. Here Severino argues that it’s not clear that what Ford describes wasn’t simply “rough horse play” as opposed to attempted rape.
The CNN video is at the link. Choice quote: "There's 35 years of memory that we're trying to play with here ...".
posted by maudlin at 9:14 AM on September 18, 2018 [18 favorites]


A lot of people are framing the "horseplay" comment as a general shift in strategy because of its source, but I don't think they're that organized. Severino, other Republicans, and Kavanaugh himself are all just... saying things.

An actual shift in strategy would entail Kavanaugh taking that route, which would mean blatantly changing his story. If that happens, then good lord I am not anticipating the next national conversation with much relish: they'll be saying "It's perfectly normal to do this stuff as a teen... and also normal to then lie about it as an adult because the fake news media doesn't understaaaand"
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:23 AM on September 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


Sen. Susan Collins just posted this:
"I'm writing to the Chairman & RM of Judiciary Cmte respectfully recommending that at Monday’s hearing, counsel for Prof. Ford be allocated time to question Judge Kavanaugh & counsel for the Judge be granted equal time to question Prof. Ford, followed by questions from Senators. Such an approach would provide more continuity, elicit the most information & allow an in-depth examination of the allegations."
And via MSNBC's Kyle Griffin (@ kylegriffin1):
Feinstein: "Chairman Grassley today said there would be only two witnesses invited to testify at theKavanaugh hearing next week on sexual assault allegations. Compare that to the 22 witnesses at the 1991 Anita Hill hearing and it’s impossible to take this process seriously."

Chris Coons said on CNN that he might cede his time at Monday's hearing to Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar because of their prosecutorial experience: "We've got members of the committee who are far more experienced than I am in these matters."
Incidentally, NYMag's Yashar Ali (@yashar) shared this on Sunday: "About a year ago a woman came to me with a highly credible and deeply disturbing sexual assault accusation against a current senior government official. Over the past year, I have stayed in touch with her. She has been reluctant to come forward. Moments ago she sent me this text."
You see what they're doing to Professor Christine Blasey Ford? Calling her a) a liar b) a liberal activist c) saying it doesn't matter since it was high school and d) saying she shouldn't have been drunk underage. That's why women don't come forward. Not in this America.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:27 AM on September 18, 2018 [107 favorites]


A lot of people are framing the "horseplay" comment as a general shift in strategy because of its source, but I don't think they're that organized. Severino, other Republicans, and Kavanaugh himself are all just... saying things.

Ah, but it shows that hist supporters don't believe him, either, else why would they attempt to minimize the activity?
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:28 AM on September 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


Also, Griffin reports, “All 10 Senate Judiciary Democrats are calling for more witnesses at Monday's hearing: "While the Committee unquestionably needs to hear from both [Kavanaugh and Ford], there are other relevant witnesses who should be questioned under oath, in a public setting."” (Here's their letter.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:29 AM on September 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


At a minimum Judge needs to testify. He's the other accused assailant and Kavanaugh's alibi. And he'll make a terrible witness for Rs because he's a misogynistic slime ball.
posted by chris24 at 9:35 AM on September 18, 2018 [34 favorites]


Here Severino argues that it’s not clear that what Ford describes wasn’t simply “rough horse play” as opposed to attempted rape.

So what if it was just "just rough horse play"? It was still nonconsensual..
posted by Gelatin at 9:36 AM on September 18, 2018 [27 favorites]


It looks as if Kavanugh's defense is shifting from didn't do it to can't remember to it was just horsing around

They either learned literally nothing from Roy Moore, or they’re hamstrung by the idiot. I think probably a little bit of both.

This is going to be a disaster for the GOP. It’s going to be traumatic as hell for women everywhere, and one woman in particular, and it is going to cost them.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:36 AM on September 18, 2018 [13 favorites]


I just popped into Talking Points Memo and found this. It looks as if Kavanugh's defense is shifting from didn't do it to can't remember to it was just horsing around:

And with that, this episode goes from merely enraging to actually triggering for me. I can't think I'm alone here. I was gaslit in this way repeatedly and aggressively three decades ago and fuck no am I dealing with that horseshit again. I am incandescent right now.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:38 AM on September 18, 2018 [92 favorites]


[McArdle] leaves out the teeny-tiny part of what juvenile record expungement advocates want where the teen murderer is getting caught, convicted, punished and rehabilitated and showing remorse preceding the forgiveness.

Because in the current context that's awkward since none of it has happened.


McArdle also leaves out the part that her stance only applies to Republican judges, though of course one would do well to assume so.

That anyone takes Megan McArdle seriously, let alone gives her a national platform, is a blot on our national discourse.
posted by Gelatin at 9:38 AM on September 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


soren_lorensen - I am honestly considering whether I need to leave work right now. I've been nearly under my desk for two days. I am switching between incandescent and a puddle within minutes. It's not just you.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:42 AM on September 18, 2018 [32 favorites]


"Rough horse play" is right up there with "locker room talk" and "deleted family units."
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:47 AM on September 18, 2018 [40 favorites]


For what it's worth I'm putting my anger into joining a phone bank tonight to canvass for Tracy Matrino, the Dem challenger to the unspeakably horrific Tom Reed.
posted by bluesky43 at 9:47 AM on September 18, 2018 [27 favorites]


Feinstein: "Chairman Grassley today said there would be only two witnesses invited to testify at theKavanaugh hearing next week on sexual assault allegations. Compare that to the 22 witnesses at the 1991 Anita Hill hearing and it’s impossible to take this process seriously."

Honestly, Anita Hill deserves the Medal of Freedom. Who knew that what she went through would be reverberating so strongly 27 years later and that now, we know the game and just aren't going to take it.
posted by bluesky43 at 9:50 AM on September 18, 2018 [52 favorites]


NPR/Marist Poll: 1 In 3 Americans Think A Foreign Country Will Change Midterm Votes (Sept. 17, 2018)
About 1 out of every 3 American adults think a foreign country is likely to change vote tallies and results in the upcoming midterm elections, according to a new NPR/Marist poll released Monday.

The finding comes even as there is no evidence Russia or any other country manipulated or tried to manipulate the vote count in 2016 or at any other point in American history.
First, I'm not sure if that's reassuring or scary, in light of the Georgia paperless ballot case. Second, the second sentence is a weird one, in that it's technically true, but in stating it that way, may be misleading, given that Russian Hacks on U.S. Voting System Wider Than Previously Known (Michael Riley and Jordan Robertson for Bloomberg, June 13, 2017)
Russia’s cyberattack on the U.S. electoral system before Donald Trump’s election was far more widespread than has been publicly revealed, including incursions into voter databases and software systems in almost twice as many states as previously reported.

In Illinois, investigators found evidence that cyber intruders tried to delete or alter voter data. The hackers accessed software designed to be used by poll workers on Election Day, and in at least one state accessed a campaign finance database. Details of the wave of attacks, in the summer and fall of 2016, were provided by three people with direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation into the matter. In all, the Russian hackers hit systems in a total of 39 states, one of them said.
The difference is that the attack was against voter systems, not the votes themselves, at least as documented there.

In a prior megapost, someone linked to an investigative journalist who tried to document and argue that some votes were suspicious, but my searching is currently failing me. Even without direct vote tampering, Russia clearly has engaged in cyber attacks against U.S. Democracy as a larger structure. If you're even asking if Russia hacked the election, Russia got what it wanted -- It's all about sowing confusion and doubt. (Paul Musgrave for the Washington Post, November 28, 2016)
posted by filthy light thief at 9:53 AM on September 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


This isn't even the kind of anger I can be productive with. Like, my head is going to open up and demons are going to fly out and also I am going to start sobbing uncontrollably at the same time. It's not great for public outreach.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:54 AM on September 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


Georgia. Where Sergei Kislyak hung out at Kennesaw which just happens to be where the voting servers are. No big deal.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:57 AM on September 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


Mod note: Couple deleted; folks, gonna ask that people exercise some restraint about how many graphic details or "so-and-so made this dismissive comment about rape" we need to repeat in here and then go over and over. Fair to make the point that dismissive reactions are bad, but that point's been made and just be conscious that you're inflicting those comments on fellow site members, when honestly we know the gist of the gross things that will be said, and it may not be great for folks' mental health to dwell there.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:58 AM on September 18, 2018 [23 favorites]


NPR: The finding comes even as there is no evidence Russia or any other country manipulated or tried to manipulate the vote count in 2016 or at any other point in American history.

For this statement to not be a lie requires that you define "tried to manipulate" in some bizarre way that doesn't include trying to hack into the information technology infrastructure of many states. Why does NPR hate the truth?
posted by Mental Wimp at 9:59 AM on September 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


oh here's a surprise
MANHATTAN (CN) – Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Congress earlier this year that he added a citizenship question to the 2020 census to help the Department of Justice enforce the Voting Rights Act.

Contradicting that sworn testimony, new evidence shows that Ross received a memo several months earlier informing him that the Justice Department wanted to avoid monkeying around with the census because of “the whole Comey matter.”
— Adam Klasfeld, "Unsealed Ross Memo Contradicts Testimony to Congress"
posted by octobersurprise at 10:01 AM on September 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


zachlipton: Statement from the President
Today, following seven weeks of public notice, hearings, and extensive opportunities for comment, I directed the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to proceed with placing additional tariffs on roughly $200 billion of imports from China. The tariffs will take effect on September 24, 2018, and be set at a level of 10 percent until the end of the year.
China Sets Tariffs On $60 Billion In U.S. Goods, Retaliating Against U.S. Duties (NPR, Sept. 18, 2018)
Hours after President Trump announced tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, China responded with its own levies on $60 billion worth of U.S. products.

Chinese state television on Tuesday reported that the government has decided to impose tariffs of 5 percent to 10 percent on $60 billion worth of U.S. products, starting on Monday. The tariffs will apply to 5,207 items.*

If the U.S. continues to raise its tariffs, China will respond in kind, the report said. That sets the stage for yet another set of tariffs. Trump on Monday also threatened to add levies on about $267 billion of additional imports if China retaliated.

"The Chinese side reiterates that the aim of imposing these tariffs is to prevent trade frictions from escalating and it is a measure of last resort against American unilateralism and trade protectionism," the Chinese state television report said.
* According to Will Martin at Business Insider via Yahoo! Finance, this will account for as much as 95% of all US exports to China.

China Is Better Able To Withstand A Trade War Than In The Past (NPR, July 12, 2018)
As President Trump threatens to heap more tariffs on Chinese imports, he's got one important fact on his side: The United States remains China's biggest single export market, buying some $500 billion in goods last year alone.

But China is less dependent on the American market than it was even a decade ago and in some ways is better able to withstand a trade war than the United States.

"The question is less whether we can do harm to them than, which one can endure the pain the better? And there are some reasons to believe that over the short term, the Chinese are better positioned to manage this," says Robert Ross, a professor of political science at Boston College and an expert on U.S.-China relations.
...
"Trade is around 20 percent of China's economy," she says. "Ten years ago, it was 40 percent."

At the same time, U.S. companies like Boeing, General Motors and Apple now make plenty of money in China's vast consumer market, giving Beijing leverage over the U.S. economy that it once lacked.
Yeah, this isn't going to end well for the U.S., unless we consider a possible result being the ouster of Trump, but even then, it's coming at a high price for many people in the U.S.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:02 AM on September 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


Take courage from this interview with Anita Hill and John Oliver. Her courage is inspiring. The whole segment is great but the interview starts around minute 18.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:04 AM on September 18, 2018 [24 favorites]


"Rough horse play"

It was also a long way from that or a drunken indiscretion.

It was two 17 year old jocks who lay in wait to corral and assault someone 2 years their junior. They weren't too drunk to pre-meditate the crime. And the countermeasures they took to prevent her escaping, or being discovered by anyone else at the party shows they knew absolutely they _were_ committing a crime.

That's pretty much the definition of predatory behaviour. And while sure, people do dumb stuff as kids, and grow out of it; being a predator: less so.

Particularly as all the evidence (such as the dice game, and in the same email his making sure that everyone was on the same page about not telling spouses about the trip, and gambling problems) indicates that he hasn't changed, never mind repented.

I suspect a lot of the reason that they're pushing him for the job is that he is lacking in both empathy and morals, and will be willing to do whatever's asked of him regardless of any other consideration.
posted by Buntix at 10:05 AM on September 18, 2018 [57 favorites]


Trump-proof aspects of Manafort deal rankle lawyers

part of the deal says that if Manafort’s guilty pleas or convictions are wiped out for any reason, prosecutors immediately have the right to charge him with any other crimes he may have committed previously or confessed to during recent plea negotiations.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:09 AM on September 18, 2018 [67 favorites]


In regards to the now-active trade war, I bet dollars to donuts that we'll find out from some expose or leak that Trump still thinks his tariffs mean that China will write a $200B check to the US.

I think it's likely that he has NO IDEA where the money comes from.

He never worried about that before, why would he now?
posted by Dashy at 10:23 AM on September 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


Anderson Cooper Thoroughly Wrecks Donald Trump Jr. For Spreading Lies About Him - Rafi Schwartz, Splinter News

The lies were about Cooper's recent hurricane coverage. Cooper responded on his TV show.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:24 AM on September 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


New Dean Phillips ad features Bigfoot asking the important questions, "Does Erik Paulsen even exist?"
posted by octobersurprise at 10:29 AM on September 18, 2018 [12 favorites]


In regards to the now-active trade war, I bet dollars to donuts that we'll find out from some expose or leak that Trump still thinks his tariffs mean that China will write a $200B check to the US.

In fact...
China is now paying us billions of dollars, and we will see how that all works out. It’s a — I have great respect for President Xi, as you know. I was over there for two days with him. I have a lot of respect for China. But last year, we lost $375 billion in deficits, and we had, in my opinion, way over $500 billion in cash. And that’s not including certain items that we won’t even talk about.

So we’re not going to lose that. We can’t do that. We can’t do that anymore. It should have been done many years ago. It should have been done by other Presidents. And actually, it’s a disgrace that it wasn’t done.

So China is now paying us billions of dollars in tariffs, and hopefully we’ll be able to work something out. We’ll be having an announcement tonight after close of market, and that will take place. Pretty comprehensive statement. Kevin may speak and Larry Kudlow may speak a little bit at that time. But some very positive news. I think it’s going to work out very well with China. I think they want to make a deal. They do want to make a deal — that I can tell you. They want to make a deal.
posted by notyou at 10:29 AM on September 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


Reuters, Trump adviser eyes entitlement cuts to plug U.S. budget gaps
A top economic adviser to President Donald Trump said on Monday he expects U.S. budget deficits of about 4 percent to 5 percent of the country’s economic output for the next one to two years, adding that there would likely be an effort in 2019 to cut spending on entitlement programs.

“We have to be tougher on spending,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said in remarks to the Economic Club of New York, adding that government spending was the reason for the wider budget deficits, not the Republican-led tax cuts activated this year. Kudlow did not specify where future cuts would be made.
...
Kudlow also said he did not expect the Congress would be able to make the Trump administration’s recent individual tax cuts permanent before the Nov. 6 midterm congressional elections. “I don’t think it will get through the whole Congress” before the election, he said, but added that making the personal tax cuts permanent “is a good message” and disagreed with forecasts that they would further increase budget deficits.
The unmitigated gall of these assholes, who want more more more tax cuts, yet have suddenly become concerned with the deficit.
posted by zachlipton at 10:30 AM on September 18, 2018 [67 favorites]


I think it's likely that he has NO IDEA where the money comes from.

He never worried about that before, why would he now?

posted by Dashy at 10:23 AM on September 18 [2 favorites +] [!]


Is it possible the economic retraction effects from all these added taxes to commerce will show up in the numbers before the mid-terms?
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:30 AM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


The unmitigated gall of these assholes, who want more more more tax cuts, yet have suddenly become concerned with the deficit.

Paul Ryan has been saying this explicitly for over a decade now, including during the 2012 and 2016 campaigns. He said it the day after the tax scam passed. But voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania didn't believe him and gave the Republicans a mandate to do it anyway.
posted by T.D. Strange at 10:39 AM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


Re: Kavanaugh (in case anyone wants to skip this)

They’re giving themselves a week to see if they can find something to go after her with and to figure out how much it costs them (polling).

It will get worse for them. Especially if there’s a full court press against them.

I think the odds are good they’ll pull the nomination.

What happens after that is anyone’s guess, but I hope Dems have a plan to take full advantage of it. If we can keep the seat open through the midterms we might get to keep it from going evil.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:49 AM on September 18, 2018 [13 favorites]


A lot of people are framing the "horseplay" comment as a general shift in strategy because of its source, but I don't think they're that organized. Severino, other Republicans, and Kavanaugh himself are all just... saying things.

This has been the Republican defense PR strategy for quite some time. Multiple different style denials by multiple different sources so that they can all be put out there yet at the same time be officially denied. What would be really nice would be if someone leaked the distribution of these inconsistent talking points from a source close to the republican leadership and/or Kavanaugh.

They are little green excuses.
posted by srboisvert at 10:49 AM on September 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


Georgia’s upcoming November 6, 2018 election will remain purely electronic and will not switch to paper to ward off potential hackers

Oh, so they're handing the election to Kemp. Ok.
posted by Fleebnork at 10:51 AM on September 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


Particularly as all the evidence (such as the dice game, and in the same email his making sure that everyone was on the same page about not telling spouses about the trip, and gambling problems) indicates that he hasn't changed, never mind repented.

I suspect a lot of the reason that they're pushing him for the job is that he is lacking in both empathy and morals, and will be willing to do whatever's asked of him regardless of any other consideration.


Not to mention that his coordinated lying to spouses about 'what happens on trip stays on trip' is a pretty much a bald declaration that he is extremely susceptible to blackmail.
posted by srboisvert at 10:54 AM on September 18, 2018 [41 favorites]


Buzzfeed reports on the secret society that Kavanaugh belonged to at Yale. It was jokingly referred to as Tits and Clits, and it's primary objective was drinking and sexing up coeds.

Re, incandescent fury and tears, I am right there with you. This whole thing has brought 40 years of buried triggers and put them right on the drawing room table. I was at the Drs this morning, and read a story about this and just shook my head as I put the paper down, and this lady about 20 years my senior, just as proper and buttoned up as you'd expect of an older lady sporting a bouffaint hairdo that was mostly hope and hair spray, and she patted my hand and said, that Kavanaugh boy is just no good is he? And I said, no ma'am, he is not. And she said, you know honey, I never suspected it would take this long, or women would have to fight this hard, she said, but maybe someday, our sons will see us as people.

I haven't stopped crying.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 11:00 AM on September 18, 2018 [229 favorites]




ELECTIONS NEWS

2018 Senate, WI:

Incumbent Baldwin (D) leads Vukmir (R) 53-42.

Maybe an outlier? Hopefully not.
posted by rocketman at 11:11 AM on September 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


ZeusHumms: The lies were about Cooper's recent hurricane coverage. Cooper responded on his TV show.

The stupid story is: way back in 2008, Cooper reported live from Hurricane Ike, in a place where the water level changed considerably -- it's up to his waist, while his camera crew is less than a foot deep.

They're misrepresenting the image as from Florence. But even more idiotically, they're refusing to believe that the level can change like that, even though, like, parking lots surrounded by walled ledges exist everywhere. It's like moon landing denial on the basis of pictures not matching one's wrong intuitions. (The "optical illusion" quality of the image is also exactly why they shot the footage, as a warning -- that area would be deceptive to anyone considering walking or driving near it.)

But when you think about it further (not a recommended activity), the accusation that CNN would do this to "make Trump look bad" is incoherent. People blame the White House for how it responds to hurricanes, but they don't think Trump's presence causes worse flooding than would be happening under Hillary, like something out of The Lion King. (Yes, climate change has a role, but the cause-effect linkage is much broader than that.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 11:16 AM on September 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


Where Sergei Kislyak hung out at Kennesaw which just happens to be where the voting servers are.

Were.

A computer server crucial to a lawsuit against Georgia election officials was quietly wiped clean by its custodians just after the suit was filed, The Associated Press has learned. (Oct. 2017)

It’s not clear who ordered the server’s data irretrievably erased.

The Kennesaw elections center answers to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brian Kemp, a Republican running for governor in 2018 and the suit’s main defendant. His spokeswoman issued a statement Thursday saying his office had neither involvement nor advanced warning of the decision. It blamed “the undeniable ineptitude” at the Kennesaw State elections center.


That would be Republifuck gubernatorial racist shithead candidate Brian "what security holes" Kemp there. Who will 100% continue to cheat his way into a "red state" governorship without any consequences whenever given the chance, which he just was. Yay paperless electronic voting.
posted by petebest at 11:16 AM on September 18, 2018 [28 favorites]


If we can keep the seat open through the midterms we might get to keep it from going evil.

Just wanted to offer the depressing reminder that the new Congress is not seated until Jan. 3. Even if Democrats win the Senate on Nov. 6, Republicans will still have nearly two months to confirm either Kavanaugh or another Trump appointee.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:17 AM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Maybe an outlier? Hopefully not.

Baldwin has been ahead an average of 11 points, it's not really a race to be concerned about. If anything, she'll be helping pull up Evers in the governor race.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:18 AM on September 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


WaPo, White House reviews incident involving Epoch Times photographer handing a folder to Trump
The White House has reviewed an incident last week in which a news photographer for the Epoch Times, a publication banned in China for its critical coverage, stepped into a restricted area and handed President Trump a folder during an official event.

The photographer, identified by other photojournalists as Samira Bouaou, passed the purple-colored folder to Trump as he was walking out of the East Room on Sept. 12 after delivering remarks at a reception for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
@ksenijapavlovic: .@EpochTimes photographer, Samira Bouaou who handed @realDonaldTrump a mysterious folder told me today that she can’t tell me what was inside. I asked her colleague did Samira act on behalf of their organization or on her own, she responded: “I can’t comment”

The Epoch Times is a publication closely linked with (exactly in which way and how much depends on who you ask) Falun Gong.
posted by zachlipton at 11:19 AM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


Contradicting that sworn testimony, new evidence shows that Ross received a memo several months earlier informing him that the Justice Department wanted to avoid monkeying around with the census because of “the whole Comey matter.”

If the Democrats take the House come November (TTTCS), could they censure/bring perjury charges against Ross for lying to a previous Congress that was controlled by Republicans?
posted by Gelatin at 11:20 AM on September 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


It’s not clear who ordered the server’s data irretrievably erased.

That's OK, I'm more interested in whose responsibility it was to keep it safe. It takes two to tango: the guy with the knife and the guy who leaves the door unlocked.
posted by rhizome at 11:24 AM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Politico has more: Chief Justice Roberts Halts Campaign Finance Ruling

Update: it was unhalted.

@chrisgeidner: BREAKING: The Supreme Court DENIES the stay requested by Crossroads GPS in its challenge to keep donors secret, vacating the stay entered by Chief Justice Roberts over the weekend.
posted by zachlipton at 11:26 AM on September 18, 2018 [58 favorites]


> This afternoon, O'Keefe announced on Twitter that he's planning to release a video doxxing federal government workers who hold leftist political beliefs or engage in leftist organizing. The embedded video clip includes images of the IRS, DOJ, EPA, and GAO buildings, specific reference to a "socialist organization," and several chapter members' voices.

James O'Keefe's First "Deep State" Subversive is Neither Deep Nor Subversive
Karaffa boasts about doing non-government work on government time, and he really does have quite a few irons in the fire -- he's a commissioner on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in D.C.'s Mount Pleasant neighborhood, and, as noted, he works on Democratic Socialist campaigns -- here he's identified as a contact person for the campaign of Lee Carter, an ex-Marine and DSA member who was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017, in an upset victory over the Republican who was the House majority whip, Jackson Miller.

Should Karaffa be doing DSA or neighborhood commission business on work time? No -- but this isn't the Deep State. [...]

Karaffa says in the video that he's safe because it's impossible to fire federal workers. O'Keefe didn't get what he presumably wanted -- evidence of federal employees working to thwart Trump -- so he defined "Deep State" down. Now it just means "government bureaucrats who bunk off work."
posted by tonycpsu at 11:28 AM on September 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


WP: The Senate on Tuesday passed a short-term spending bill that would keep the government running through Dec. 7, aiming to put off a fight over funding for President Trump’s border wall until after the midterm elections.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:32 AM on September 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


If anything, she'll be helping pull up Evers in the governor race.

Evers at +5 in latest Marquette poll (RCP average +4.7). I don't see ads so I don't know to what extent WI Dems are trying to benefit from Baldwin opponent Leah Vukmir's ALEC connections.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:33 AM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


China could literally just stop exporting so much to the US and then the increased tariffs would mean nothing.

In fact, China has been working toward developing its domestic demand so that it is less reliant on exports -- for 2017 exports were ~19 percent of GDP; in 2005 exports accounted for ~36 percent of GDP, according to the World Bank.
posted by notyou at 11:36 AM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Yeah, Evers has been looking good, too. Dems also have a decent shot at flipping the WI Senate, so it's great everyone seems to be going steady.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:36 AM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


This ad is great.

Dean Phillips (D: MN-3)
As @RepErikPaulsen hides from voters and misrepresents his record and the truth, here's a little dose of humor based on fact: a Congressman who avoids voters at all costs, is the 6th biggest taker of PAC money in Congress and is bought and sold by special interests. #Truth #MN03

VIDEO

---

As is this line of attack.

Rich Cordray (D: OH Gov)
Both @MikeDeWine and I have served as AG but our records are starkly different: I got back $2 billion from Wall Street to Ohio retirees. DeWine (on his first day) sued to take away health care and strip Ohioans of protections for pre-existing conditions.
posted by chris24 at 11:43 AM on September 18, 2018 [46 favorites]


Paul Ryan has been saying this explicitly for over a decade now, including during the 2012 and 2016 campaigns. He said it the day after the tax scam passed. But voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania didn't believe him and gave the Republicans a mandate to do it anyway.

And the so-called "elite political press" considered him a "serious, honest policy wonk" who was genuinely concerned about the deficit, despite years of just barely bothering to obfuscate the usual Republican strategy of "cut taxes for the rich, use the resulting deficits to slash social spending.

National treasure Charles Pierce has said that the political press is so desperate for a "serious, honest conservative' to balance the Democrats' much more reality-based budget priorities that they willingly fell for Ryan's cynical pretense.
posted by Gelatin at 11:45 AM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


"It looks as if Kavanaugh's defense is shifting from didn't do it to can't remember to it was just horsing around"

The guy who tried to abduct me when I was 13 -- who grabbed me and carried me up the street while threatening me that he had a gun -- he told the police he was just goofing off. Just playing around. It was "just a joke!" He didn't even know me.

It's a classic bullshit excuse for guys like that.

I would be incandescently angry too, but I've been sick for two weeks and so all I can manage is to huddle on the couch and try not to think about it.
posted by litlnemo at 11:47 AM on September 18, 2018 [82 favorites]


It blamed “the undeniable ineptitude”

That's what they're calling Kislyak behind his back?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 11:47 AM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


>>It blamed “the undeniable ineptitude”
>That's what they're calling Kislyak behind his back?


I thought that was Don Jr., but how can he be involved with Georgia as well? Didn't he have a full portfolio already?
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:59 AM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


It takes two to tango: the guy with the knife and the guy who leaves the door unlocked.

Reminder: no partner dancing with rhizome
posted by nicwolff at 12:08 PM on September 18, 2018 [44 favorites]


Just wanted to offer the depressing reminder that the new Congress is not seated until Jan. 3. Even if Democrats win the Senate on Nov. 6, Republicans will still have nearly two months to confirm either Kavanaugh or another Trump appointee.

Entirely warranted. But just to remind everyone:

We thought ACA repeal was a done deal, too.

Fight as though you can win.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:16 PM on September 18, 2018 [98 favorites]


This continual fighting over continuing resolutions as Congress funds the government in months long dribs and drabs and someone or other threatens shutdowns a couple times a year seems incredibly unhealthy for a nation.

Would there be anything wrong with passing a law saying that in the event Congress fails to pass an annual budget all government agencies are to be funded at their last budgetary levels plus inflation? Just to keep this kayfabe from repeating endlessly?

In Westminster systems if a government fails to pass a budget it counts basically as a vote of no confidence and triggers new elections if the government can't form a new coalition that will pass a budget. You can argue that's not exactly ideal, and it certainly is a system with problems, but at least it's not as prone to being gamed and abused as our current blackmail via budget system is.
posted by sotonohito at 12:19 PM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]




A new report called Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the Reactionary Right on YouTube, was published today by Data & Society, a research institute in New York City that is focused on the social and cultural issues arising from data-centric and automated technologies.

“Social networking between influencers makes it easy for audience members to be incrementally exposed to, and come to trust, ever more extremist political positions,” writes report author Rebecca Lewis, who outlines how YouTube incentivizes their behavior.

Lewis illustrates common techniques that these far-right influencers use to make money as they cultivate alternative social identities and use production value to increase their appeal as countercultural social underdogs. The report offers a data visualization of this network to show how connected influencers act as a conduit for viewership.

Three key quotes from Alternative Influence:

“Increasingly, understanding the circulation of extremist political content does not just involve fringe communities and anonymous actors. Instead, it requires us to scrutinize polished, well-lit microcelebrities and the captivating videos that are easily available on the pages of the internet’s most popular video platform.”

“By connecting to and interacting with one another through YouTube videos, influencers with mainstream audiences lend their credibility to openly white nationalist and other extremist content creators.”

“YouTube monetizes influence for everyone, regardless of how harmful their belief systems are. The platform, and its parent company, have allowed racist, misogynist, and harassing content to remain online – and in many cases, to generate advertising revenue – as long as it does not explicitly include slurs. YouTube also profits directly from features like Super Chat which often incentivizes ‘shocking’ content.”
posted by Bella Donna at 12:34 PM on September 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


@Breaking911 [video]: Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI): "I just want to say to the men of this country, just shut up and step up.”

She followed that with "do the right thing."

@lbarronlopez: As I was asking @maziehirono questions just now, she looked right at @SenateMajLdr as he was passing in Ohio Clock corridor outside Senate chamber, and said: “Do the right thing!” Cornyn chuckled a little. Hirono’s staffers were visibly taken aback.
posted by zachlipton at 12:36 PM on September 18, 2018 [109 favorites]


So it looks like McConnell just sent everyone home for the week?
posted by Etrigan at 12:48 PM on September 18, 2018


Would there be anything wrong with passing a law saying that in the event Congress fails to pass an annual budget all government agencies are to be funded at their last budgetary levels plus inflation? Just to keep this kayfabe from repeating endlessly?

The same people causing these shitty "threaten shutdown-pass CR-repeat" cycles are the ones who would be voting to pass such a law. A law that would force them to give up the hostage in their hostage-holding tactic. Not gonna happen.
posted by Rykey at 12:54 PM on September 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


So it looks like McConnell just sent everyone home for the week?

Have an easy fast, everybody.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:56 PM on September 18, 2018 [13 favorites]


Tariffs are paid when imports actually cross through customs right?

Right. The most important thing to remember is that China doesn't pay a dime of the tariff. The tariff is paid the U.S. company that purchases the item and the cost of that tariff is passed on to U.S. consumers. A tariff is just a sales tax increase paid by Americans.

So when Trump says "China is paying us billions in tariffs" he is simply lying to the public. It sounds a lot better to say China is paying the U.S. when in fact Trump in increasing taxes on Americans.
posted by JackFlash at 12:56 PM on September 18, 2018 [74 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 House:
-- FL-26: Siena poll has GOP incumbent Curbelo up 47-44 on Dem Mucarsel-Powell [MOE: +/- 5.0%]. Nate Cohn has talked about them really struggling getting some demographics to respond on this poll. [Clinton 57-41 | Cook: Leans R]

-- 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]

-- CA-39: Monmouth poll has GOP incumbent Kim up 46-42 on Dem Cisneros in their potential voters model. Midterms model has Kim up 51-41, Dem surge model has Kim up 49-43. [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. | This is the first House poll that's looked really good for the GOP in a while. It matches a trend of relative Dem underperformance with Hispanic voters. Unclear if that's being driven by lower Hispanic propensity to vote, or by difficulty getting polling responses (as mentioned above). [Clinton 52-43 | Cook: Tossup]

-- KS-02: Three dozen former elected Republican officials endorsed Dem Paul Davis. [Trump 56-37 | Cook: Tossup]

-- More on the leaked internal GOP polling (Bloomberg, AP, Kevin Drum, Josh Green) Takeaways:
* About half of Republican are strong Trump supporters. These are the ones who think that Democrats can't win, and thus, may not turn out.
* The other half are "soft" supporters. These ones broadly aren't in favor of party priorities, so may actually vote for Dems.
-- Paper-thin margin in the MA-07 Dem primary may boost chances of state moving to ranked choice voting.

-- Axios: Dems are running hard on health care as an issue.
** 2018 Senate:
-- VA: SSRS poll has Dem incumbent Kaine up 51-33 on GOPer Stewart (RV) // Kaine up 52-36 (LV) [MOE: +/- 4.6%].

-- WI: Marquette poll has Dem incumbent Baldwin up 53-42 on GOPer Vukmir (LV) // Baldwin up 52-40 (RV) [MOE: +/- 4.4%].

-- OH: BWU poll has Dem incumbent Brown up 49-32 on GOPer Renacci [MOE: +/- 3.6%].

-- MO: Trafalgar poll has GOPer Hawly up 47-44 on Dem incumbent McCaskill [MOE: +/- 2.4%].

-- TX: Quinnipiac poll has GOP incumbent Cruz up 54-45 on Dem O'Rourke [MOE: +/- 4.1%]. This is a considerably wider advantage for Cruz than other recent polling.

-- 538: Where Dem Senators are and are not outperforming "fundamentals."

** Odds & ends:
-- WI gov: Same Marquette poll has Dem Evers up 49-44 on GOP incumbent Walker (LV) // Evers up 47-43 (RV). || AG race also polled: GOP incumbent Schimel up 48-41 on Dem Kaul (LV) // Schimel up 47-40 (RV).

-- OH gov: Same BWU poll has GOPer DeWine up 42-37 on Dem Cordray.

-- TX gov: Same Quinnipiac poll has GOP incumbent Abbott up 58-39 on Dem Valdez.

-- KS gov: Three-term former GOP Senator Nancy Kassebaum joins the litany of GOP figures endorsing Dem Kelly.

-- Judge kicks MO initiative for non-partisan state legislative redistricting off the ballot. Proponents to appeal.

-- GOP candidate for CO lt gov was tied up in the Navy's Tailhook scandal. (kids, ask your parents!)
posted by Chrysostom at 1:02 PM on September 18, 2018 [22 favorites]


Data Firms Team up to Prevent the Next Cambridge Analytica Scandal (Issie Lapowsky for Wired, Sept. 17, 2018)
A bipartisan group of political data firms are drafting a set of industry standards that they hope will prevent voter data from being misused like it was in 2016. The guidelines cover transparency, foreign influence in elections, responsible data sourcing and storage, and other measures meant to root out bad actors in the industry and help fend off security threats.

The conversations, which are being organized by Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service, come at a time when data collection more broadly faces increased scrutiny from lawmakers and consumers. Ever since news broke this spring that the political firm Cambridge Analytica used an app to hoover up data on tens of millions of Americans and use it for political purposes, Facebook and other Silicon Valley tech giants have had to answer to Congress and their customers about their mass data collection operations. But the Georgetown group focuses specifically on the responsibilities of the companies that undergird some of the country's biggest political campaigns. Among the firms participating in these discussions are Republican shops like DeepRoot Analytics, WPA Intelligence, and Targeted Victory, as well as Democratic firms, including Bully Pulpit Interactive, NGP VAN, and DSPolitical.

"These are the firms that power all of the elections in America, and so my hope was if you can get them in a room and get them to understand the importance of the data they’re using and to self-regulate, you could achieve a dramatic improvement on behalf of voters," says Tim Sparapani, a fellow at the Georgetown Institute who is overseeing the group.

Sparapani served as Facebook's first director of public policy from 2009 until 2011, after spending several years at the American Civil Liberties Union. A self-proclaimed privacy advocate, he has warned about the need for stricter oversight of data brokers for years. These are companies that collect, store, and analyze data about consumers for a variety of purposes. In the political world, that data can include basic information about how many times a person has voted, their party registration, and their donation record, but it can also include social media and commercial data that can help campaigns better understand who a given person is and target them with political advertising.

The data broker industry remains largely unregulated, both inside and outside politics. The Federal Trade Commission has urged Congress to regulate data brokers since at least 2012, but nothing has come of it so far. In June, Vermont became the first state to pass a data broker law, which goes into effect in January.
Vermont First State to Pass Data Broker Law (Katherine Armstrong for DBR (Drinker Biddle) on Data, June 4, 2018)
Vermont lawmakers recently passed a first-of-its-kind data broker law, which protects consumers from credit freeze fees, data fraud and clarifies data security requirements.

The new law defines a data broker as: “a business, or unit or units of a business, separately or together, that knowingly collects and sells or licenses to third parties the brokered personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship.”

The Vermont Data Broker Law requires that data brokers:

• register annually with the Secretary of State.
• incorporate standard security measures in handling their personally identifiable information.
• notify authorities of security breaches.
• eliminate fees associated with initiating or lifting credit freezes. Note: The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act signed by President Trump on May 24 also includes a provision that eliminates fees associated with initiating or lifting credit freezes.

The law refers to “Brokered PI” which is broader than the definition of personally identifiable information (PII) that is the subject of the law’s information security program requirements. Brokered PI includes one or more elements such as name address, place of birth, mother’s maiden name, biometric authentication data, contact information of immediate family members, Social Security numbers or other government identification numbers, or “other information that, alone or in to combination with the other information sold or licensed, should allow a reasonable person to identify the consumer with reasonable certainty.”
posted by filthy light thief at 1:04 PM on September 18, 2018 [30 favorites]


Ok Politico is often trash, but:
"The president has told close associates in recent days that he views DeSantis as profoundly disloyal for distancing himself from the president’s assertion that the Hurricane Maria death toll was inflated by Democrats for political purposes"
He's like a wrecking ball.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:05 PM on September 18, 2018 [19 favorites]




-- MO: Trafalgar poll has GOPer Hawly up 47-44 on Dem incumbent McCaskill [MOE: +/- 2.4%].

I was out doorknocking for Claire this past Saturday and I can tell you 3 things are hurting her at least from what I gleaned from my conversations

1. Josh Hawley's attack ads are working. He's been putting out a lot going after McCaskill's husband over wealth. I mean, I point out that they aren't going after her over issues but instead are attacking her husband who is obvs not running for office but old people watch a LOT of TV and this is the message they're getting. If registered democrats in liberal STL city are getting skeptical based on these, I fear RED MO is lost.

2. McCaskill is not doing enough to refute the attacks from the Hawley camp. I completely agree with this.

3. People who support her and who I checkmarked as Strongly McCaskill, are pretty pissed that she hasn't come out with a statement on Kavanaugh. I am too.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:22 PM on September 18, 2018 [33 favorites]


You know, I think I am detecting a repeating theme:

In an email from 2000 about a drunken trip and regarding spouses: "What happens on the trip stays on the trip."

At a Yale speech in 2014 about a drunken bus expedition: "What happens on the bus stays on the bus."

At a Columbia speech in 2015: "What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep. That's been good thing for all of us I think."

This seems to be the way he has run his entire life to avoid accountability for his behavior.
posted by JackFlash at 1:23 PM on September 18, 2018 [134 favorites]


I hope Collins is getting an earful about the trade war. Here's an article about how local dealers are laying off staff as the Chinese market for the stuff has all moved to Canada (and the Canadian dealers/exporters are buying the stock off the boats in ME).
Flaherty: What have the tariffs meant for your business?

It means I had to get rid of about 25 or 30 percent of my staff. We will not be profitable this year. We’re hoping we can wait out the trade war. I don’t know if that’s possible because no one knows how long it will go on. I’ve focused my business on China, and for about the last 8 years, 9 years, that’s been the majority of my business. People are like, “Well, can’t you just go sell your lobsters someplace else?” and it’s like, “Well no, I can’t really go sell my lobsters someplace else because — could you please point me in the direction of a country with 1.3 billion people that eats a lot of live seafood? I don’t know another one.”
I guess this means that any independent processors and distributors will go out of business, or get bought up by more Canadian distributors. Winning?
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 1:31 PM on September 18, 2018 [33 favorites]


Mark Judge sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee: "I have no memory of this alleged incident." He appears to want to be excluded from this narrative in any way and does not want to testify.
posted by zachlipton at 1:35 PM on September 18, 2018 [24 favorites]




JackFlash: You know, I think I am detecting a repeating theme:

In an email from 2000 about a drunken trip and regarding spouses: "What happens on the trip stays on the trip."

At a Yale speech in 2014 about a drunken bus expedition: "What happens on the bus stays on the bus."

At a Columbia speech in 2015: "What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep. That's been good thing for all of us I think."

This seems to be the way he has run his entire life to avoid accountability for his behavior.


I look forward to someone using this logic in one of his courts, hopefully not the Supreme Court. "I'm sorry, your honor, but I was lead to believe, by your own words from numerous incidences, that actions that happened in one location and stayed in that location were inadmissible in court."
posted by filthy light thief at 1:38 PM on September 18, 2018 [65 favorites]


It’s not interstate commerce if it all stays in the same place.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:42 PM on September 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Mike Judge also wrote in 2015 he is no longer daring white, secular women.
posted by The Whelk at 1:43 PM on September 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


Why on Earth is the GOP standing by Kavanaugh?
The more practical reason for Republicans to forge ahead with Kavanaugh is the possibility that they might not get someone else confirmed before the midterms, which would be disastrous if Democrats captured the Senate (which, according to FiveThirtyEight, has a propability of 1-in-3). But Republicans can almost certainly get a nominee confirmed before then. And even if they didn't, they could use the post-election lame duck session to confirm a nominee. This might be unusual practice, but then so was holding a Supreme Court seat vacant for well over a calendar year while refusing to give President Obama's nominee so much as a hearing. Republicans have very consistently put substantive priorities over procedural norms, and they would do what it takes to get a second Trump nominee confirmed.

So why not pursue this course? In addition to possible political miscalculation, there's the reality of negative polarization. Even if the ultimate policy results would be similar, Kavanaugh stepping aside would still be perceived by many Republicans as a "win" for Democrats. And Trump, to put it mildly, is not wont to concede error.

But there's another issue at play here. As Vox's Matt Yglesias observes, Trump has effectively made the entire Republican Party complicit in his corruption and misconduct. If being credibly accused of attempted sexual assault as a teenager is disqualifying for a Supreme Court seat, then what does that say about Trump's fitness to be president? He has, after all, been credibly accused himself of sexual assault, and openly boasted about his tendency to grope women. Congressional Republicans who have not merely accepted Trump as the leader of their party but actively shielded him from any accountability are going to have a hard time holding any Republican to any standard of behavior.

This doesn't mean Kavanaugh's confirmation is inevitable, but it explains why Republicans seem initially unwilling to back off, despite it probably being in their political interests to do so.
posted by tonycpsu at 1:44 PM on September 18, 2018 [27 favorites]


What happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at Georgetown Prep. That's been good thing for all of us I think

Nah, it's cool, guys... see, that's an ironclad rule, there. Part of the Bro Code. Engraved on a stone tablet. No one could ever possibly break it. Certainly not, for example, someone who has dirt on what actually did happen, and wanted to hold it over the head of a justice of the supreme fucking court in exchange for a favorable ruling.
posted by Mayor West at 1:51 PM on September 18, 2018 [50 favorites]


When you've lost David Brooks

One of the weakest entries in the When You Bring a Mouse To School Extended Universe.
posted by condour75 at 2:02 PM on September 18, 2018 [44 favorites]


Mike Judge also wrote in 2015 he is no longer daring white, secular women.

That should be "Mark Judge" and "dating", not daring, in case you were wondering why the artist behind Beavis & Butthead was proposing dares to white secular women.
posted by Autumnheart at 2:02 PM on September 18, 2018 [92 favorites]


Stormy Daniels Is Trying to Ruin Your Day With Her Description of Trump's Anatomy
The bright side, I guess, is that Stormy Daniels certainly has a way with words and a gift for simile. The dark side, and it's so dark, is that now we all have to pluck out our eyes and take a vow of silence.

You win some, you lose some.
...
I suppose it could be worse, although I currently cannot possibly imagine anything worse than waking up to the news of Mr. Toad's Not-So-Wild Ride. But the week is still early yet, so I've got hope! And what's more American than that?
posted by kirkaracha at 2:13 PM on September 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


CNN, ICE official stands by comparing detention centers to 'summer camp,' won't say if he'd send his kids to one
Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California asked Immigration and Customs Enforcement's chief of arrests and deportations, Matthew Albence, if he stood by his comments earlier this summer that family detention centers are like "summer camp."
"Absolutely I do," he said.
But he demurred when asked whether he'd send his own children, or those of people he is close to, to the centers.
"Would you send your children to one of these detention centers?" she asked.
"That question's not applicable," he said.
...
"How long is too long, do you think, to detain a child in a detention facility?" Peters asked.
"I'm certainly not qualified to answer that question, sir," Albence said.
Hassan asked why, given all of the research, their agencies support nullifying the court settlement that caps detention of families.
Perez said the goal was deterring families from coming to the US.
"From CBP's perspective, the modification of the Flores agreement is more so a deterrence and the ability to help deter a myriad of pull factors (for immigrants)," Perez said, as the officials explained that the administration thinks immigrants are attracted to the US because they believe families get a free pass into the country.
posted by zachlipton at 2:18 PM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


tonycpsu: And Trump, to put it mildly, is not wont to concede error.

It's not error he won't concede here, it's fault. As Doktor Zed quoted upthread from Woodward's book: Trump life advice: "Trump gave some private advice to a friend who had acknowledged some bad behavior toward women. Real power is fear. It's all about strength. Never show weakness. You've always got to be strong. Don't be bullied. ... 'You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women.'"

Strength and dominance over anyone, but especially women and minorities. To concede means you're weak, and only weak people are ever in the wrong.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:35 PM on September 18, 2018 [11 favorites]


Mod note: A few deleted. This isn't Twitter, go ahead and write up a more substantial summary of a thing rather than just dropping a teaser. Separately, let's please dial back the zingers and little riffs and whatnot; chat to Chat and emotional outcries to the venting thread; aiming for less noise and more signal in this thread.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:37 PM on September 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


What happens after that is anyone’s guess, but I hope Dems have a plan to take full advantage of it. If we can keep the seat open through the midterms we might get to keep it from going evil.

"The President's vetting is so flawed that he didn't learn of this before nominating Kavanaugh, therefore until we learn what changes have been made to his vetting to prevent issues like this, we cannot move forward on any candidate"
posted by mikelieman at 2:38 PM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


How can his vetting be flawed when he doesn't even know what vetting means here?
posted by Melismata at 2:39 PM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


NYT: Trump Administration Formally Rolls Back Rule Aimed at Limiting Methane Pollution

Had it been finalized, it would have cut methane from the oil and gas sector by as much as 35 percent and helped the United States to achieve its greenhouse gas emissions goal under the global Paris Agreement on climate change. The Trump administration has so far revised, rewritten or moved to repeal 76 environmental regulations, the vast majority of which would have helped curb climate change.

Methane's 86 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2 and the release of it might well be setting off a feedback loop that in a best-case scenario would put alligators in the arctic in a couple decades. Any headline you see containing the word "methane" should probably be your most alarming story of the day.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:39 PM on September 18, 2018 [40 favorites]




"Oh, and also we're mounting a full investigation of Trump-Russia and obstruction using the power of the subpoena, and it would be incredibly irresponsible to allow the president to seat a Supreme Court justice who would be in a position to rule on either track of that investigation."
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:40 PM on September 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


Ok, so the NYT summarizes: Trump Sides With Kavanaugh, Accusing Democrats of Timing Sex Assault Charge to Delay Confirmation
President Trump falsely charged on Tuesday that Democrats had sought to time a sexual assault allegation against his Supreme Court nominee...
It ends with a threat and a promise:
Aides have successfully lobbied Mr. Trump to refrain from tweeting attacks on Dr. Blasey ... Asked by a reporter whether the accusations were “just politics,” Mr. Trump said: “I don’t want to say that. Maybe I’ll say that in a couple of days, but I don’t want to say that now.”
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:49 PM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


HuffPost, Amanda Terkel, Republicans Consider Using Female Staffers To Question Christine Blasey Ford: "Every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is male. They normally would be the ones to face Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser."
posted by zachlipton at 2:58 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Curious what the vote tally was on the Roberts dark money stay reversal — the link (and five others I reviewed) didn’t say. Does the whole court vote to take up an emergency case?
posted by notyou at 2:58 PM on September 18, 2018


The order reads, in its entirety, "The application for stay, presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court, is denied. The order heretofore entered by The Chief Justice is vacated."

The implication is that Roberts meant for the stay to be a temporary one until the full SCOTUS could consider the request in more detail and decide what to do with it on a permanent basis. The fact that no justice is listed as dissenting from the order implies that the decision was unanimous, but we can't know that for sure.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 3:01 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Mark Judge sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee: "I have no memory of this alleged incident." He appears to want to be excluded from this narrative in any way and does not want to testify.

Shouldn't be his fucking choice. Kavanaugh himself was quite adamant in forcing everybody to testify when on the Starr investigation. "It is our job to make [Clinton's] pattern of revolting behavior clear — piece by painful piece. 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?”

Subpoena him. And if they won't Ds should when they take control of a house.
posted by chris24 at 3:01 PM on September 18, 2018 [62 favorites]


And yeti persisted.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 3:03 PM on September 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


Mark Judge sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee: "I have no memory of this alleged incident." He appears to want to be excluded from this narrative in any way and does not want to testify.

Also, you're his character witness, alibi and friend and you won't testify in his defense for the highest court in the land. Hmm...
posted by chris24 at 3:09 PM on September 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


And yeti persisted

They're stealing my lines!
posted by Rumple at 3:12 PM on September 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


NYT, Kavanaugh’s Accuser Has Yet to Confirm Appearance at Monday Hearings

Dr. Blasey [the name she uses professionally, apparently, though articles have used both] has received death threats (and supportive messages) and "is effectively in hiding" with her family, having moved out of her house:
“Ninety percent of people think she’s a hero and are extremely supportive of her, and 10 percent want her to die immediately,” the person said, adding, “Her worst fears are coming true.”
posted by zachlipton at 3:22 PM on September 18, 2018 [31 favorites]


A U.S. Military Intervention in Venezuela Would Be a Disaster

Looks like Donnie wants his own continent to invade
posted by infini at 3:23 PM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Nate Silver on where we're at looking towards the Dem primary in 2020:
At this point in 2014, there were 28 potential GOP candidates, per Wikipedia, and we eventually wound up with 17 candidates. There are currently *42* potential Democratic candidates, per Wikipedia, not counting several Rocky De La Fuente types
Awww yisss, this is gonna be a fiasco. *42* real candidates so far! Although it doesn't seem fair to exclusde Rocky De La Fuente types since such a type went on to crush his enemies and see them driven before him in the last Republican primary.
posted by Justinian at 3:23 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Also, there's no statute of limitations for this in Maryland. So Judge could possibly take the 5th to avoid any possible albeit unlikely criminal liability for those crimes or perjury. He has been careful to say he doesn't remember the incident and not to deny anything ever happened, so it seems he's worried some evidence may exist. And him taking the 5th would alone probably be enough to sink Kavanaugh.

Subpoena him.
posted by chris24 at 3:24 PM on September 18, 2018 [29 favorites]


CNBC, Wilbur Ross: Trump's new China tariffs will increase prices but 'nobody is going to actually notice'
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross concedes that prices in the U.S. will increase as a result of the new China tariffs put in place by President Donald Trump.

However, Ross told CNBC on Tuesday, "Nobody is going to actually notice it at the end of the day," because the hikes will be "spread across thousands and thousands of products."
So we're now admitting that US consumers will be paying the taxes Trump just imposed, but they somehow won't notice because lots of products will get more expensive?

As for Sec. Ross's claim that China is "out of bullets" to retaliate because they export so much more to us than we export to them, consider Dean Baker, NYT Is Badly Mistaken: China Has Many Many Options in Trade War with Trump:
The most effective would probably be to stop paying attention to patent and copyright claims of U.S. corporations. It can encourage domestic Chinese companies to make millions of copies of Windows based computers, without paying a penny to Microsoft. It can do the same with iPhones and Apple. In fact, it can encourage Chinese companies to export these unauthorized copies all over the world, destroying Microsoft and Apple's markets in third countries.

It can do the same with fertilizers and pesticides, making Monsanto and other chemical giants unhappy. And, it can do this with Pfizer and Merck's drugs, flooding the world with low cost generic drugs. Even a short period of generic availability may do permanent damage to these companies' markets.
posted by zachlipton at 3:33 PM on September 18, 2018 [38 favorites]


Every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is male.

At least they're not all white dudes, though. Oh wait.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:38 PM on September 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


Re: the trade war, China could also start unwinding their HUGE stockpile of US Treasuries, which would likely spike already-increasing interest rates. That's more of a nuclear option, as it hurts them too, but the idea that the US holds ultimate leverage over the trade relationship is preposterous.
posted by johnny jenga at 3:42 PM on September 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


However, Ross told CNBC on Tuesday, "Nobody is going to actually notice it at the end of the day," because the hikes will be "spread across thousands and thousands of products."

This is wacky:

1: nobody will notice that thousands of the things they buy are ~10 percent more expensive than they were six months ago (depending on how much of the cost sellers eat and how much of the end product consists of tariffed input goods)?;

2: okay fine, if nobody is going to notice, then your own "bullets" in your trade war aren't actually very good.
posted by notyou at 3:43 PM on September 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


On the one hand, American companies are fully complicit in, if not directly responsible for, the race to the bottom that has helped make much of China an environmental and human rights disaster. It is insane the extent to which the artificially, intentionally weakened costs of fuel and labor--combined with loose environmental but stringent economic policies--drove down the cost of manufacturing something in China to the point where it *just made sense* to manufacture everything there.

There are plenty of arguments for why that isn't great for the USA or the rest of the world.

On the other hand, the president is a venal idiot surrounded by craven rich glad-handlers who seem intent on lining their pockets while the world is literally destroyed around them, and everything about his administration's "economic policy" is definitively incompetent, and it's clear that his base has no idea what tariffs are or who pays them.

I never thought I'd see America intentionally destroy its own global hegemonic force just to own the libz.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:45 PM on September 18, 2018 [50 favorites]


Horseplay, you say? (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
This is another situation where human beings want to do something violent and bad and they are trying to hide themselves under the cover of a horse. This is a real Greek Soldiers in a Wooden Replica situation, or like when Tolstoy killed off that poor horse in “Anna Karenina” just so he could have a metaphor for a failed relationship. This is just like all the horses who are stuck in those Confederate statues. This isn’t our doing. Stop sneaking up from behind and pointing this at us. It startles us.

How dare, I repeat, how DARE you sully my name with these smears? Black Beauty never did this. Boxer never did this. He never played. He never even thought. He just worked harder. Ginger did not waste her life between the shafts of a Victorian taxicab so you could blame us for this.

Horseplay! My god! When I think of what horses have done for you? Our friendship is magic; our gallop polls, reliable.

This is not horseplay. Force himself on someone? Put a hand over someone’s mouth? Do I look as though I have hands?

Get off your high me! No pal of mine, no!
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:58 PM on September 18, 2018 [42 favorites]


Quick CA48 update:
@DanaRohrabacher: Proud to be supporting Gracey Van Der Mark for school board. She is a patriot and a parent who has great potential to make a difference for our children and our state.. and yes, our country. #ca48 #ovsd #oceanviewschooldistrict #huntingtonbeach
She seems nice. I guess?

*googles*

OC Weekly:
The controversy over a Huntington Beach resident’s bigoted online comments and offline associations with known alt-right racists came before the Ocean View School District board of trustees meeting last night. Gracey Van Der Mark, a member of the district’s Measure R Citizens Oversight Committee, referred to blacks at a Committee for Racial Justice workshop in Santa Monica as “colored people” doing the bidding of Jews in written comments to her own YouTube video from the event. During the hours-long meeting, the board voted 4-1 to remove Van Der Mark from her post.
Oh, I get it -- firing up the base!
posted by notyou at 4:00 PM on September 18, 2018 [52 favorites]


Ok, so the NYT summarizes: Trump Sides With Kavanaugh, Accusing Democrats of Timing Sex Assault Charge to Delay Confirmation

Unfortunately, the summarizations and clips of Trump speaking that the regular media must employ to suit their own formats can't convey the effect of reading Trump in his own words, which border on formal thought disorder. Here's how he responded, verbatim, from this afternoon's White House press pool:
Question: Mr. president how long of a delay is acceptable in the hearings for Judge Kavanaugh?

Trump: I think its a great question quite frankly, we are looking to get this done as quickly as possible. He is a truly outstanding person as you know, hes got an unblemished record. Its a terrible thing that took place, its frankly a terrible thing that this information wasnt given to us a long time ago, months ago when they got it, they could have done that instead of waiting till everything was finished and then scream. but thats what the Democrats do, its an obstruction, its resistance, its whatever you have to do.

With all of that being said, its a process. We all feel, Speaking for all of the Republicans, we feel we want to go through this process and we want to give everybody a chance to say what they have to say. So we have time available, we will delay the process till its finished out, I guess weve invited everybodyI can tell you this Judge Kavanaugh is anxious to do itI dont know about the other party, but Judge Kavanaugh is very anxious to do it.

A delay is certainly acceptable but we want to get to the bottom of everything. We want everybody to speak up and speak out, the fact is this should have been done a long time ago..and the fact is when Senator Feinstein had Judge Kavanaugh in her office for a long time she never even mentioned this, it was a long time ago

We want to hear both sides

Question: Do you think the FBI should be involved?

Trump: I dont think the FBI should be involved because they dont want to be involved, if they wanted to be I would certainly do that. As you say, this is not really their thing. The Senators will do a good job.
Later, during the joint press conference by Trump and Polish President Duda (in itself extraordinary in its cringeworthiness), Trump blathered on about how the FBI reopening Kavanaugh's background investigation "wouldnt bother me, other than the FBI, Jon [Jon Decker of Fox, because of course he's on a first-name basis], said that they really dont do that; that's not what they do. Now, they have done, supposedly, six background checks over the years, as Judge Kavanaugh has gone beautifully up a ladder. He's an incredible individual. Great intellect, great judge. Impeccable history in every way -- in every way." He then went on about how he feels so badly for him for having to go through this, how he doesn't deserve this, how Sen. Feinstein didn't bring it up during her interview with him—"Because they obstruct and because they resist. That's the name of their campaign against me. They just resist and they just obstruct. And, frankly, I think they're lousy on policy, and in many ways, they're lousy politicians. But they're very good on obstruction. And it's shame, because this is a great gentleman."

Also today, Kyle Griffin reports that All 10 Senate Judiciary Democrats are asking FBI director Chris Wray and W.H. counsel Don McGahn to reopen Brett Kavanaugh's background investigation. (Letter attached) Because the FBI cannot reopen their investigation without explicit instructions from the White House, which Trump, for all his word-salad tossing, is refusing to do.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:10 PM on September 18, 2018 [31 favorites]


Harry Caul: Roberts' stay on dark money denied. Political nonprofits must now name many of their donors under federal court ruling after Supreme Court declines to intervene.

I wonder how many dark-money fuses are blowing right now as a result of this decision. This is great.
posted by clawsoon at 4:14 PM on September 18, 2018 [19 favorites]


Fuck this egomaniac.
'Fort Trump': Donald Trump proposes US military base in Poland.
posted by adamvasco at 4:16 PM on September 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


Here's just a bit more on CA48 and specifically a tweet from incumbent Rep Dana Rohrabacher (R-Kamchatka) that maybe captures the dynamic here as the challenger (Harley Rouda) is seemingly everywhere (I've been canvassed TWICE already) while @Dana's effort seems moribund, which perhaps explains why he and his campaign decided to embrace (or weirdly grip hands with) an energetic young nativist pol the likes of Van Der Mark:
@DanaRohrabacher: Appreciated the Mokhbery family opening their home for a meet n greet to help me get acquainted with their neighbors and their concerns.
The pictures attached to that tweet -- all I can think of is sepia-toned mayo.
posted by notyou at 4:20 PM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


"Just wanted to offer the depressing reminder that the new Congress is not seated until Jan. 3. Even if Democrats win the Senate on Nov. 6, Republicans will still have nearly two months to confirm either Kavanaugh or another Trump appointee."

"Entirely warranted. But just to remind everyone:

We thought ACA repeal was a done deal, too.

Fight as though you can win."


As this has been a recurring theme in our threads lately, this paragraph from today's DSA September dispatch seemed appropriate and made me smile:

"This litany is enough to make even an optimist pause. But we socialists tend to be, to paraphrase the famous Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci “pessimists because of intelligence, but optimists because of will.”

Metafilter: pessimists because of intelligence, but optimists because of will.
posted by robotdevil at 4:22 PM on September 18, 2018 [97 favorites]


Cynicism is reactionary. It's true!
posted by notyou at 4:26 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]




That quote is on a giant billboard on Newport Blvd in Costa Mesa right now. Costa Mesa is part of CA-48.
posted by sideshow at 4:47 PM on September 18, 2018 [66 favorites]


Watch the video. Kavanaugh did the whole Foster thing, which he knew was bullshit, just to hurt Clinton and sully Hillary with the lie that she'd had an affair with Foster. He's slime and rape isn't out character but in fact unsurprising knowing what we do about him.

@TheLeadCNN
By reopening the investigation of Vince Foster's suicide Kavanuagh "tormented the Foster family in the most vicious, cruel, abuse of power I think I've ever seen in 30 years," says @PaulBegala: "If he would do something that horrible, I don't know what he was like in high school"

VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 4:51 PM on September 18, 2018 [68 favorites]


the summarizations and clips of Trump speaking that the regular media must employ to suit their own formats can't convey the effect of reading Trump in his own words, which border on formal thought disorder.

I had a weird moment earlier this year where I got in a debate with a conservative snowflake who was mad about the phrase "toxic masculinity" and cited it as evidence that progressives were in the middle of a war on men.

I was pretty flummoxed by this, because to me it seemed *totally obvious* saying "toxic masculinity" was no more an attack on men in general than saying "toxic relationship" is an attack on all relationships or "toxic food" would be a war on eating. The adjective denotes a subcategory of the noun it modifies, it isn't an equivalence relation.

But the more I talked to him, the more it became obvious that there were only two possibilities: either he couldn't concede the point because to do so would to be to undermine the counterattack that he wanted to make (and the charge of a war on men was a post-hoc reason for rather than a motivation ).... or adjectives functioned as equivalence by association for this person.

At first I wrote this off as a kind of dysfunction and misunderstanding of language. How could he not know this is how language works? We went to the same public schools and parts of speech and sentence diagrams were all part of the curriculum. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was possible that I was as likely to have a fringe relationship with language as he was. Maybe more. I wrote my first computer programs inside the critical period for language development, and spent a lot of time studying Math and CS. Maybe a training and predisposition to get parse-y really aren't that common.

Then I started noticing something specific about Trump's word salad. The syntax is iffy, chains of reason are largely absent. But equivalence by association is all over the place. That's what the nicknames are ("Crooked Hillary"). And look at his speech "we. get this done. quickly." "He. outstanding person. unblemished. record." "democrats. obstruct. resistance."

When Republicans attack Democrats on budget issues, they don't get out charts and figures. They just say it over and over again "tax and spend, tax and spend." It has all the logic of a playground taunt, and moreover, I think some of the Republicans who use it may even understand to some degree they are not using language to articulate any aspect of reality, they are using it in much the way a playground bully does, but they're as proud to conduct discussion this way as they are to own guns, possibly for some of the same reasons.

I'm certainly tempted to deride and dismiss this kind of approach as *dumb*. There's a sense in which it is. Conducting discussion this way habituates people to engaging it. It amplifies the tendency, as most human actions makes their future reprise easier. Past Republican sowing of this kind of thing has resulted in Trump as POTUS, a prospect even many Rs are ostensibly (if quietly and often ineffectually) dismayed at. Unchecked this kind of momentum tends to war against aspects of civilization that are based on competence and studied judgment.

But the fact seems to be some large portion doesn't have an analytical relationship with their political views. Maybe those of us who want the world governed analytically, competently, and studiedly need to also learn how to talk to people for whom adjectives and other aspects of language often function as equivalence-by-association.
posted by wildblueyonder at 4:52 PM on September 18, 2018 [117 favorites]


Ginger did not waste her life between the shafts of a Victorian taxicab so you could blame us for this.

Alexandra Petri you make my eyes all misty and shit
posted by angrycat at 5:06 PM on September 18, 2018 [25 favorites]


Not to discount any of your observations, wildblueyonder, but "the phrase toxic masculinity implies that all men are toxic" is a really really super common sealioning tactic in the misogoshphere. And never once have I seen anyone, having had adjectives and parts of speech explained patiently to them, concede the point.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:09 PM on September 18, 2018 [23 favorites]


It is similar, in my mind, to some people's steadfast refusal to accept that saying "many people who support x are y" (where y might be, say "deplorable") does not imply that "if you support y you are x".
They just want to be offended and use it as a cudgel.
posted by flaterik at 5:12 PM on September 18, 2018 [8 favorites]


I had a weird moment earlier this year where I got in a debate with a conservative snowflake who was mad about the phrase "toxic masculinity" and cited it as evidence that progressives were in the middle of a war on men.

My life has gotten so much simpler and better when I stopped caring what bad people think. And if they're Trumpettes at this point they're bad people. Telling people honestly what I think of them and/or their actions has ended friendships and family relationships and it hasn't been a loss at all. Don't debate with them. Say goodbye to them.
posted by chris24 at 5:17 PM on September 18, 2018 [57 favorites]


Language has a material effect on the world, outside of how that language signifies. Although it is possible to use language to do “parse-ey” things, to use language like computer scientists use language, or claim to use language,1 for the most part when we use language we are using it to achieve a rhetorical effect rather than to perform logic.

This is not bad! A culture that somehow, Vulcan-like, treated language as a tool for logic without regard to its rhetorical effects on the audience would not be a superior culture; if nothing else, it would get rolled by the first bad actor that figured out how to sneak rhetorical effects into logical language. And all languages, by dint of their status as symbolic representations, are susceptible to this category of attack (see footnote 1. Also see science fiction novelist China Miéville’s Embassytown. Also see several of my own novels.)

Which means that on the one hand, yes, we have to pitch our statements for people who don’t treat language as a formal exercise in logic, and yes, we must learn how to use language for its rhetorical effects beyond its capacity for demonstrating logical proofs, but also it means that we must admit that they, the people who don’t use language solely as a tool for doing logic, are right, and we, the folks who want to treat logos as governing over the material world rather than being itself a messily material thing, are arrogantly, obnoxiously wrong.

1: google for unix/C co-inventor Ken Thompson’s “Reflections on Trusting Trust” for a charming demonstration of how statements in even formal languages can never be provably related to any particular meaning.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 5:17 PM on September 18, 2018 [24 favorites]


Breaking NYT:

Christine Blasey Ford Wants F.B.I. to Investigate Kavanaugh Before She Testifies
Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee, of sexual assault, said an investigation should be a “first step” before she agrees to testify.

Her position puts the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Monday in doubt.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:17 PM on September 18, 2018 [68 favorites]


wildblueyonder: Flagged as "fantastic;" thanks! Summarizes what I've been thinking about for a long time now. I'm printing this and reading it repeatedly until I can seamlessly apply these ideas in real time to my own arguments.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:19 PM on September 18, 2018


but "the phrase toxic masculinity implies that all men are toxic" is a really really super common sealioning tactic in the misogoshphere.

I wouldn't go so far as to call this a sealioning tactic. They only have the one flavor of "masculinity". To them, everything else is some other form of effeminate/[insert various slurs here] behavior.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 5:21 PM on September 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


Vanity Fair serves up some unsourced Trumpland gossip: As the Kavanaugh Nightmare Escalates, Trump Is Gripped With Uncertainty As Ivanka Suggests Cutting The Judge Loose
According to three sources, Kavanaugh’s imperiled confirmation has unsettled Trump and the White House. “Everyone knows his predisposition is to punch back, but this is a different situation than an election,” a former West Wing official briefed on the strategy discussions said.[....]

According to sources, several factors are at play. White House advisers are worried that more damaging information about Kavanaugh could come out. Two sources told me the White House has heard rumors that Ford’s account will be verified by women who say she told it to them contemporaneously.[...] One source says Ivanka Trump has told her father to “cut bait” and drop Kavanaugh.[...]

But the threat of losing the House and Senate seems to have helped convince Trump not to go scorched-earth on Ford. If Trump antagonizes women voters, it could increase the odds Republicans would lose both houses in Congress. “Trump knows the Senate is not looking good,” an outside adviser said. “It’s all about the impeachment, he knows it’s coming.”

Even before the Kavanaugh crisis, Trump has been worried about Republicans’ declining fortunes, and he’s been finding ways to shift the blame. Trump told a friend in the Oval Office last week that it would be Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan’s fault if Republicans lost the House and the Senate, according to a person familiar with the conversation. “This is the election about Ryan and McConnell—it’s about those guys,” Trump said. Trump referred to his 2020 campaign as “the real election.” “It’s pure Trump. He has to come up with a way he’s not responsible if Republicans lose,” a former West Wing staffer said.
Incidentally, Trump is privately lashing out at one of his top allies, Ron DeSantis, angrily accusing the Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee of publicly betraying him, Politico writes. This betrayal consists of "distancing himself from the president’s assertion that the Hurricane Maria death toll was inflated by Democrats for political purposes." And Trump is entirely capable of withholding support for DeSantis in the 2018 elections despite needing a GOP-friendly Florida in 2020.
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:28 PM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


This nomination needs to be withdrawn now. He had better not be the nominee by the end of Maddow tonight. Republican men are toxic.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:31 PM on September 18, 2018 [8 favorites]




Wow. Blasey Ford says that Grassley scheduled the public hearing expecting her to testify “at the same table” as Kavanaugh. At the same table as the man she says once tried to rape her.

The full letter.
posted by chris24 at 5:41 PM on September 18, 2018 [16 favorites]


Senate GOP to Prof Ford: Take It Or Leave It - Josh Marshall, TPM
I want to note what appears to be clearly a unified strategy among Republican Senators to put the onus on Professor Ford personally and blame her if the hearing doesn’t happen. They’ve unilaterally announced a process and are now arguing that Ford is at fault if she doesn’t agree. Look at the specific wording.

Read these quotes, which clearly come from a pre-arranged agreement.

Mitch McConnell said Ford will have “the opportunity to be heard.

Sen. Grassley’s spokesperson: “Our staff reached out to Dr. Ford’s lawyer with multiple emails yesterday to schedule a similar call and inform her of the upcoming hearing, where she will have the opportunity to share her story with the Committee. Her lawyer has not yet responded.”

Sens Collins and Cornyn are referring to Ford’s non-response so far.

Sen. Collins: “That’s very puzzling to me…I really hope that she doesn’t pass up that opportunity.”

Sen. Cornyn: “That’s pretty telling, she hasn’t responded to the committee’s normal processes and we don’t know if she’s coming or not but this is her chance. This is her one chance. We hope she does.”
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:48 PM on September 18, 2018 [23 favorites]


The lawyer Trump wanted to hire and who he frequently tweet quotes. From the White Supremacy Hour with Tucker Carlson.

Madeline Peltz (MMFA)
JOE DIGENOVA on Dr. Ford: She doesn’t really want to testify because when she does she’s going to look like the loon she is. she may very well believe everything she’s saying and that is one of the signs of lunacy, believe something that isn't real.

VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 5:59 PM on September 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Wow. Blasey Ford says that Grassley scheduled the public hearing expecting her to testify “at the same table” as Kavanaugh. At the same table as the man she says once tried to rape her.

The full letter.


I'm really glad she has some good lawyers, and I hope they know how to play the public relations game. This letter suggests that they do. The GOP senators who are trying to manipulate this unfair process are going to drive right into a hornets nest.
posted by bluesky43 at 5:59 PM on September 18, 2018 [23 favorites]


and what the heck Susan Collins? what a total disappointment.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:00 PM on September 18, 2018 [6 favorites]


Vanity Fair serves up some unsourced Trumpland gossip: As the Kavanaugh Nightmare Escalates, Trump Is Gripped With Uncertainty As Ivanka Suggests Cutting The Judge Loose

I REALLY hope that the GOP/Trump is too stupid, too arrogant and too stubborn to take what is obviously the best path forward. I don't want to put Dr. Ford in any more pain than she has already endured, but the longer this drags on and the more discovery there is, all the better. May the GOP crash and burn.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:04 PM on September 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


The GOP senators who are trying to manipulate this unfair process are going to drive right into a hornets nest.

Are they? They know the public won't really see this unless it's on TV. That's how the Anita Hill hearings turned into such a spectacle, and they're trying to intimidate Ford into backing down by cooking up the most unpleasant scenario possible to avoid that this time while still claiming they gave her "due process" or the "opportunity to be heard". At which point they'll claim she was lying because she wouldn't show up to sit at the same table as her rapist on national television, and confirm Kavanaugh.

They're bringing the full weight of the Republican party down on one victim and daring her to call their bluff. That's an impossible burden and they know it.

And this appears to be at least in part Susan Collins' idea. Moderate Susan Collins.

Rape enabler Susan Collins.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:05 PM on September 18, 2018 [67 favorites]


for all of her wretched career as a senator, Susan Collins has tried to get people to overlook that she’s a right-wing loon by coasting on Olympia Snowe’s reputation as a moderate. it’s bizarre that that has somehow worked, but, well, it has.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 6:05 PM on September 18, 2018 [33 favorites]


Asking for an FBI investigation is a bit weird. Does the FBI usually investigate this sort of thing? I mean, she can ask, but is it a reasonable thing to happen?
posted by BungaDunga at 6:13 PM on September 18, 2018


Jesse Lehrich
the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 passed the Senate 78-22.

the 6 highest ranking Rs on @senjudiciary voted against it:
– Grassley
– Hatch
– Graham
– Cornyn
– Lee
– Cruz
posted by chris24 at 6:14 PM on September 18, 2018 [74 favorites]


Asking for an FBI investigation is a bit weird. Does the FBI usually investigate this sort of thing? I mean, she can ask, but is it a reasonable thing to happen?

They do background checks for nominees and other appointees and they definitely investigate lying on your background check. Even today when Trump talked about it, he didn't say they didn't do this, he said they didn't want to.
posted by chris24 at 6:15 PM on September 18, 2018 [9 favorites]


Whoever is coordinating Dean Phillips' media campaign for MN-03 is bringing their a-game. First Bigfoot asking if Erik Paulsen exists and now Erik the Pac Man.
posted by nathan_teske at 6:17 PM on September 18, 2018 [20 favorites]


As NPR told it, no federal crime was committed, so FBI is out in that regard. OTOH (they said) the FBI Background Investigation could be re-opened. This is typically where disqualifying dirt is discovered on nominees. re: trump saying, "they didn't want to" - he's trying to conflate the two investigations to keep the conversation murky (imho).
posted by j_curiouser at 6:19 PM on September 18, 2018


Asking for an FBI investigation is a bit weird. Does the FBI usually investigate this sort of thing? I mean, she can ask, but is it a reasonable thing to happen?

The FBI was involved during the Clarence Thomas committee hearings and interviewed Anita Hill, so there's clear precedent.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:23 PM on September 18, 2018 [22 favorites]


the 6 highest ranking Rs on @senjudiciary voted against it:

And of course human garbage Rubio voted against it as well. Why would you vote against the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act?!
posted by photoslob at 6:24 PM on September 18, 2018 [5 favorites]


They know the public won't really see this unless it's on TV.

A high profile primetime interview about what happened, and why she rejected a show hearing, would be a good next step.
posted by condour75 at 6:26 PM on September 18, 2018 [17 favorites]


wildblueyonder, I think you're onto something regarding adjective usage. For example, take the fairly common conservative (back when such creatures as conservatives existed) complaint about "burdensome regulations" and their effect on business. I originally would hear this and think oh, they're complaining about the subset of regulations that they believe are burdensome. But later I came to realize that most often, people who said this really thought (or claimed; I'm terrible at mind reading) that all regulations were burdensome; the phrase "burdensome regulations" was idiomatic, not to be split into noun and adjective. If you accept for purposes of argument that some people have this as a common feature of their discourse, they might hear other adjective- noun combinations in this idiomatic way. I have known men who, when they first encountered the term "toxic masculinity," took it in this way and got defensive, but after a brief discussion, were able to understand it wasn't a statement purporting to describe all of masculinity (in my view, that's one way to separate good faith from bad faith--if people are open to going past their first assumption upon discussion, and don't keep relying on the debunked assumption to prove a point). Your analysis helps me to understand how someone might form such an interpretation, without necessarily acting in bad faith. Thanks!
posted by mabelstreet at 6:44 PM on September 18, 2018 [25 favorites]


Sure, that might be the most effective thing next to coming in on fire like Pete Strozk and making them look like morons in open hearings. But a high profile primetime interview is still a huge burden to place on someone who was until two days ago an anonymous private citizen. And a victim decades later. You could envision Ford going on national TV and giving a devastating takedown, but it's unfair to expect or demand it.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:45 PM on September 18, 2018 [19 favorites]


nathan_teske: Whoever is coordinating Dean Phillips' media campaign for MN-03 is bringing their a-game. First Bigfoot asking if Erik Paulsen exists and now Erik the Pac Man.

I want to question the wisdom of using the opponent as the protagonist, but the whole thing is pretty genius, particularly the substitution of the ghosts with four everyday constituents trying to reach him.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:48 PM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


In all the other apeshit nonsense this may have been asked, but isn't it highly unusual that Kavanaugh's statements are going through the White House? Did this happen with e.g. Bork?
posted by aspersioncast at 7:00 PM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


but it's unfair to expect or demand it.

Absolutely. I didn't mean to suggest she owed it to us. Just that it seems like it would be a good end run around their bullshit.
posted by condour75 at 7:06 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


It's almost like Senator Hatch isn't acting in good faith.

Orrin Hatch once said there was “no question” Merrick Garland could be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:07 PM on September 18, 2018 [25 favorites]


From a little digging all I've found so far is that the Gipper's press secretary was just as horrid as Suckabee.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:08 PM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 passed the Senate 78-22.

Now that you mention it, don't forget that the VAWA expires at the end of September, for the first time in 24 years, and there is no indication at this time that Congress plans to act on it by that deadline.

The VAWA provides grants to community organizations working on the prevention and care of domestic violence victims such as education programs, victim assistance and shelters. These programs will terminate without reauthorization.
posted by JackFlash at 7:10 PM on September 18, 2018 [46 favorites]


and what the heck Susan Collins? what a total disappointment.

As a former constituent of hers, people should have stopped pretending she was reasonable a long time ago.

A note on the language use discussion: George Lakoff has been talking about this since the Bush years. He's really the one that popularized the notion of framing.
posted by Miko at 7:16 PM on September 18, 2018 [24 favorites]


Surprise, it seems Trump was lying.

Chris Strohm (Bloomberg):
Bloomberg News: The FBI did not tell Trump or anyone else at the White House that the bureau doesn’t want to be involved in an investigation of allegations against Kavanaugh, according to a person familiar with the matter.
posted by chris24 at 7:57 PM on September 18, 2018 [29 favorites]


Dr. Ford's lawyer is a boss. Interview with Anderson Cooper
posted by bluesky43 at 8:00 PM on September 18, 2018 [7 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS - Pt. 2

** 2018 House:
-- NM-02: Siena poll has Dem Torres Small up 46-45 on GOPer Herrell [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. [Trump 50-40 | Cook: Leans R]

-- TX-07: Siena poll has GOP incumbent Culberson up 48-45 on Dem Fletcher [MOE: +/- 5.0%]. FWIW, they also tested the Senate race; O'Rourke leads 51-44. Experts feel this is consonant with a Cruz statewide lead of a couple of points. [Clinton 49-47 | Cook: Tossup]
** 2018 Senate:
-- AZ: TargetSmart poll has Dem Sinema up 51-46 on GOPer McSally [MOE: +/- 4.0%]. Poll was commissioned by a progressive PAC.

-- MI: Target-Insyght poll has Dem incumbent Stabenow up 55-40 on GOPer James [MOE: +/- 3.0%].
** Odds & ends:
-- AZ gov: Same TargetSmart poll has incumbent GOP Ducey up 49-48 on Dem Garcia.

-- MI gov: Same Target-Insyght poll has Dem Whitmer up 50-41 on GOPer Schuette.

-- WP's Dave Weigel has a new regular newsletter out about the midterms and other stuff, recommended.

-- Dems just lost a very winnable special election in Texas SD-19. Local analysis is that it was pretty much the candidate running a very half-assed campaign, but the area is significantly Hispanic, so this adds to the troubling indications that maybe Hispanic turnout for Dems is not going to be what they want. District has significant overlap with TX-23 (Hurd | Leans R).
posted by Chrysostom at 8:16 PM on September 18, 2018 [23 favorites]




Susan Collins is a Republican. Every Republican in Congress has an intense and vested interest in enacting Trump’s agenda. Trump’s agenda isn’t even Trump’s agenda, it’s THEIR agenda and Trump is THEIR sock puppet. Stop looking to Republicans to somehow stop doing what they’ve been working for 50 years to do. They have literally spent billions of dollars and manipulated our entire understanding of the American social contract in order to achieve exactly this. Putting hydroponically cultivated Republican activists on the Supreme Court, who have a lifelong history of violence and disenfranchisement of women and will enshrine those principles into federal law, is the GOAL. Not the hang-up. Just like making a white supremacist who openly mocks minorities and women, brags about sexual assault, has absolutely no respect or even knowledge of the law, and normalizes fascist behavior, into the next president was the GOAL. Not the hang-up. Republicans would not pick a moral, woman-respecting guy to sit on the bench because they are trying, with great intent and enthusiasm, to dismantle women’s rights entirely, just like they are trying, with great intent and enthusiasm, to dismantle our democracy entirely. Even now, they are acting to keep people from voting, attacking the press, and using law enforcement agencies to strip people of their US citizenship. That is the GOAL. Not the hang-up.

The sooner everyone figures this out already, the better off we’ll be. EVERY Republican in Congress has acted with complete consistency since 2016. Quit looking for outliers and hidden moderates because there aren’t any. They are all bankrupt. This is not the Trump agenda, this is the Republican agenda, and people need to start associating that with EVERY elected official who has an R next to their name.
posted by Autumnheart at 8:23 PM on September 18, 2018 [141 favorites]


Josh Marshall thinks the GOP will still have to end up hearing from Ford in public, and that if they do, Kavanaugh is torpedoed. I have to say I'm a lot more skeptical. I think this whole "she's gotta come in Monday and testify, that's the offer" strategem is likely to work. She says (correctly), "well, that's obviously bullshit," they say, "well then, tough," and on we go to the confirmation vote.

I sure hope I'm wrong.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:31 PM on September 18, 2018 [35 favorites]


Concur with the above. The Monday or never offer leaves them just enough rhetorical room to keep the wobblies in line while giving the firebreathers more fuel for the hate mills.

On the other side, the mistreatment of Ford should energize a lot of folks to get even more involved in the midterms. After that, geez, does a successful effort to uncover more wrongdoing by Kavanaugh after he’s seated lead to impeachment or short of that given the venality of the GOP, civil/criminal exposure?

[edit: to be clear, by “mistreatment of Ford” I mean the current situation, not what Kavanaugh did to her 30 years ago.]
posted by notyou at 8:42 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


Please. It’ll be 3 days of raking her over the fucking coals, her probably having to go into the Witness Protection Program to get away from all the rape and death threats, and by this time next week we’ll be on to Trump going nuts on Twitter about some other damn thing while probably starting a #getbackinthekitchen campaign.
posted by Autumnheart at 8:48 PM on September 18, 2018 [15 favorites]


Autumnheart: Stop looking to Republicans to somehow stop doing what they’ve been working for 50 years to do.

Correct. However, when it comes to a general reckoning with them, we have to act as if alternate paths were always available. There is no "Not guilty by reason of the corruption runs into the deepest parts of the soul".

One of my senators is Pat Toomey. He will never change. And because of that, his life, or at least his job, needs to be made as miserable as possible as long as possible. You can't reform them but you can disincentive them.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 8:52 PM on September 18, 2018 [14 favorites]


Re: Ford refusing to testify on Monday, It's important to remember how much it took for her to come forward at all; she was in contact with Feinstein's office for a month before the hearing, and declined to be named. Even after the hearing came and went with nobody finding an angle to bring up the assault without her testimony, she didn't come forward. It took a cavalcade of leaks by third parties to push her into doing the WaPo story. That doesn't sound like a woman who's spoiling for a fight with the most powerful misogynists on the continent. From the beginning, her goal has been to spur an investigation of Kavanaugh's past, not to confront him and his patrons herself.

(And just to be clear, I don't blame her one fucking bit for that)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:02 PM on September 18, 2018 [53 favorites]


Is the FBI incompetent? Don't they run background checks on people in Government positions? Asking for another background check now will reveal that the first people didn't uncover anything and were incompetent? Do they bother asking Senators on the Judiciary panel, do you have an information that would or should be added? Did Senator Feinstein fail to provide the letter or documents to the FBI in June?
posted by brent at 9:09 PM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]


One of my senators is Pat Toomey. He will never change. And because of that, his life, or at least his job, needs to be made as miserable as possible as long as possible. You can't reform them but you can disincentive them.

There is no way to disincentivize them. They hold all the power. They could have him admit to rape under oath and confirm him the next day. There’s literally no way to stop it. And make their job miserable? Like what, call their office a jillion times and bug the shit out of some staffer? Are they suddenly going to care about any of that, after two years of conspicuously not caring?

This is the same pointless game show principle behind “Vote a certain way or we’ll fund your opponent!” Just fund their opponent. Calling their office doesn’t disincentivize them, embarrassing them in public doesn’t do it, million-person marches aren’t doing it. We need people to run against them and win (which people are doing! Hurray), and we need to protect the integrity of our elections. These people cannot be disincentivized. They need to be removed.
posted by Autumnheart at 9:17 PM on September 18, 2018 [13 favorites]


There is no way to disincentivize them.

This has been empirically disproven. Even if we stipulate that the "moderates" are just extremists like all the rest, but playing a role to put one over on their constituents, they're still playing the role, and sometimes keeping up that performance requires them to push back against the party's right wing, if we deny them all plausible excuses to go along. That's how we ended up with three Republicans voting against Obamacare repeal. That's how we forced some of the most publicly bad executive branch nominees to drop out. Hell, that's how we ended up with Flake/Murkowski/Collins demanding a new hearing and not just pushing ahead with a vote, as they could have done.

The higher the stakes the harder it is, so it's far from guaranteed to work here, but to say it can never work, under any circumstances, is too pessimistic even for 2018.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:28 PM on September 18, 2018 [63 favorites]


nathan_teske: Whoever is coordinating Dean Phillips' media campaign for MN-03 is bringing their a-game. First Bigfoot asking if Erik Paulsen exists and now Erik the Pac Man.

I want to question the wisdom of using the opponent as the protagonist, but the whole thing is pretty genius, particularly the substitution of the ghosts with four everyday constituents trying to reach him.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:48 AM on September 19 [1 favorite +] [!]


I did a thing where I basically just told a bunch of Chinese people in mainland China this is the sickest burn in US politics I've ever seen and gave some context, plus bragged slightly about Minnesota Dem pride. I've got 5 people trying to get past L1 and laughing their butts off. Hats off to this campaign from Chinese people in mainland China. The message resounds HARD.
posted by saysthis at 10:40 PM on September 18, 2018 [21 favorites]


Dr. Ford's lawyer is a boss. Interview with Anderson Cooper

I concur.

Background: Lisa J. Banks, partner at Katz, Marshall & Banks

“I have always believed that it is important to fight hard for those who are not in a position of power.”
posted by mikelieman at 10:46 PM on September 18, 2018 [4 favorites]


Bigfoot asking if Erik Paulsen exists

Forgive one more comment, but this is hilarious. I don't care where you are on the political spectrum, it deserves to be asked, is our political advertising agencies learning? I have to say yes after seeing this and the PACman game. I wanna vote for Dean Phillips on his advertising alone. This is obviously someone with a killer sense of humor, forget Al Franken, I want this guy in Congress!!!!!! And who is the advertising agency behind this?! Research is ongoing on my part, but damn, this is some good stuff.
posted by saysthis at 10:54 PM on September 18, 2018 [10 favorites]


Does anyone know who the man behind Senator Hirono is in the clip linked above?
posted by taz at 11:32 PM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


But the fact seems to be some large portion doesn't have an analytical relationship with their political views. Maybe those of us who want the world governed analytically, competently, and studiedly need to also learn how to talk to people for whom adjectives and other aspects of language often function as equivalence-by-association.

Honestly I think MOST people fall into this category. I HATE to admit it, but even my husband does, for all that his opinions are usually on the "correct" side of things. I can't stand to watch news with him, actually, because of the extent to which his opinions are knee-jerk reactions with no education of the actual issue. Like, usually we agree about things, but to me, as someone arguably "overly obsessed" with keeping up with politics, from the kinds of things he yells at his TV screen, I can tell he doesn't know anything about what he's reacting to. It's purely "x word=negative response, y word = positive response."

Is it because he didn't have a college education? Is it because he has spent the last several years working 60+ hours/week and doesn't have time to keep up? Or is it just because he's not a very introspective person? It's not a question of intelligence in any case, or ability to engage with ideas on a deeper level because IF a topic is presented to him in depth, either from like a documentary source or if I take the time to really explain an issue to him, he can engage with it perfectly well. But mostly he doesn't and doesn't want to.
posted by threeturtles at 11:38 PM on September 18, 2018 [19 favorites]


Does anyone know who the man behind Senator Hirono is in the clip linked above?

It's Sen. Blumenthal, you can see him better in this photo from today.
posted by peeedro at 11:54 PM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


This is the same pointless game show principle behind “Vote a certain way or we’ll fund your opponent!”

Seems to me that offering someone a million dollar head start to run against Collins is a pretty good way of “incentivizing” exactly what you’re calling for.

These peoples’ biggest changeable advantage is that they have more money because they represent rich people and corporations.
posted by spitbull at 3:50 AM on September 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


Dr. Ford's lawyer is a boss.

She's a Soros stooge. No, seriously, that's the argument Bill-O, the nutosphere and the Washington Times are pushing. Because Open Society several years ago gave some money to social welfare org Sixteen Thirty and in the past Sixteen Thirty gave some money to Demand Justice, which advocates using the courts to advance progressive causes.

And Katz also is a vice chair for the Project on Government Oversight, a non-partisan government watchdog that's been around since 1981, but it too has received some money from Open Society. Plus she's donated to Dems.

Remember folks, money in politics/charity is only ok when it's a Republican billionaire funding it. Otherwise it's a (((globalist))) conspiracy.
posted by chris24 at 4:06 AM on September 19, 2018 [41 favorites]


I wanna vote for Dean Phillips on his advertising alone. This is obviously someone with a killer sense of humor, forget Al Franken, I want this guy in Congress!

Dean Phillips is a likable guy, but that PAC Man thing has apparently been around for a while, and was funded by "End Citizens United."

The Bigfoot thing does come from his campaign, though. Phillips' day job is not comedy, but marketing. He knows what he is doing with this stuff.
posted by OnceUponATime at 4:09 AM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Mod note: A few deleted. Please consider making a separate post for deep dives on side topics (linguistics of adjective association as related to political and cultural leanings, Foucault's disciplinary society and the rightists vs the leftists, etc.) and Chat for chatty stuff. It's all interesting, but this can't be the Katamari thread for all the things. Spacious commenting real estate available now in new post threads about various thinky things!!
posted by taz (staff) at 4:42 AM on September 19, 2018 [22 favorites]


I want to note what appears to be clearly a unified strategy among Republican Senators to put the onus on Professor Ford personally and blame her if the hearing doesn’t happen. They’ve unilaterally announced a process and are now arguing that Ford is at fault if she doesn’t agree. Look at the specific wording.

So to be clear the Republican senate's strategy is to get her into a room with Kavanaugh and his friends and close the door and then gang up on her so Kavanaugh can get what he wants?
posted by srboisvert at 5:20 AM on September 19, 2018 [91 favorites]


While turning up the rhetorical volume so nobody can hear what is really going on.
posted by nubs at 5:25 AM on September 19, 2018 [24 favorites]


After the Betomentum seemed to fade yesterday...

New Reuters polls:

Beto O'Rourke (D) +2 in Texas (contradicting yesterday's Q poll with Cruz +9).

Gillum (D) +6 in Florida.

Sinema (D) +3 in Arizona.

But Rs Heller (+3) and Scott (+1) hold small leads in NV and FL.
posted by chris24 at 5:28 AM on September 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


Today's Distraction Attempt™ from EmptyWig Enterprises goes to . . . *rrip* Hating Jeff Sessions!

“I don’t have an Attorney General. It’s very sad.”

He's not FOR YOU, you stupid ... Ugh, just roll the clip.

“I’m so sad over Jeff Sessions because he came to me. He was the first Senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be Attorney General, and I didn’t see it. And then he went through the nominating process and he did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused.”

“We’ll see what happens. A lot of people have asked me to do that. And I guess I study history*, and I say I just want to leave things alone, but it was very unfair what he did. And my worst enemies, I mean, people that, you know, are on the other side of me, in a lot of ways including politically, have said that was a very unfair thing he did.

“We’ll see how it goes with Jeff. I’m very disappointed in Jeff. Very disappointed.”


Hey, there's that elusive common ground! We can all get behind being very disappointed by The Racist Elf.

* *snort* study history! Bwahaa! Ehhh. G-d. *snif*
posted by petebest at 5:38 AM on September 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


He was the first Senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be Attorney General, and I didn’t see it. And then he went through the nominating process and he did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused

This was basically the same line he tried with Omarosa after she left: "I thought she was totally unqualified, but she wanted a job and she said nice things about me for years." So basically his fallback state is "I hire people because they flatter me, not because they are qualified for the role." Good stuff.
posted by Room 101 at 5:43 AM on September 19, 2018 [49 favorites]


A facebook post from a classmate of Dr. Ford and Brett Kavanaugh:

Christine Blasey Ford was a year or so behind me, I did not know her personally but I remember her. This incident did happen. Many of us heard a buzz about it indirectly with few specific details.
posted by bluesky43 at 6:24 AM on September 19, 2018 [81 favorites]


Mod note: A couple deleted. Folks, please try to refrain from repeating basically the very same general assertion/argument over and over again in the same thread. (e.g., "Republicans support the Republican agenda" is plain enough that people can understand it the first time.)
posted by taz (staff) at 6:32 AM on September 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


I can't imagine why R senators might want their female staffers to question Ford.

@LGTrombatore
I wrote to my congressman, @BillCassidy concerning Kavanaugh. I shared with him, my story about my rape and why this is particularly triggering and hard for me, and many other survivors, right now. He responded to my email with Kavanaugh's resume.
posted by chris24 at 6:41 AM on September 19, 2018 [67 favorites]


i'll see your 65 women

and raise you 534

599 Women Who Attended Blasey Ford’s High School Sign Letter Of Support
posted by murphy slaw at 6:44 AM on September 19, 2018 [72 favorites]


Here's a letter for your Senators. Republicans Routinely Enable Rapists is how I'm going to be framing this issue.
I demand a full and complete investigation into Brett Kavanaugh's alleged sexual assault of Christine Blasey Ford before she testifies before the Judiciary Committee. It is not too much to ask that a Supreme Court Justice or a DC Circuit Court judge be beyond reproach as far as sexual assault.

To have only two witnesses indicates that Trump's Senatorial pets have no interest in protecting one woman, much less all women, from a predator like Brett Kavanaugh. Men like Kavanaugh, who clearly does not see women as people, almost never violate just one woman.

[For Democratic Senators: Please convey to Charles Grassley that he and all Republicans routinely enable rapists. Please also share this sentiment with Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Pro-rapist is the Republican brand. Make them own it. ]

[For Republican Senators: Please know that when I see you and your colleagues defending Brett Kavanaugh, I see only that Republicans routinely enable rapists. Pro-rapist is fast becoming your brand and confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court for life will firmly entrench the Republican party in this identity.]

This nomination must be halted post haste, and Kavanaugh must be removed from his current judicial position.

Sincerely,
[your name]
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 6:49 AM on September 19, 2018 [58 favorites]


Trump Calls Hurricane Florence ‘One of the Wettest We’ve Ever Seen From the Standpoint of Water’
In his latest video, Trump comments on Hurricane Florence. “This is a tough hurricane,” he proclaims, “one of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water.” Whether Florence is also wet from other standpoints is a question the president did not address.
...
In the video, Trump is using his favorite dignified scowl. (The New York Times reported last year that the president told staff he wants to look “like Churchill” when he makes this face.) Except Churchill knew more words than an average 10-year-old, and he also wrote them down before he started speaking to the entire country.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:13 AM on September 19, 2018 [30 favorites]


Mod note: One deleted, there's already a thread on the Laurie Penny essay on bad-faith debaters. For thinkpieces like that, stuff about alt-right strategy, and general how-to-navigate-these-times stuff, it's fine to make a separate thread.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:16 AM on September 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


CNBC, Wilbur Ross: Trump's new China tariffs will increase prices but 'nobody is going to actually notice'

Totally unrelatedly, last week we learned Wilbur Ross earned at least $46.8 million in 2017, his ethics filing shows (Washington Post).
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:17 AM on September 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


Hadn't seen this posted before: Trump on Stern. 40 interviews between 1993 to 2015, most of them annotated with time stamps so you dont have to suffer the entire broadcast.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:30 AM on September 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


Trump Calls Hurricane Florence ‘One of the Wettest We’ve Ever Seen From the Standpoint of Water’

In other news, water is wet.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:42 AM on September 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


And now, your friggin' hourly reminder that Donald Trump is not at all a well human:

Trump Says He Should've Fired Comey "Before I Got Here"

Said Trump: “If I did one mistake with Comey, I should have fired him before I got here. I should have fired him right after the convention ..."

"An option that was not actually available to him." the WaPo notes, officiously.
posted by petebest at 7:45 AM on September 19, 2018 [69 favorites]


Democrats should worry about all their close special election losses - Dylan Scott, Vox

Aside from districts which are difficult to win because of effective gerrymandering and a
The other fear: Democratic voters don’t show up

The battlefield itself is part of 2018’s challenge for Democrats: The map is tilted toward Republicans. Democrats need to overperform to compete when a district’s voters are 8 points more Republican than the country as a whole. We’ve seen they can have a strong showing and still fall short.

But the other, related fear is that Democratic voters simply won’t show up. The party is putting a lot of faith in young, diverse, progressive candidates to motivate their base, not to mention antipathy toward President Trump. But Democrats have the bigger lift: While older, whiter Republican voters might be a shrinking share of the populace, they reliably turn out to vote every midterm.

Younger, nonwhite voters have historically been much less dependable. Some surveys this year have already revealed warnings signs for Democrats. Younger voters do not seem to feel an overwhelming sense of urgency this year. In some of these tightly contested seats that Democrats are trying to flip, just a handful of those voters staying home could be the difference, and 29 percent of millennial voters say they feel the 2018 midterms are any more important than past elections.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:48 AM on September 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


Younger, nonwhite voters have historically been much less dependable. And may be easier to purge off active voter rolls.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:48 AM on September 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


> Younger voters do not seem to feel an overwhelming sense of urgency this year.

Well, who can blame them? It's been a slow couple of news years. Not much going on.
posted by The Card Cheat at 7:57 AM on September 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


We may have to confront the fact that we, as a species, are just incredibly stupid.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:59 AM on September 19, 2018 [65 favorites]


Unions promote reliable turnout for the Democratic Party and living wages. That's why they're a target of conservative/moneyed Republicans.
posted by Emmy Noether at 7:59 AM on September 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


We can beat him.

Kavanaugh is down to just 31% support in the first post-letter poll from Reuters, dropping him below Bork's approval rating in 1987 and a historical low. 36% don't want him confirmed, up 6% from their last poll. The number of women who don't want him confirmed went up 7 points.
posted by chris24 at 8:09 AM on September 19, 2018 [45 favorites]


Arguing that losing by 1 point in districts where they lost by 23 points last time means the Dems are in trouble is like arguing that Jacob deGrom isn’t a good pitcher because he only has 8 wins this season.

And you can copy and paste “but young voters don’t turn out!” to literally any article, ever. It’s baked into the likely voter models. The survey that asks young voters if it’s more important to vote in this midterm rather than other midterms when they were like 10 years old and not paying attention is a meaningless question.

“YOU SHOULD WORRY ABOUT THINGS”. Gee, thanks Vox, I didn’t have enough to worry about already.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 8:09 AM on September 19, 2018 [38 favorites]


The sad thing about young voter disenthusiasm, if young voters turned out at the rate that old voters did it would remake the entire political landscape in this country overnight.

There would not be a hard right in this country anymore because they wouldn't be able to win enough elections to matter.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:13 AM on September 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


The thing is, Dem results in Congressional special elections were pretty accurately predicted by partisan lean and the generic ballot. These are the same indicators showing that Dems are strong favorites to re-take the House.

Nothing is ever guaranteed, and the party should be directing efforts at youth and Hispanic turnout. But that article is excessively panicky.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:14 AM on September 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


The sad thing about young voter disenthusiasm, if young voters turned out at the rate that old voters did it would remake the entire political landscape in this country overnight.

There would not be a hard right in this country anymore because they wouldn't be able to win enough elections to matter.


Maybe? Australia has basically 100% youth turnout, since they have mandatory voting, and although things are certainly better than here, they are definitely not a post-capitalist paradise.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:16 AM on September 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


I don't think that's a relevant comparison, Chrysostom. The political landscape of the US is completely different from that of Australia. Of course, it's entirely unpredictable how voting patterns would change if voting were made mandatory.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:24 AM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Australia has basically 100% youth turnout, since they have mandatory voting, and although things are certainly better than here, they are definitely not a post-capitalist paradise.

The conservatives are in favor of most social programs because they would be annihilated at the next polls if they fuck with them. Every family making under AUD$94K gets a payment from the government every fortnight for their kids. The middle class make decent income. The minimum wage is indexed properly! IT'S ENOUGH TO LIVE ON!

Like it's not a post-capitalist paradise but if we woke up the next morning and the the US had changed to an Australian political landscape with all of its services and institutions, things would be significantly better for millions of Americans that morning.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:28 AM on September 19, 2018 [72 favorites]


I'd rather unnecessarily panic than be complacent.

If turnout is lower than it could be, we should try to boost it regardless of if we're in the lead or not.
posted by schmod at 8:30 AM on September 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


The 'Trump suggests a new Fort Trump in Poland' Guardian article that was linked above has a really misleading headline and I wanted to clarify to anyone who didn't click through: Trump did not propose or suggest shit

We already have bases in Poland. From the articles text, Polish president Duda wants more US presence; he suggested another base, offered $2b from his government to pay for it, and HE joked about calling it Fort Trump.

I can't vouch for why the Polish president would want more US presence but my first guess would be to piss off Merkel and/or bond with Trump and/or make sure Trump understands that Poland is different from Germany.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 8:38 AM on September 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


The other fear: Democratic voters don’t show up

We have a Dem senator from Alabama, on a special election, no less, so things might be different this time.
But it is true that the harder we fight, the more enthusiasm that we can drum up, the better our chances for the Senate.
posted by eclectist at 8:39 AM on September 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


For something different, Mother Jones has a category/newsletter called "Recharge" which makes a nice change of pace.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:42 AM on September 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


Kavanaugh is the perfect nominee for our era of elite impunity. He embodies the driving themes of the Trump era, albeit in more genteel, traditional form than the president himself. Themes of elite impunity in the face of open transgression; of redemption without recompense for those in authority; and of a society that extends endless opportunity for some and deploys unyielding punishment for others. He is both the product of a political movement devoted to the protection of existing hierarchies of race, gender, and wealth, and a representative of the power structure that sits at the top of those hierarchies.
posted by growabrain at 8:43 AM on September 19, 2018 [22 favorites]


Like right now, the price of insulin is skyrocketing in the United States. It's been around for decades. We know how to make it. It should be highly competitive. But nope, we're paying $500/bottle for it now.

Australia? They've just added new diabetes drugs to the PBS (national prescription drug scheme). For the people who need those drugs it cuts the costs to a third of privately buying them. They've browbeat the manufacturers into providing a decent price for it. The government knows how much it's going to pay for it because they know how exactly many people in Australia have diabetes. The seniors and unemployed rock up to the pharmacist with their card and A$6.40 and they get a month's worth of diabetes drugs and insulin. Regular people pay A$38.50 but they also have a yearly cap of A$1521.80 on prescriptions. After that they're all free for the year. A$384.00 if you're a senior or unemployed.

I'm not sure how calling it "certainly better but not a post-capitalist paradise" even does that difference justice. I know people here who would kill to have a system like that for their insulin.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:44 AM on September 19, 2018 [90 favorites]


schmod: I'd rather unnecessarily panic than be complacent.

If turnout is lower than it could be, we should try to boost it regardless of if we're in the lead or not.


I think it can be a fine line to walk, being optimistic yet not complacent. Panic will get us nowhere, and fatalism is a sin, but complacency and staying home is also a sin. What we need is the politics version of "trust but verify:" not just hope, but work toward the best.

(And for the record I'm pulling for Beto, but donating to Jacky Rosen in Nevada, who has a better shot at flipping that Senate seat and really could use the money; same with Heidi Heitkamp in ND - a little money goes a longer way in her race because ND is so thinly populated. I love Beto but he's taking up all the oxygen in the D senate room. And why yes, I rubberneck at other states' Senate races because mine in CA is so boring.)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 8:47 AM on September 19, 2018 [29 favorites]


EXCLUSIVE: Trump says exposing ‘corrupt’ FBI probe could be ‘crowning achievement’ of presidency
President Trump in an exclusive interview with Hill.TV said Tuesday he ordered the release of classified documents in the Russia collusion case to show the public the FBI probe started as a “hoax” and that exposing it could become one of the “crowning achievements” of his presidency.

“What we’ve done is a great service to the country, really,” Trump said in a 45-minute, wide-ranging interview in the Oval Office.

“I hope to be able to call this, along with tax cuts and regulation and all the things I’ve done ... in its own way this might be the most important thing because this was corrupt,” he said.

Trump also said he regretted not firing former FBI Director James Comey immediately instead of waiting until May 2017, confirming an account his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, gave Hill.TV earlier in the day that Trump was dismayed in 2016 by the way Comey handled the Hillary Clinton email case and began discussing firing him well before he became president.

“If I did one mistake with Comey, I should have fired him before I got here. I should have fired him the day I won the primaries,” Trump said. “I should have fired him right after the convention, say I don’t want that guy. Or at least fired him the first day on the job. ... I would have been better off firing him or putting out a statement that I don’t want him there when I get there.”
posted by scalefree at 8:49 AM on September 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Strange how Trump's newfound zeal for transparency doesn't extend to his releasing his tax returns like every president has for the last 40+ years.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:52 AM on September 19, 2018 [44 favorites]


Re insulin, I take a lupus drug called plaquenil, it's a malaria drug that's been around for 70years. Not long ago, that drug was $4 a month. Now that drug is $400 a month. (Retail) Because America lets companies buy old generic patents and charge whatever the market will stand. Don't wanna die, then this is what you have to pay for the privilege.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:52 AM on September 19, 2018 [66 favorites]


“If I did one mistake with Comey, I should have fired him before I got here. I should have fired him the day I won the primaries,” Trump said. “I should have fired him right after the convention, say I don’t want that guy. Or at least fired him the first day on the job. ... I would have been better off firing him or putting out a statement that I don’t want him there when I get there.”

This exceeds even Trumpian levels of bullshit. He praised Comey during the election for his handling of "Hillary's emails" and later after the inauguration and at points all along the way.
posted by notyou at 8:57 AM on September 19, 2018 [35 favorites]


I can't vouch for why the Polish president would want more US presence

You mean besides the entire history of Poland Austria/Russia/Prussia Poland Germany Poland Soviet-dominated-Poland Poland?
posted by Etrigan at 8:58 AM on September 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


The government knows how much it's going to pay for it because they know how exactly many people in Australia have diabetes. The seniors and unemployed rock up to the pharmacist with their card and A$6.40 and they get a month's worth of diabetes drugs and insulin. Regular people pay A$38.50 but they also have a yearly cap of A$1521.80 on prescriptions. After that they're all free for the year. A$384.00 if you're a senior or unemployed.

For comparison, I work a highly-compensated, white collar job in the US. It's a good job. I even have dental!

But my company pays almost $24,000 a year in health care premiums, exclusive of dental and vision, and I kick in a little under $6,000 a year, all to have coverage that kicks in after we've paid $10,000 out of pocket.

That's right. $30,000 a year, so that I can have my remaining health care costs capped at $10,000. Before that, the primary benefit is that we get the "insurance" rate, rather than the uninsuredrate, which is not entirely something to sneeze at. For example, my kid recently dislocated his forearm. We were seen at the emergency room for less than five minutes combined by the nurse and doctor, without so much as an aspirin being prescribed or administered. We didn't do x-rays, because the forearm popped back into place when I picked him up to be weighed.

The uninsured rate was over $5,000. We paid $650 or so out of pocket, because that's the rate our insurance company had negotiated.

tl;dr: YES AUSTRALIA DEFINITELY NOT PERFECT BUT JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:59 AM on September 19, 2018 [85 favorites]


Trump: I don’t have an attorney general.
(via The Hill, in case you're avoiding the place)
posted by Thorzdad at 9:01 AM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Arguing that losing by 1 point in districts where they lost by 23 points last time means the Dems are in trouble is like arguing that Jacob deGrom isn’t a good pitcher because he only has 8 wins this season.

For all of you lucky enough to not be depressed Mets fans: deGrom is likely the best pitcher in baseball this season, he just happens to play for one of the very worst performing teams at the same time.

He still has a chance to win the National League Cy Young (pretty much pitcher of the year), but if he played for even a median performing team, he'd be putting up historic numbers.
posted by sideshow at 9:02 AM on September 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


> This exceeds even Trumpian levels of bullshit.

But can Trumpian levels of bullshit even have an upper limit? It seems like one of those "Could God create a rock so big that not even She could lift it?"-type thought exercises.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:03 AM on September 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


Mod note: Probably enough on Australia vs USA health care costs -- we could easily go way, way further with this and I'm asking if people want to really pursue that, better to make a separate thread.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:06 AM on September 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


Cody Wilson, Austin man behind 3D-printed gun company, charged with child sex assault

It's almost like all these alt-right psychopaths are alt-right psychopaths.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:07 AM on September 19, 2018 [107 favorites]


I can't vouch for why the Polish president would want more US presence

You mean besides the entire history of Poland Austria/Russia/Prussia Poland Germany Poland Soviet-dominated-Poland Poland?


My family is from next door, Lithuania, and the entirety of their feelings about geopolitics can be distilled down to two words: Fuck Russia.

There was a brief interlude of "Hell Yeah Germany!" during WWII because they kicked out the Russians/Soviets, but that also quickly turned into "Fuck Germany" as it became clear the Nazi's were actually worse.

Anyway, not a lot of Lithuanian support for Trump's "Putin is my pal" stance.
posted by sideshow at 9:07 AM on September 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


Partner and I just moved from Texas to Wisconsin and I'm *pretty sure* we can each vote in one or the other state. I'm thinking we should both try and vote in Texas to pull for Beto, but I'm not up on how close Wisconsin races are looking. Thoughts?
posted by avalonian at 9:17 AM on September 19, 2018


[Cody Wilson does something monstrous]
It's almost like all these alt-right psychopaths are alt-right psychopaths.
It's also a lot like they're et up with the dumb. If you're going to become stupidfamous on the internet, don't do horrific crimes and make no effort to hide the fact that it's you doing them. If you're going to be a horrific criminal, don't court stupid internet fame. It's not a chicken/egg situation: whichever one comes first, you don't do the other one, unless you're et up with the dumb from head to foot.
posted by Don Pepino at 9:18 AM on September 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


This exceeds even Trumpian levels of bullshit. He praised Comey during the election for his handling of "Hillary's emails" and later after the inauguration and at points all along the way.

All that makes sense if you begin with the hypothesis, "Donald Trump is mentally incompetent."

Which prompts the periodic reminder: Don't spend effort looking for rational motivations of irrational people. There are none.
posted by mikelieman at 9:18 AM on September 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


The Washington Post's national security reporter Greg Miller has a book coming out, and the paper has published a lengthy excerpt. I don't see anything ground-breaking in the excerpt, but it looks promising.
‘The Apprentice’ book excerpt: At CIA’s ‘Russia House,’ growing alarm about 2016 election interference
posted by martin q blank at 9:20 AM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 Senate:
-- Several polls from Reuters/Ipsos, all with an MOE of +/- 3.5%:
* AZ: Dem Sinema up 47- 44 on GOPer McSally.
* NV: GOP incumbent Heller up 46-43 on Dem Rosen.
* FL: GOPer Scott up 46-45 on incumbent Dem Nelson.
* CA: Incumbent Feinstein up 44-24 on de León.
* TX: Dem O'Rouke up 47-45 on GOP incumbent Cruz.
-- MA: Suffolk poll has incumbent Dem Warren up 54-24 on GOPer Diehl [MOE: +/- 4.4%].

-- MD: Goucher poll has Dem incumbent Cardin up 56-17 on GOPer Campbell [MOE: +/- 3.4%].

-- IN: GOP worried they are blowing pickup opportunity.
** 2018 House:
-- IL-06: Garin Hart Yang poll has Dem Casten up 47-44 on GOP incumbent Roskam [MOE: +/- 3.5%]. Poll was commissioned by the Casten campaign. [Clinton 50-43 | Cook: Tossup]

-- NJ-02: Stockton poll has Dem Van Drew up 55-32 on GOPer Grossman [MOE: +/- 4.2%]. [Trump 51-46 | Likely D]

-- NYT on bellwether districts.

-- More on concerns about Hispanic turnout.

-- FL-27: Dems worried Shalala not running aggressively enough. [Clinton 59-39 | Leans D]

-- 538 look at the 21 Obama-Trump districts.
** Odds & ends:
-- Governor polls from that batch of Reuters/Ipsos:
* AZ: GOP incumbent Ducey up 51-39 on Dem Garcia.
* NV: GOPer Laxalt up 43-40 on Dem Sisolak.
* FL: Dem Gillum up 50-44 on GOPer DeSantis.
* CA: Dem Newsom up 52-40 on GOPer Cox.
* TX: GOP incumbent Abbott up 50-41 on Dem Valdez.
-- MA gov: Same Suffolk poll has GOP incumbent Baker up 55-28 on Dem Gonzalez.

-- MD gov: Same Goucher poll has GOP incumbent Hogan up 54-32 on Dem Jealous.

-- In the MN AG race, which would normally be a walk for the Dems, but has been roiled by allegations of abuse by Ellison, an MPR news poll finds Ellison still up 41-36 on GOPer Wardlow [MOE: +/- 3.5%].

-- Judge orders GOP primary re-run for Georgia House seat after numerous voters were found to been incorrectly included or excluded from the district. This kind of remedy is very unusual.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:23 AM on September 19, 2018 [23 favorites]


Yeah, I'm aware of Poland's history and why NATO exists, but - aside from that - Poland is also having issues with the international right wing xenophobic psychopath movement. But I don't remember how it's positioned in their government nor where the president falls in that regard. I think they've been getting cyberattacks from Russia too IIRC, and Trump was a beneficiary of Russian cyberattacks. Theres more context around this.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:23 AM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Chryststom: MA gov: Same Suffolk poll has GOP incumbent Baker up 55-28 on Dem Gonzalez.

Several days ago there was a huge disaster in suburban Boston where like seventy houses caught on fire in the town of Lawrence, Mass., most likely due to the local gas utility.

Governor Baker showed up on site immediately for the press conference and stayed engaged over the next few days, and really took the stick to the gas company (Columbia Gas). In other words, he's looking very Leader-ish these days, which probably helps with his lead.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:30 AM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


I wish Trump had fired Comey after he won the primaries. He wouldn't be president today.
posted by chris24 at 9:32 AM on September 19, 2018 [47 favorites]


Partner and I just moved from Texas to Wisconsin and I'm *pretty sure* we can each vote in one or the other state.

This question is unanswerable not due to a lack of clarity around election laws and ethics but rather because it isnt possible to determine which human shitstain is worse in the context between ted cruz and scott walker.

Much as i want Beto to win, i think you should vote where you now live, especially since Wisconsin will let you register in person up until the friday before the election.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:34 AM on September 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


Yeah, I'm aware of Poland's history and why NATO exists, but - aside from that - Poland is also having issues with the international right wing xenophobic psychopath movement.

Duda is a nationalist, but he's a Polish nationalist, and he knows that Putin is a lot more active against Polish national interests than Trump.

Also, bear in mind that US military bases in friendly countries don't close down quickly. If Duda can suck up to Trump enough to get Fort Trump established and made the new home of the 1st Armored Division, then it's going to be there long past when Donald Trump leaves the White House (and, in fact, the mortal plane).

Trump sucks up to Putin because he doesn't believe that Putin's ever going to stop him from doing what he wants. Duda is sucking up to Trump because he knows that Putin will.
posted by Etrigan at 9:35 AM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


When Cody Wilson's convicted of his child sex assault all his guns will be taken away from him, which gives me a hearty chuckle.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:35 AM on September 19, 2018 [29 favorites]


Much as i want Beto to win, i think you should vote where you now live, especially since Wisconsin will let you register in person up until the friday before the election.

Please make sure you vote for all of the downballot races, too.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:37 AM on September 19, 2018 [20 favorites]


Partner and I just moved from Texas to Wisconsin and I'm *pretty sure* we can each vote in one or the other state.

Wisconsin, no question. Until Walker trashed the joint, the state had a strong culture of civic responsibility and engagement. Restoring social comity to the Badger State is possible, and would set a fine example for the rest of the nation.
posted by whuppy at 9:49 AM on September 19, 2018 [24 favorites]


Chrysostom and other election watchers, have you seen any analysis of how the Kavanaugh travesty might affect specific races?
posted by schadenfrau at 10:08 AM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


As a Wisconsinite, I want anyone choosing between TX and WI to note that the polls reliably show Baldwin crushing Vukmir, Evers as beating Walker, and Beto is behind (one recent and very close poll notwithstanding)- within striking distance but only just so. If you are inclined to vote Democratic, Beto needs your vote more than the WI candidates do.

The only caveat I would apply to that is that the WI state senate may be in play for the first time in a while. Then the best strategy depends specifically on which state senate district you would vote in in WI.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:08 AM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Please make sure it’s definitely legal to vote where you vote. The will be looking for cases to make examples of so they can shriek VOTER FRAUD.
posted by EarBucket at 10:16 AM on September 19, 2018 [37 favorites]


Chrysostom and other election watchers, have you seen any analysis of how the Kavanaugh travesty might affect specific races?

Just starting to see Kavanaugh as a question in some horse race polls, like the NYT/Siena ones. They asked about it in the Trafalgar MO Senate poll; voting No knocked a couple of points off of McCaskill. That was in the field before the Ford letter, though.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:20 AM on September 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Here's an NYT story about possible ramifications for Senate Dems.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:23 AM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


@jaybookmanajc This is the letter, posted on Facebook, from a woman who knew Kavanaugh, Judge and Blasey Ford and claims that the attack did happen, that "many of us heard about it in school," and that it was talked about for days afterward.
The FBI should interview her and others.
[image: the letter]
posted by scalefree at 10:27 AM on September 19, 2018 [52 favorites]


The Republicans are playing a very dangerous game here by attempting to shove Kavanaugh through. For all they know, they could confirm his nomination and then more women may come forward. The GOP is already losing suburban white women, treating Dr. Ford with disdain or brushing off attempted rape as inconsequential isn't going to make their brand more attractive.

I would love for a complete investigation into this matter. There's a lot more that could be looked into than just what Dr. Ford & Kavanugh are saying. For example, Dr. Ford remembers two other boys that were at the same party other than Kavanaugh & Judge. While Kavanaugh states categorically he was not at that party (which is odd because Dr. Ford cannot remember exactly the date or the address) it would be interesting to see if any information can be gleaned about the other party goers and their recollections. Also it would be instructive to gather information about the types of parties that Kavanaugh did go to and his interactions. For example, was he, like Mark Judge, a blackout drunk? Remember, Kavanaugh is saying that he absolutely did not do that thing to Dr. Ford and that he was not at the party. It's pretty remarkable that he has no hesitation at all.

It would also be very interesting to look into the 65 women in support of Kavanaugh. At this point, Politico can only find 2 women on the list willing to go on the record as still supporting him. Did they all really sign it in a matter of hours without hesitation or was the letter signed months ago as many people suspect? Did all of these women really interact with Kavanaugh and if so, can they shed any light as to his party going behavior. I have read that girls from the upper tier schools and families were treated differently from girls from middle class or working class background so it may be that all 65 women only saw his good side but they should be questioned as to what exactly they remember about Kavanaugh as a teenager.

However, as much as I think that would be illuminating it is not going to happen. A full investigation like that would take weeks if not months and the Republicans are not going to wait that long to seat a SC judge. So either they will pressure him to drop out or they will go ahead with their little farce on Monday which Dr. Ford may or may not show up for. It's clear the Republicans are not really looking for the truth because they are not subpoenaing Mark Judge. Instead they have signaled their intention of portraying Dr. Ford as mistaking Kavanaugh for someone else. That's a pretty bold tactic because the one thing that women who have been raped or nearly raped remember is who their attacker was. While other details may become hazy with time, like what they were wearing or which party it happened at, you don't forget the man who terrorized you.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 10:29 AM on September 19, 2018 [26 favorites]


Coming as I do from the standpoint that elections are purely an exercise in harm-reduction, I would point out that the harm a governor can do is vastly greater than the harm an individual senator can do. (Although they can both do a lot of harm.) And while Evers (WI-Gov, D) is generally ahead in the pulls, his margins have been somewhat underwhelming.
posted by shenderson at 10:30 AM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


...have you seen any analysis of how the Kavanaugh travesty might affect specific races?

My feeling is that the entire GOP are pretty-much willing to fall on their swords to get Kavanaugh on the court. They'll give up the House, and even the Senate, if it means a hard-right majority on SCOTUS for the foreseeable future.

Even if a Dem defeats Trump in 2020, it most likely means they'd merely be able replace kind for kind, rather than tip the court back (unless, of course, something unexpected happens to one of the conservative justices, of course)
posted by Thorzdad at 10:33 AM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Trump asked North Carolina officials how his golf course was doing after the storm
President Trump asked about the area in North Carolina where he owns a golf course during a briefing with federal and state officials on the impact of Hurricane Florence.

“How is Lake Norman doing?” Trump asked. “I love that area. I can’t tell you why, but I love that area.”

Trump National Golf Club is located in Mooresville, North Carolina, next to Lake Norman.

At least 27 people have died in North Carolina as a result of the storm.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:36 AM on September 19, 2018 [69 favorites]


* FL: GOPer Scott up 46-45 on incumbent Dem Nelson.
* FL: Dem Gillum up 50-44 on GOPer DeSantis.


Florida, man. In another life I might have thought that this must clearly indicate one poll or the other is very wrong. But in a world where people vote Obama and then go Trump? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by phearlez at 10:46 AM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Partner and I just moved from Texas to Wisconsin and I'm *pretty sure* we can each vote in one or the other state. I'm thinking we should both try and vote in Texas to pull for Beto, but I'm not up on how close Wisconsin races are looking. Thoughts?

Elaborating on EarBucket's comment:
Texas, like most (all?) states, has a residency requirement to vote. Physical presence at the time of the election is not necessary to be a resident, but physical presence or the intent to return to or remain in the state typically is. For example, suppose someone from Texas goes to NYU for college and works in NYC when school isn't in session. She still considers herself a Texan and intends to go back home when she gets her degree if she can find a job. That's probably enough to satisfy the residency requirements for Texas for purposes of voter registration and voting absentee. (Her presence and other connections to NY state are probably enough to satisfy the residency requirements for NY, too, though she can only be a resident of one state at a time.)

As you might expect with a vague and subjective test like intent to return or remain, claiming residency for purposes of voter registration relies on something of an honor system. It would be difficult for courts to determine whether someone really intends to return to their asserted home state, and that's not the sort of investigation of voters we want courts doing anyway. That doesn't say one way or another whether you are a resident for purposes of voting, just that "Do I meet the legal requirements to vote in Texas?" is a different question from "Would anyone know that I *don't* meet the legal requirements to vote in Texas?"
posted by This time is different. at 10:53 AM on September 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


Given the intense interest in poll after poll shown here, I am led to suspect that the amount of polling, and discussion of polls, in the US media has increased greatly. Is this so, those of you who follow such things?

Every poll gets to pick its categories: R, D, man, woman, middle class, Christian, alien, blue, whatever. Every time those polls are reported, everyone who looks at it automatically assigns themselves to one class or another. (For example, nobody here identifies with the "deplorable" label, but there are plenty who do.) Now to my jaundiced eye, this looks anything but innocent. It looks as if the polls themselves are stabilising the political landscape in its polarised state. The polls might be not only describing things, but actually making things much worse. Has this been discussed? (Sorry if I missed it, but I think I've read every mega thread since 2016).

Edited for typo
posted by stonepharisee at 10:54 AM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Florida, man. In another life I might have thought that this must clearly indicate one poll or the other is very wrong.

A number of polls results in that batch are pretty eyebrow-raising.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:58 AM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Chrysostom, do you have any idea what's driving that variability?
posted by dogrose at 11:00 AM on September 19, 2018


notyou: This exceeds even Trumpian levels of bullshit.

Andrew Coyne: Donald Trump takes lying to a whole new dimension -- What separates Trump is not the sheer volume of falsehoods that pour forth from him. It is that it does not seem to matter to him whether his audience believes them (National Post, January 23, 2017)
As the relatively trivial example of the inauguration crowds makes clear, they are evidently, noisily, gaudily untrue. Yet it is clear they are not intended to be disbelieved, either, like the tall tales of a storyteller. Of course, it’s always possible that Trump himself is simply unable to distinguish between fact and fiction, or can’t be bothered to try. But the darker possibility is that the conflation is deliberate, not with the intention of deceiving, of substituting false for true, but of disrupting our ability to tell the two apart, or indeed, by advertising how vast is his own unconcern for the distinction, to lead us in time to be as indifferent, if only out of fatigue. It is to knock truth out of the ring altogether, to demolish it as a criterion by which he is to be judged.

“This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration.”

“We have always been at war with Eurasia.”

There may be other purposes to be achieved. As Garry Kasparov, the Russian chess master and dissident, has observed, “obvious lies serve a purpose for an administration. They watch who challenges them and who loyally repeats them.”

They are a way of testing allegiance, or indeed of cementing it: having crossed the line that just weeks before, in a public forum, he had vowed never to cross, Spicer is now wholly Trump’s boy. Whatever qualms he might once have held about such conduct, he cannot raise them now, even to himself, without confronting his own hypocrisy.
Emphasis mine.

Also, displaying the power to shape reality as he sees fit. The only reality is the one he perceives here and now, anything he said in the past is fake and/or irrelevant.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:04 AM on September 19, 2018 [34 favorites]


Oh, and to be clear, you shouldn't vote in Texas if you're not legally allowed to do so even if you can get away with it.
posted by This time is different. at 11:05 AM on September 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


Chrysostom, do you have any idea what's driving that variability?

These were pretty large sample sizes, which helps. Ipsos is an online pollster, which have somewhat lower accuracy, although Ipsos is pretty good (B+ from 538 ratings). Those were likely voters; their LV model could be off, possibly. Even if you do everything right, sometimes you get an outlier, though.

I note that there are more undecided in the FL gov than in FL Senate. It's pretty hard to imagine a Gillum-Scott voter, so I'm suspecting there may be a decent number of people who are more meh on Nelson, but will pull the lever for him anyway.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:10 AM on September 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Alert for Menendez-worriers:
[Stockton poll in NJ-02] also has Menendez down 10 in the district, which is in line with him leading by 8-10 statewide. (Hillary lost the district by 5.)
posted by Chrysostom at 11:18 AM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Every time those polls are reported, everyone who looks at it automatically assigns themselves to one class or another.

There's evidence showing that asking people that question prompts them to make that identity more relevant and conscious in their mind, and evidence that reading about specific identities makes your own identity more relevant .. so if the polls are reported with that sort of framing, "Candidate Bob approval up with olds", I'd believe it produced that effect.

There's no evidence that plain old poll numbers without that framing would produce that effect.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 11:18 AM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Trump asked North Carolina officials how his golf course was doing after the storm

VIDEO: Trump Tells Hurricane Florence Victim To 'Have A Good Time' (Crooks and Liars)
Trump made the remark while handing out meals to hurricane victims in New Bern, North Carolina.

“Got it?” Trump said as he handed two meals to a person in a car, adding: “Have a good time.”
This is what malignant narcissism looks like when trying to feign empathy—and he said this before in Houston and Puerto Rico.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:18 AM on September 19, 2018 [40 favorites]


There may be other purposes to be achieved. As Garry Kasparov, the Russian chess master and dissident, has observed, “obvious lies serve a purpose for an administration. They watch who challenges them and who loyally repeats them.”

I believe another purpose (well, at least an effect) is to select and groom the listener. One who won't walk away after the first lie gets subjected to more and more of them until they find obvious lies acceptable in service to the desired ends, whatever they may be.
posted by Mental Wimp at 11:22 AM on September 19, 2018 [25 favorites]


Chrysostom, do you have any idea what's driving that variability?

Have you seen side-by-side photographs of the two Dem candidates in those Florida races?
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:27 AM on September 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


The obvious lies are a time tested cult indoctrination technique.
The other way to move up the pyramid is to demonstrate faith. Those at the top never betray the slightest bit of doubt about whatever the leader is saying or doing. Whether they mean it is a secondary matter. What’s important is vocally supporting the leader’s claims. And the more outlandish those claims, the more of your own agency and free will you give away by asserting them. Yes, the leader made himself disappear and then reappear in another room. Yes, he is correct when he says he is the one point of light from which all truth emerges. No, that was not rape but a transmission of the divine spark. (All are real claims from members of cults I studied.) The more you say it, the more true it becomes — and the less ability you retain to think for yourself.
-- The Trump Cult
posted by benzenedream at 11:34 AM on September 19, 2018 [42 favorites]


Mod note: Couple deleted; we're not arguing about Obama or Clinton or the 2016 election etc because omg.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:50 AM on September 19, 2018 [47 favorites]


Chrysostom, do you have any idea what's driving that variability?

Have you seen side-by-side photographs of the two Dem candidates in those Florida races?


Normally I read a statement like this as "racism, duh" but it's the PoC leading here so I am not sure what you're driving at.
posted by phearlez at 11:53 AM on September 19, 2018


I think that Nelson is old and boring.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:54 AM on September 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Gillum is young and exciting. Nelson is neither.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:56 AM on September 19, 2018


I think that Nelson is old and boring.

Whether or not he is, he's certainly running on that platform.
posted by Rust Moranis at 11:56 AM on September 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


Interesting take on the Kavanaugh situation from Huffington Post reporter, @ZachCarter:
1. Trump could withdraw Kavanaugh this afternoon and get almost any professional conservative lawyer confirmed to overturn Roe and abolish the minimum wage.

2. If confirmed, Kavanaugh will be open to perfectly legitimate impeachment proceedings for things he's said in his confirmation hearings. He's an extremely unreliable vehicle for conservative policy goals at this point.

3. The fact that the Republican Party and the professional conservatism network is nevertheless rallying behind Kavanaugh instead of demanding a reliable replacement is quite telling.

4. The Kavanaugh nomination has become a referendum on a certain wing of the American aristocracy, whose entire raison d'etre is to be above democratic accountability.

5. Kavanaugh is now a test case in whether this aristocracy -- Georgetown Prep, Yale law, Chevy Chase -- is in fact beyond reach of the rabble. And that outcome mattes as much to the conservative movement as any court case.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:06 PM on September 19, 2018 [135 favorites]


The WaPo has an article about the Polish reaction to Trump's performance yesterday with Duda, Poland used to be okay with Trump. Then, he posted a photo. Mostly focused on the reaction to a picture of Trump sitting and scowling while signing a partnership agreement with Duda who is smiling and standing. The Polish media notes that Trump treated Kim Jong Un with greater courtesy. The best part is Lech Walesa trolling on Facebook.
posted by peeedro at 12:35 PM on September 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


It's pretty hard to imagine a Gillum-Scott voter

The fear in FL for Senate isn't the Gillum-Scott voters, it's the Gillum-ABSTAIN voters. There's no rule that you have to check every box.
posted by mcstayinskool at 12:39 PM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


On the other hand, excitement for Gillium can help Nelson at the polls but that effect wouldn't necessarily be reflected in polling. If Gillium can get people out to the poll, they're pretty likely to check the box for Nelson too.

Does Florida have a Democratic/Republican full slate button like Pennsylvania does? Here you can go in and just hit one button and it'll register all your votes for one party or the other.
posted by octothorpe at 12:50 PM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Some interesting voter registration data from Colorado:
Colorado voter reg stats for Jan-Aug 2018:

•Up 333% from this time in 2014
•Voters 18-40 up 50,246 (fell 4,932 in 2014)
•GOP women 18-40 dropped 2,008
•More women than men 18-40 registered. +16,768 to +10,422 respectively
•15.5% of men 18-40 who registered, did so as GOP
posted by gwint at 12:51 PM on September 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


anybody threatening Ford or her family is making politically-motivated terroristic threats and should be prosecuted under as many bullshit Bush-era antiterrorism laws as possible, is what I tell Fantasy President Kamala Harris in my dreams
posted by prize bull octorok at 12:51 PM on September 19, 2018 [111 favorites]


A lot of threats, death and otherwise, would be eliminated if the phone company made it possible (for private parties) to find out what the billing number is behind a call.
posted by rhizome at 1:03 PM on September 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


Does Florida have a Democratic/Republican full slate button like Pennsylvania does?

They do not.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:05 PM on September 19, 2018


4. The Kavanaugh nomination has become a referendum on a certain wing of the American aristocracy, whose entire raison d'etre is to be above democratic accountability.

At this point, I believe, everything that looks like a bug in the Kavanaugh candidacy is regarded by most of his supporters as a feature.

Worth noting from yesterday's Hill interview linked above is Trump's admission that he chose to declassify documents largely on the request of his favorite Fox News characters:
Buck Sexton: Have you reviewed the memos yourself? What do you expect them to show, if so?

President Trump: I have not reviewed them. I have been asked by many people in Congress as you know to release them. I have watched commentators that I respect begging the president of the United States to release them. We’re sitting with one right here, we’re sitting with two, you’re right. More than once. And I have had many people ask me to release them ...

But it’s been totally discredited. Even Democrats agree, that it’s been discredited. They are not going to admit that, but it’s been totally discredited. And I think frankly more so by text than by documents. I think the texts, not only theirs, many others. So honestly Buck, I have been asked by so many people that I respect, please — the great Lou Dobbs, the great Sean Hannity, the wonderful great Jeanie Pirro. (laughs)
("Buck Sexton" sounds like he should either be a Left Behind character or a gay porn star.)

Re: Poland—having lately said that I don't read The Atlantic often, I did read Anne Applebaum's "A Warning From Europe: The Worst Is Yet to Come" on the breakdown of Polish civil society. It's a poignant read, if nothing else. I'm reminded of a piece in Harper's many years ago about the way the staff of a Polish liberal magazine split and turned on each other in the aftermath of martial law.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:06 PM on September 19, 2018 [30 favorites]


Colorado voter reg stats for Jan-Aug 2018:

•Up 333% from this time in 2014
•Voters 18-40 up 50,246 (fell 4,932 in 2014)
•GOP women 18-40 dropped 2,008
•More women than men 18-40 registered. +16,768 to +10,422 respectively
•15.5% of men 18-40 who registered, did so as GOP


Can someone more knowledgeable who is not, at this moment, distracted by uncontrollable cackling, tell me if this is as catastrophic for the GOP as it appears

Please say yes, I am enjoying the cackle
posted by schadenfrau at 1:11 PM on September 19, 2018 [15 favorites]


Poland used to be okay with Trump. Then, he posted a photo.

Chryste, co za dupek
posted by kirkaracha at 1:13 PM on September 19, 2018 [35 favorites]


And in other news, Ralph Shortey, the former Oklahoma state senator and anti-trans "bathroom bill" proponent, was was sentenced on Monday to 15 years in prison on a child sex trafficking charge.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:25 PM on September 19, 2018 [78 favorites]


The Hill's transcript of Trump's blithering interview yesterday omits "brief segments where the president went off the record or made personal observations unrelated to the interview" but still provides ample evidence of disorganized thinking from a disordered mind.

For instance, here's how he responded to a question about his border wall project:
So, we are building the wall, I could build it — you know what I do best is build — I could build the whole thing in a year, but um, there was a picture that was sort of great. I wish I had it. I had a picture of where I was this weekend. They built this gorgeous wall where the plane went down in Pennsylvania. Shanksville. And I was there. I made the speech. And it’s sort of beautiful, what they did is incredible. They have a series of walls, I’m saying, "It’s like perfect." So, so we are pushing very hard. As you know we’ve gotten approved in the House but the Senate cannot get it approved. There are many things the Senate can’t approve, you know, including Kate’s law, including I could name many things. The problem is that with the filibuster rule they have to, they need 10 more Republicans elected. And I’m very opposed to that, but that’s the way it is.
Today in NC, NYT White House correspondent Mark Landler reports: Trump to a homeowner in New Bern, NC, who had a yacht wash up in his backyard: “At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.” (with pic of the boat among the wreckage)
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:38 PM on September 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


Today in NC, NYT White House correspondent Mark Landler reports: Trump to a homeowner in New Bern, NC, who had a yacht wash up in his backyard: “At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.” (with pic of the boat among the wreckage)

trump arrives at the Law of the Briny Deep from first principles
posted by murphy slaw at 1:42 PM on September 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


On the other hand, excitement for Gillium can help Nelson at the polls but that effect wouldn't necessarily be reflected in polling. If Gillium can get people out to the poll, they're pretty likely to check the box for Nelson too.

I feel this way about Beto in Texas. Guv'nr Abbott's opponent Lupe Valdez is not polling ahead of him, but I have a hard time imagining a Beto voter who wouldn't vote for her too. He is a an A-1 douchecanoe.
posted by emjaybee at 1:44 PM on September 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


Some interpersonal verbs, conjugated by gender (Alexandra Petri, WaPo)
The example sentences below demonstrate the proper English usage of interpersonal verbs, inflected for mood, tense and gender.

Unit 1

He is drinking; he is drunk; he was drunk.
He is just 17; he was just 17.
Remember that he is just a kid; remember that he was just a kid; you must remember he was just a kid.
He cannot know what he is doing; he could not know what he was doing; he cannot have known what he was doing.
See your way clear to letting this go; you must see your way clear to letting this go.
He has his future ahead of him; he had his future ahead of him.
This will ruin his life; this is going to ruin his life.
He makes a mistake; he made a mistake; people make mistakes; mistakes were made.
He did something; she had something done to her; something happened.
These things happen.

She is drinking; she is drunk; she was drunk.
She is 15; she was 15.
She is putting herself in this position; she put herself in that position.
She should know better; she should have known better.
She must think about his future; she must think about her future.
She must say nothing; she will say nothing; she says nothing; she said nothing.
What happens here will stay here; what happens here stays here; what happens here stays.
She carries this; she will carry this.
An incident occurred; an incident derailed her life; her life was derailed.
These things happen. […]

She went on to lead a productive life, so how bad can it have been?
She did not go on to lead a productive life, so how can we trust what she has to say?
If it is true, why would she want to remain anonymous?
Now that we know her name, we are coming to her house.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:50 PM on September 19, 2018 [186 favorites]


The Hill's transcript of Trump's blithering interview yesterday omits "brief segments where the president went off the record or made personal observations unrelated to the interview" but still provides ample evidence of disorganized thinking from a disordered mind.

My favorite remark and by favorite I mean "YIKES!!" is
"So, it’s hard to bring everyone together unless there’s a, maybe very large national problem, which we don’t want. Maybe that brings people together, like it did for about a day with the World Trade Center, you know."
posted by octobersurprise at 1:51 PM on September 19, 2018 [25 favorites]


From the "A Warning From Europe" article octobersurprise linked to:

Nearly two decades later, I would now cross the street to avoid some of the people who were at my New Year’s Eve party. They, in turn, would not only refuse to enter my house, they would be embarrassed to admit they had ever been there. In fact, about half the people who were at that party would no longer speak to the other half.

I see this beginning to happen in Canada, and things haven't even begun to get really nasty yet. I think the next federal election is going to break a lot of familial bonds and friendships.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:54 PM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Jim Acosta, @Acosta: Flake called me to apologize for missing the interview. He said he would support GOP push to move forward with Kavanaugh nomination if Ford does not appear at hearing. "I think we'll have to move to the markup," he said. "I hope she does (appear). I think she needs to be heard."

@imillhiser: There is no force in the universe more reliable than Jeff Flake's cowardice.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 1:54 PM on September 19, 2018 [67 favorites]


The other fear: Democratic voters don’t show up

If turnout is lower than it could be, we should try to boost it regardless of if we're in the lead or not.


FWIW, Kavanaugh and his GOP Judiciary fluffers are doing their best to help that along at present. The GOP dinosaurs may be willing to lose (or at least oblivious to the risk of losing) the House, the Senate, and their individual crepuscular careers to get Kavanaugh onto SCOTUS, but if 10 more women do come forward, he may be impeached the hell off of there pretty briskly. (With Clarence Thomas studiously pretending not to know him and refusing to make eye contact.)

The GOP is playing with not just fire but an imminent California wildfire here. Nothing is universal, but if there is one thing nearly all American women share across racial, ideological, econonomic, geographic, and generational lines, it's that almost every damn one of us either has had an experience similar to Dr. Blasey's or knows that a relative, friend, coworker, or acquaintance has. At minimum. A lot of Republican-leaning women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s have spent the last week traveling down the super-fun memory lane of their high school and college years. I guess we'll see in 48 days how they feel about it.
posted by FelliniBlank at 2:03 PM on September 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


Sio42, just donated. Thank you. Hope you inspire even more folk to do the same.
posted by Threff at 2:06 PM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


The Hill's transcript of Trump's blithering interview yesterday omits "brief segments where the president went off the record or made personal observations unrelated to the interview"

How can you tell the difference?!?

They used Carter Page as a foil in order to surveil a candidate for the presidency of the United States.

The FBI had been looking into Page’s ties to Russian intelligence since 2013.

...believe it or not I’m really not a conspiratorial person

Except when it comes to global warming or Obama's birth certificate. Or Ted Cruz's dad killing JFK. Or Vince Foster. Or someone murdering Scalia. And so on.

...if they thought there was something with Russia, and I’m one of two people that are gonna be the president of the United States, they should have come to me and said, "Sir, you’re dealing with people that may have something to do with Russia. We want to let you know."

FBI warned Trump in 2016 Russians would try to infiltrate his campaign
In the weeks after he became the Republican nominee on July 19, 2016, Donald Trump was warned that foreign adversaries, including Russia, would probably try to spy on and infiltrate his campaign, according to multiple government officials familiar with the matter.
And if you think about it, I’ve been under investigation, even though they say I’m not under investigation and I’m not a target. You do know I’m not a target and I’m not under investigation.

My head hurts.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:18 PM on September 19, 2018 [37 favorites]


Also notable from The Hill interview:
President Trump doubled down on his confidence about the midterm elections, saying in an exclusive interview with Hill.TV on Tuesday that he liked his party’s chances given the growing economy.

“I think we’re gonna do much better than anyone thinks because the economy is so good, and people do like the job I’m doing,” Trump, who has talked about the possibility of a “red wave” for the GOP this fall, told Hill.TV in the Oval Office interview.
Keep talking!
posted by Chrysostom at 2:23 PM on September 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


FelliniBlank: Nothing is universal, but if there is one thing nearly all American women share across racial, ideological, econonomic, geographic, and generational lines, it's that almost every damn one of us either has had an experience similar to Dr. Blasey's or knows that a relative, friend, coworker, or acquaintance has. At minimum. A lot of Republican-leaning women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s have spent the last week traveling down the super-fun memory lane of their high school and college years.

The sad flipside is the years of experience living with that being "the way things are", to the point that opposing it could seem wronger than standing with Ford (or any survivor). It's like the macrocosmic version of how the Trump cult functions -- we've gone this far already, it's not safe to even visualize a different world than this. But, that's exactly what's changing so much to the better -- the denormalization of assault and creepiness, and normalization of exposing that shit and cutting it out.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 2:29 PM on September 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


They have a series of walls, I’m saying, "It’s like perfect."

Not that perfect: Government Report Shows Border Wall Designs Can Be Broken

President Donald Trump has stated that his vision of a “great” and “not penetrable” wall along the border with Mexico would keep “rapists,” “murderers” and other people from breaking into the United States.

But a U.S. Customs and Border Protection report shows new barriers could fail in that job — at least if they’re based on the steel and concrete barriers that were tested in last year’s $5-million Otay Mesa prototype project. The models were meant to inform future wall designs, combining different features of the prototypes.

posted by zabuni at 2:41 PM on September 19, 2018


In Secret Calls, Putin Cultivated Trump’s Anger at the “Deep State”
Yet more evidence that Vladimir Putin has continued to ply President Trump with opposition to US intelligence and the so-called “deep state” during their conversations since President Trump entered the White House. Not surprising and yet stunning passage in this excerpt from Greg Miller’s new Trump book …
In phone conversations with Trump, Putin would whisper conspiratorially, telling the U.S. president that it wasn’t their fault that they could not consummate the relationship that each had sought. Instead, Putin sought to reinforce Trump’s belief that he was being undermined by a secret government cabal, a bureaucratic “deep state.”

“It’s not us. We get it,” Putin would tell Trump, according to White House aides. “It’s the subordinates fighting against our friendship.”
Why do we think President Trump insisted on a private meeting with Putin in Helsinki, with no aides present?
Ceterum autem censeo Trumpem esse delendam
posted by kirkaracha at 2:52 PM on September 19, 2018 [39 favorites]


The sad flipside is the years of experience living with that being "the way things are", to the point that opposing it could seem wronger than standing with Ford (or any survivor). It's like the macrocosmic version of how the Trump cult functions -- we've gone this far already, it's not safe to even visualize a different world than this. But, that's exactly what's changing so much to the better -- the denormalization of assault and creepiness, and normalization of exposing that shit and cutting it out.

There's plenty of room between "speaking up and opposing/supporting X in public" and "dang, I meant to vote today but I just didn't get the time, oh well" or glancing at your ballot or going "yeah, fuck you, asshole" as you check the D next to your House/Senate seat just this once. Not that I'm optimistic (ever) or think the Dems should invest any money in that direction. But hey, if the GOP Senate wants to spend some of the next 7 weeks making unforced errors and alienating some of their less hardcore voters for free by being the utter clueless monsters they actually are, I'm certainly not going to stand in their way.

(That doesn't at all ameliorate what's being done to Dr. Blasey, though, and I'd still like to horsewhip whatever Senator/staffer semi-outed her to The Intercept.)
posted by FelliniBlank at 3:03 PM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


In phone conversations with Trump, Putin would whisper conspiratorially, telling the U.S. president that it wasn’t their fault that they could not consummate the relationship that each had sought. Instead, Putin sought to reinforce Trump’s belief that he was being undermined by a secret government cabal, a bureaucratic “deep state.”

“It’s not us. We get it,” Putin would tell Trump, according to White House aides. “It’s the subordinates fighting against our friendship.”


This sounds like a Forbidden Love sort of tale, which is sweet, if it weren't also jeopardizing the fate of the United States, its residents, asylum seekers, and so many others.


Rust Moranis: When Cody Wilson's convicted of his child sex assault all his guns will be taken away from him, which gives me a hearty chuckle.

Except he can just print more. Or just buy them in Taiwan, where he is currently staying. Judge orders Cody Wilson’s arrest, but he skipped his return flight from Taiwan -- New court docs detail child sexual assault allegations against the digital firearms activist. (Nathan Mattise and Cyrus Farivar for Ars Technica, Sept. 19, 2018)
On Wednesday morning, a county judge signed the arrest warrant for 3D-printed gun rights activist Cody Wilson, who is accused of sexually assaulting an unnamed underage girl.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Austin Police Department told the public that Wilson still wasn't in custody. The Defense Distributed founder's last known whereabouts are Taipei, Taiwan, and he skipped his flight back to the States. Authorities believe he received a tip about the new allegations.

"We know Mr. Wilson frequently travels for business," Commander Troy Officer, of APD’s Organized Crime Division, told assembled press shortly after 2pm. "We don't know why he went to Taiwan, but we do know that he was informed that he was being investigated."
He may choose to stay there, because there is no extradition treaty in force between Taiwan and the United States (State.gov).
posted by filthy light thief at 3:04 PM on September 19, 2018 [16 favorites]


Fun fact, Ralph "family values / tough on crime" Shortey's (OK Sen) going down for 15 years for violating a "prostitution within 1,000 feet of a church" law.

Because. I mean.
posted by petebest at 3:26 PM on September 19, 2018 [28 favorites]


U.S. Lost Track of Another 1,500 Migrant Children (NYT)

“The Trump administration is unable to account for the whereabouts of nearly 1,500 migrant children who illegally entered the United States alone this year and were placed with sponsors after leaving federal shelters,” the New York Times reports.

“The revelation echoes an admission in April by the Department of Health and Human Services that the government had similarly lost track of an additional 1,475 migrant children it had moved out of shelters last year.”

posted by petebest at 3:33 PM on September 19, 2018 [28 favorites]


Except he can just print more. Or just buy them in Taiwan, where he is currently staying.

FWIW, Taiwan has extremely strict gun control laws, and are especially tough on people who manufacture firearms, so he's probably in for a very boring time.
posted by zombieflanders at 3:34 PM on September 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


U.S. Lost Track of Another 1,500 Migrant Children

This needs to be prosecuted as either outrageous negligence or intentional harm against children. What the actual fuck.
posted by Rykey at 3:40 PM on September 19, 2018 [21 favorites]


It should be prosecuted as human trafficking.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:47 PM on September 19, 2018 [61 favorites]


Reminder that last time what that actually meant was "the sponsors we placed them with didn't pick up the phone", it did not necessarily mean the kids are missing, it meant that this government agency couldn't verify their location or safety
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 3:51 PM on September 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


The "Cover Dr. Blasey's security costs" fund has hit $175K.
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:51 PM on September 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


Reminder that last time what that actually meant was "the sponsors we placed them with didn't pick up the phone", it did not necessarily mean the kids are missing, it meant that this government agency couldn't verify their location or safety

And, in 2018, if someone from a federal agency called you to ask about an immigrant child living under your roof, would you answer the phone?
posted by bcd at 3:56 PM on September 19, 2018 [16 favorites]




Reminder that last time what that actually meant was "the sponsors we placed them with didn't pick up the phone", it did not necessarily mean the kids are missing, it meant that this government agency couldn't verify their location or safety.

Yes, it's an unspeakably dangerous and precarious situation these children are being thrown into, but the circumstances are more complex than a lot of well-meaning people are making them out to be. It's very likely that some of the children are now in abusive situations with nobody at all looking out for their well-being, but it's also clear that a lot of them are being secreted away from the authorities by their own extended families. This would not be such a problem if our government hadn't explicitly adopted a policy of severing families and inflicting life-altering pain and harm on small children, such that their extended families rationally see their best option as taking them into hiding.
posted by contraption at 4:04 PM on September 19, 2018 [25 favorites]


Can someone more knowledgeable who is not, at this moment, distracted by uncontrollable cackling, tell me if this is as catastrophic for the GOP as it appears

I'm from Colorado, cackling pretty hard myself and not really all that knowledgeable, but I think that it's possibly not quite as bad as it looks for the GOP. There's a huge chunk of unaffiliated voters in that data, who have a slight tendency to vote GOP, though maybe not this year, based on what happened in the primary. This year's primary was the first in which unaffiliated voters could participate and about 291,000 of them did, which this Denver Post article says was a turnout rate of 20%. Unaffiliated voters had to choose which ballot they wanted to vote and ~60,000 more of them chose the Dem ballot. In the governor contest, over 130,000 more votes were cast for the 4 Dem candidates than for the 4 GOP candidates. It seems possible the GOP has an enthusiasm problem in CO this year, although it feels unwise to me to count on that. Colorado makes it pretty easy to vote, no ID requirements, ballots go out by mail to all registered voters 2 weeks before the election, yet Dems still have to do a lot of work to get people to return their ballots. I wish I had better analytical skills to say for sure what's going on or is likely to happen in November, but I'm putting more trust in the process, I think, and will keep on registering voters and canvassing until then. I'm a little jealous of CD6, which seems to have a much better chance of electing their awesome progressive candidate than we do here in CD5 (we also have an awesome progressive candidate, but the road is much more uphill in this district). I got a list today from the county Democratic party of unaffiliated voters in my precinct who might lean Dem so that I can reach out to them as well as to the registered Democrats. The volunteer who created the list said they haven't really done that before, but let's give it a shot and see what happens.
posted by danielleh at 4:14 PM on September 19, 2018 [6 favorites]




Maybe Dr. Ford should just go on television and tell her story directly to the American people.
She could go on television and speak right into the camera about what happened, taking away the opportunity for the republicans on the Judiciary Committee to abuse her.
There is nothing they can do to stop her. It's her first amendment right. Kavanaugh isn't going to be able to do a thing about it. Suing her for defamation doesn't seem like it would be an option.
Then let the republicans vote for Kavanaugh, which they were going to do all along, and pay at the polls in November.
posted by growabrain at 4:35 PM on September 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


Oh god no. That woman does not owe us sitting down with Lesley Stahl.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 4:41 PM on September 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


A reminder that while Taiwan doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US it doesn't mean that they necessarily want slimeballs in their country ... at a minimum he's likely on a limited time (90 day) business visa, eventually he'll be forced to leave
posted by mbo at 4:42 PM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]




NEWS: Kavanaugh Accuser Rejects Senate Hearing as Unfair - By Peter Baker and Nicholas Fandos, for NYTimes
Speaking through a lawyer, Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor in Northern California, said she remained willing to cooperate with the committee as it considers Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, but did not want to appear at a hearing where the two of them would be the only witnesses.

“The committee’s stated plan to move forward with a hearing that has only two witnesses is not a fair or good faith investigation; there are multiple witnesses whose names have appeared publicly and should be included in any proceeding,” the lawyer, Lisa J. Banks, said in a statement. “The rush to a hearing is unnecessary, and contrary to the committee discovering the truth.”
posted by ZeusHumms at 4:50 PM on September 19, 2018 [46 favorites]


A television special might move the dial a little on people who are close to voting Democrat. Maybe.

It would also doubtlessly come with lots of nails-on-chalkboard headline questions casting doubt on her account. News media hasn't been good about handling much of anything that personally attacks Trump and his cronies. And the moment she chooses network TV over a Senate hearing--no matter how insensitive and abusive that hearing may be--the narrative nosedives straight into "just wants attention" territory.

I don't have answers here. She doesn't owe us hours in front of a camera subjected to a panel of Republican Senate goons and/or staffers low enough to work for them. They're setting her up for more abuse and she doesn't owe us that or anything. But I don't know that a television interview will work as an alternative, either.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 4:51 PM on September 19, 2018 [5 favorites]


omg, that Petri article. Right through the heart.

Other than the drunk part, I heard every line of that first section in spring 1978. "He is just 17. He is a good boy. This will ruin his life. He has his future in front of him. He made a mistake."

"You must say nothing. What were you wearing? You should be more careful."

Unsaid: "You will carry this."

---

In other words, guys, this week is a little rough for me. And Petri is still a national treasure. Nothing humorous about this article, though. It's all rage.
posted by litlnemo at 4:58 PM on September 19, 2018 [89 favorites]


A central figure in the Delaware Republican Party fired off a scathing resignation letter last week that blasted both the direction of the state GOP and its recent nomination of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Arlett.

... Kopf claims that state party chairman Mike Harrington’s decision to let that draw stand violated party bylaws — one of several failures of leadership he cites in his letter.

Perhaps the most explosive of those charges is the revelation that two convicted felons are serving in public positions within the Delaware GOP.

Kopf does not name them, but sources indicate he was referring to former Delaware secretary of state Mike Harkins and Robert Harra, the former president of Wilmington Trust.


TL;DR: It is corruption all the way down, folks. Good reason to keep pushing for any bad apples who are Democrats, such as corrupt NJ senator Bob Menendez, to get replaced by honest civil servants.
posted by Bella Donna at 5:01 PM on September 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


Was Kavanaugh ever asked about his drinking? E.g., if he has ever blacked out after drinking, or if his friends and family have ever expressed concern, or if he has sought treatment for alcoholism? Also, I'd be interested in hearing w much he gambles - how often, typical amounts wagered, and how much a year.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:04 PM on September 19, 2018 [29 favorites]


Not just rage in the Petri bit. That is poetry.
posted by vrakatar at 5:05 PM on September 19, 2018 [14 favorites]


Maybe Dr. Ford should just go on television and tell her story directly to the American people.
She could go on television and speak right into the camera about what happened, taking away the opportunity for the republicans on the Judiciary Committee to abuse her.


FUCK no:

"See? This proves all she wanted to do was get on TV and be famous."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:12 PM on September 19, 2018 [27 favorites]


Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's claim that "What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep" was a saying of his in high school does not appear in a transcript of the speech he submitted in response to the Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire regarding his nomination. The transcript is included as part of Kavanaugh's "Published Writings," an appendix to the committee's questionnaire.

As noted earlier, there is a video of what he actually said but that apparently a tiny bit of his speech got tidied up for the Senate. Of course it did.
posted by Bella Donna at 5:13 PM on September 19, 2018 [19 favorites]


Washington Post Trump Whisperer Philip Rucker has a new piece: Trump Feels Angry, Unprotected Amid Mounting Crises
President Trump’s declaration that “I don’t have an attorney general” was not merely the cry of an executive feeling betrayed by a subordinate.

It was also a raw expression of vulnerability and anger from a president who associates say increasingly believes he is unprotected — with the Russia investigation steamrolling ahead, anonymous administration officials seeking to undermine him and a referendum looming in the Nov. 6 midterm elections, the results of which could potentially lead to impeachment proceedings.[...]

The president, as well as family members and longtime loyalists, fret about whom in the administration they can trust, people close to them said, rattled by a pair of devastating, unauthorized insider accounts this month from inside the White House. A senior administration official penned an anonymous column in the New York Times describing a “resistance” within to guard against the president’s impulses, while Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” offers an alarming portrait of a president seemingly unfit for the office.

“Everybody in the White House now has to look around and ask, ‘Who’s taping? Who’s leaking? And who’s on their way out the door?’ It’s becoming a game of survival,” said a Republican strategist who works in close coordination with the White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.
Add "unprotected" to the Nixonian lexicon of Trump descriptions (the NYT's Maggie Haberman favors "increasingly isolated" and "cornered").
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:22 PM on September 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


It's not "tidied up," it's a complete rewrite. Actual speech:
Three classmates of mine at Georgetown Prep were graduates of this law school in 1990 and are really, really good friends of mine: Mike Bidwill, Don Urgo, and Phil Merkle. And they were good friends of mine then and are still good friends of mine as recently as this weekend, when we were all on email together. But fortunately we had a good saying that we've held firm to to this day, as the dean was reminding me before the talk, which is, 'What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep.' That's been a good thing for all of us, I think.
Transcript submitted to the Judiciary Committee:
I attended Mater Dei and Georgetown Prep. Georgetown Prep's motto was to be 'men for others.' I have tried to live that creed. I am proud to say that three Georgetown Prep classmates of mine--Mike Bidwill, Don Urgo, and Phil Merkle--happen to be 1990 graduates of this law school. They remain very good friends of mine, and they well reflect the values and excellence of both Georgetown Prep and this law school.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:24 PM on September 19, 2018 [73 favorites]


“I don’t have an Attorney General. It’s very sad.”

Note that it's completely possible Trump may think Sessions is an actual general.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:26 PM on September 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


I think Donna Shalala in FL-27 is the Bob Menendez of House races. Ok, not in a corruption sense so that's a little unfair to her. But in the sense of a shitty candidate running in a great environment in an extremely favorable district who might blow it.

Fine, Menendez will likely still win because he's an incumbent. But Shalala is running in a +20Clinton district. PLUS TWENTY. And she's gonna blow it because she has no business being there.

This election is too important to be playing games of patronage jeopardizing what should be an absolute lock for picking up a seat when this thing is still on a knife edge but we are where we are I guess.
posted by Justinian at 5:27 PM on September 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


Trump Feels Angry, Unprotected Amid Mounting Crises

What is "a completely meaningless headline that has been published with slightly different phrasing every single day for the last 2 years," Alex?
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:29 PM on September 19, 2018 [72 favorites]


Washington Post Trump Whisperer Philip Rucker has a new piece: Trump Feels Angry, Unprotected Amid Mounting Crises

Interestingly, NewsDiffs.org logs this deletion in a quote from an unnamed source:
A former White House official was similarly disturbed. “It is a complete disgrace the way that Trump is acting like a schoolyard bully against Sessions,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share a critical opinion. “I understand his frustration. I understand why he feels the way that he does. But what a child. What an absolute baby. He’s disgracing himself.”
Add that to Daniel Drezner's Twitter log "I’ll believe that Trump is growing into the presidency when his staff stops talking about him like a toddler."
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:30 PM on September 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


If you vote by mail in Florida, it’s 10 times more likely that ballot won’t count. In which readers will be shocked, shocked to discover "that mail ballots cast by youngest voters, blacks and Hispanics were much more likely to be rejected than mail ballots cast by white voters, and that those voters are less likely to cure problems with their ballots when notified by election supervisors than other voters."
posted by Bella Donna at 6:06 PM on September 19, 2018 [22 favorites]


Today in NC, NYT White House correspondent Mark Landler reports: Trump to a homeowner in New Bern, NC, who had a yacht wash up in his backyard: “At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.” (with pic of the boat among the wreckage)

@CrimeADay 18 USC §1658(a) makes it a federal crime to plunder a lost, wrecked, stranded, cast away, or distressed vessel.
posted by scalefree at 6:14 PM on September 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


Trump Feels Angry, Unprotected Amid Mounting Crises

So, increasingly isolated?
posted by octothorpe at 6:17 PM on September 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


My apologies, all. kirkaracha, you are absolutely correct. Kavanaugh's speech was rewritten. I forgot that the sarcasm in my brain ("tided up", nudge nudge, wink wink) is unavailable to anyone but me. Will strive to be more direct next time.
posted by Bella Donna at 6:19 PM on September 19, 2018 [7 favorites]


Given the right conditions, any society can turn against democracy.

That piece about Poland is amazing. Also probably the most disheartening thing I have read - well, hmmm, in maybe years. Which should put it into perspective. When we understand our recent political history in the US - the post-WWII economy and global order - as the anomaly rather than the norm, this all begins to appear not a difficult political moment to endure until we get back on the rails, but an ominous portent.

It's long been an intellectual shame of mine that I tend to glaze over discussions that involve some grasp of the complexity of European political spectrums post World War II. I get confused and have a hard time mapping points of view onto ones I'm familiar with. This one was pretty gripping, though, in that it comes back to the elemental issue: love of authoritarianism.
posted by Miko at 6:36 PM on September 19, 2018 [30 favorites]


Agreed about the Poland article. It was deeply sobering.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:43 PM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Trump Feels Angry, Unprotected Amid Mounting Crises

Welcome to the club Mister President!

Another article linked off the Poland one goes into Madison's effort to forestall some of democracy's vulnerabilities. Between the two of these there's a lot to think about. I will not succumb to feeling quixotic about my belief in liberal democracy!
posted by maniabug at 7:14 PM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Fine, Menendez will likely still win because he's an incumbent. But Shalala is running in a +20Clinton district. PLUS TWENTY. And she's gonna blow it because she has no business being there.

If only we had some sort of contest before the general election to choose a candidate to represent the Democratic party. Everyone registered as a Democrat could come together on a date, pick their favourite, and the person the most people select goes on to contest the general election.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 7:19 PM on September 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


Doug Jones clearly not up for playing along this time:

@sendougjones
We need to have a full investigation of the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh— including the testimony of Mark Judge. If he won’t testify, he needs to be subpoenaed.

If they confirm him looks like they’re doing it on Republican votes with nobody else to blame.
posted by Artw at 7:34 PM on September 19, 2018 [43 favorites]


This article about Poland is incredible.

Thank you, octobersurprise.

It is so good, in fact, and I have so much to say about it, that I've created an FPP specifically to discuss it & the troubling revelation I have to share.

Seriously, octobersurprise, thank you for sharing this.

edited to add link to FPP
posted by narwhal at 7:46 PM on September 19, 2018 [20 favorites]


If they confirm him looks like they’re doing it on Republican votes with nobody else to blame.

Have we heard from Manchin?
posted by contraption at 7:48 PM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


What happened in FL-27 was, Shalala came in relatively late, some of the bigger Hispanic candidates dropped out, because she was a big name who could do big fundraising, and she won with about 31% over a divided field. That was definitely not the ideal situation, and I would rather she not have run. That said, I don't think there's any reason to point to "patronage" or other skulduggery. She came in, and she scared off or beat people, that's the way it goes.

Also - and I know I'm a super annoying broken record here - you shouldn't be "she's gonna blow it" unless you have access to a time machine. The race is not what we would like it to be, that's all we can say at this point.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:49 PM on September 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


If only we had some sort of contest before the general election to choose a candidate to represent the Democratic party. Everyone registered as a Democrat could come together on a date, pick their favourite, and the person the most people select goes on to contest the general election.

That is exactly what happened in FL-27. Shalala ran in a Democratic primary of five contenders and she came out ahead with 32% of the vote. If you want to stand up for primaries to allow Democratic voters to decide who their candidate should be, you're going to have to honor their selection. You can't have it both ways.
posted by JackFlash at 7:50 PM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Metafilter: You can't have it both ways.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:51 PM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Someone was asking earlier about Kavanaugh polling. Nate Cohn:
We've been asking about support/oppose the Kavanaugh nomination in IA01, NJ07, TX32, and CA49. Still early, but so far it's support 46, oppose 43. The same voters disapprove of Trump, 40-54 We'll keep adding this question to the districts we enter this week.

Women are only narrowly opposed, 45-40. Republican women still quite unified in support, 86-6
posted by Chrysostom at 7:51 PM on September 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


If only we had some sort of contest before the general election to choose a candidate to represent the Democratic party. Everyone registered as a Democrat could come together on a date, pick their favourite, and the person the most people select goes on to contest the general election.

FL-27 was considered such a pickup opportunity (an OPEN seat in a Clinton+20 district) that there were 5 people in the primary and the vote was split all over the place. Shalala beat Richardson 32-28, with the other three candidates pulling 18, 17, 6. (all rounded).

Funky things happen in 5 way primaries. I don't think it's unfair to say the primary voters appear to have made a poor choice. It's not like Shalala was the overwhelming favorite and so whaddya gonna do. She didn't even get a third of the vote.
posted by Justinian at 7:51 PM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


you shouldn't be "she's gonna blow it" unless you have access to a time machine.

But "the odds of winning a seat went from very likely to who knows" doesn't have the same ring to it. I think you'd agree that FL-27 is one of the seats Democrats were counting on being almost in the bag and now who the heck knows. It's... not a great situation.
posted by Justinian at 7:53 PM on September 19, 2018


Speaking of FL-27, we have Cook ratings changes, four left, two right:
FL-18 (Mast) | Lean R => Likely R
FL-27 (open) | Lean D => Tossup

GA-07 (Woodall) | Likely R => Lean R
MN-02 (Lewis) | Tossup => Lean D
MN-03 (Paulsen) | Tossup => Lean D
NM-02 (open) | Lean R => Tossup
posted by Chrysostom at 7:57 PM on September 19, 2018 [6 favorites]


That is exactly what happened in FL-27. Shalala ran in a Democratic primary of five contenders and she came out ahead with 32% of the vote. If you want to stand up for primaries to allow Democratic voters to decide who their candidate should be, you're going to have to honor their selection. You can't have it both ways.

It appears that my facetiousness didn't quite show through in the text. That was entirely my point.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:00 PM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


So this is kind of nutsy cuckoo. Gaslighting the Special Counsel? Did not see that coming. It's a bold move, I'll give him that.

[video] @joshtpm Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow says Trump ***never told Lester Holt he fired Comey over Russia***, says it was misleading edit, cites secret extended transcript the details of which he won’t reveal.
posted by scalefree at 8:02 PM on September 19, 2018 [18 favorites]


Well he told the Russian spymasters that he did while they were in the Oval Office ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by gucci mane at 8:09 PM on September 19, 2018 [12 favorites]


Have we heard from Manchin?

The working theory is that since Manchin is all about preserving Obamacare, for white people at least, and Kavanaugh means the end of that he’s not going to vote for him.

This article seems less convinced his fence sitting is going to break that way.
posted by Artw at 8:16 PM on September 19, 2018 [2 favorites]


Just an FYI, they're already running pro-Kavanaugh commercials on MSNBC. I don't think I saw them before the sexual assault issue came out, and it's an ad starring a woman so...that was fast.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 8:23 PM on September 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS - Pt. 2

** 2018 Senate:
-- FL: FAU poll has GOPer Scott up 42-41 on Dem incumbent Nelson [MOE: +/- 4.0%]. FL Senate obsessives: the last FAU poll a month ago had Scott up six.

-- PA: Rasmussen poll has Dem incumbent Casey up 52-38 on GOPer Barletta [MOE: +/- 3.5%].
** 2018 House:
-- CA-25: Siena poll has GOP incumbent Knight up 47-45 on Dem Hill [MOE: +/- 5.0%]. [Clinton 50-44 | Tossup]

-- NY-27: Indicted incumbent Chris Collins plans to actively campaign and take his seat if he wins.
** Odds & ends:
-- FL gov: Same FAU poll has Dem Gillum up 41-39 on GOPer DeSantis.

-- NYT look at Medicaid expansion initiative in Utah.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:33 PM on September 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


Just an FYI, they're already running pro-Kavanaugh commercials on MSNBC. I don't think I saw them before the sexual assault issue came out, and it's an ad starring a woman so...that was fast.

I wonder if it's a local or national ad buy.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:37 PM on September 19, 2018




It must be national. Saw the same ad in STL.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:45 PM on September 19, 2018


As to the Kavanaugh ad on MSNBC, I have seen this ad for several weeks in the Seattle market. Surprisingly, I saw it several times today. Maybe they are upping the buy to try to counteract the news coverage? I’m used to seeing it once a day.
posted by Silverstone at 8:48 PM on September 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Can I ask a naive question here? Why are they running a national ad for Kavanaugh? After all, we the people don't get to vote to confirm him.

Is the ad to convince congresspeople to vote to confirm? Or to convince citizens not to hate their local senator after he votes that way?
posted by mmoncur at 8:50 PM on September 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


Why are they running a national ad for Kavanaugh?

How about "why is MSNBC running a national ad for Kavanaugh?" I'm searching pretty hard for an answer besides "Capitalism is bad."
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:01 PM on September 19, 2018 [17 favorites]


Public opinion has played a part in Justice approval for ages, but especially since the Reagan era - the implicit threat is that unpopular justices lead to un-reelected senators.
posted by aspersioncast at 9:02 PM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


Why are they running a national ad for Kavanaugh?

The television network gets paid, the people producing the ad get paid, the people who wrote the ad get paid, the individuals organizing the whole mess get paid, and even the fundraisers hustling the cash out of the marks get paid.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 9:03 PM on September 19, 2018 [10 favorites]


Why are they running a national ad for Kavanaugh?

Wait are we suggesting that liberal leaning networks shouldn’t sell adspace to our political opponents now? Now I haven’t seen the ad but as long as it’s not just straight up lies or slander then I don’t see how MSNBC would have a leg to stand on if they refused to run it.
posted by cirhosis at 9:08 PM on September 19, 2018 [4 favorites]


Sorry I should have quoted “why is MSNBC running a national ad...” in my previous comment. Appolgies for the mistake.
posted by cirhosis at 9:10 PM on September 19, 2018 [1 favorite]


I don't think that MSNBC is legally required to run ads for rapist judges.
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:13 PM on September 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


Well, I just got surveyed by Ipsos about Kavanaugh and #MeToo, so look for some polling in the near future.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:18 PM on September 19, 2018 [11 favorites]


zachlipton: @Olivianuzzi [photo]: The White House distributed this image to reporters on purpose earlier this evening

It's really an amazing photo. Trump looking miserably uninterested as he's supposedly being updated on disaster response, Pence standing there with his arms crossed supervising (but without a phone) as if he's forcing Trump to be there, the painting behind him. I can't imagine why anybody would voluntarially send this out to the world.


achrise: The painting in that tweet is "Signing of the Peace Protocol Between Spain and the United States, August 12, 1898". President William McKinley is standing on the left and observing. Seated from left to right are Secretary of State William R. Day and, signing, French Ambassador to the United States Jules Cambon.

I don't find it particularly symbolic for the moment, but at least now you know.


And now we know Donald Trump urged Spain to 'build the wall' – across the Sahara ( Sam Jones for The Guardian, Sept. 19, 2018)
Donald Trump suggested the Spanish government tackled the Mediterranean migration crisis by emulating one of his most famous policies and building a wall across the Sahara desert, the country’s foreign minister has revealed.

According to Josep Borrell, the US president brushed off the scepticism of Spanish diplomats – who pointed out that the Sahara stretched for 3,000 miles – saying: “The Sahara border can’t be bigger than our border with Mexico.”

Trump wooed voters in the 2016 election with his promise to build a “big, beautiful wall” across the US/Mexico border, which is roughly 2,000 miles long.

A similar plan in the Sahara, however, would be complicated by the fact that Spain holds only two small enclaves in north Africa – Ceuta and Melilla – and such a wall would have to be built on foreign territory.
[I think I should go to sleep now, because I'm tempted to try and make a chart to tie this all together]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:19 PM on September 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


> Trump Feels Angry, Unprotected Amid Mounting Crises

What is "a completely meaningless headline that has been published with slightly different phrasing every single day for the last 2 years," Alex?


Just because the train wreck is happening in slow motion doesn't mean it's not a train wreck.

The first instance I found of Maggie Haberman using the phrase—"Donald J. Trump’s campaign was teetering early last month, with an increasingly isolated candidate and a downcast staff that seemed to lurch from crisis to crisis." (9/1/16)—was justified by the departure of Paul Manafort from the campaign (which she acknowledged in passing without even calling him by name).

The next NYT article with that phrase—Inside Trump Tower, an Increasingly Upset and Alone Donald Trump: "But Trump Tower, since Friday afternoon, has become a kind of lonely fortress for its most famous occupant, who holes up inside, increasingly isolated and upset, denounced almost every hour by another Republican official." (10/1/16)—featured Chris Christie, who wouldn't survive the transition period, and Reince Priebus, whose Trump White House tenure lasted only six months.

The fact is, for all the day-to-day headlines that belabour us in the POTUS45 megathreads, the Trump campaign and administration is one long death march, with an unprecedented number of aides and officials either falling by the wayside in resignations and dismissals or caught up in the special counsel probe. The remaining denizens of Trumpland complain, anonymously and cathartically, to the likes of Haberman, Rucker, and Swan, even as their numbers dwindle. Of course Trump is feeling increasingly isolated in such circumstances.

And next on the chopping block looks like Trump's favorite FEMA sycophant, to judge from these leaks.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:21 PM on September 19, 2018 [9 favorites]


Some assorted links

Jeffrey Lewis, ‘Your Mission Is to Keep All This From Collapsing Into Nuclear Hellfire’: "An open letter to Donald Trump's new North Korea envoy on how to avoid Armageddon."
Congratulations on your appointment as U.S. special representative for North Korea policy! Sorry to hear that your first trip was canceled.

I couldn’t help but notice that you were quoted in Susan Glasser’s really excellent New Yorker essay, saying, “Essentially, the President’s crazy-ass style got us in a position where we might actually have an opportunity, so let’s try. I don’t know if it will work, but let’s try.”

Now, Steve, I am not sure I know what precisely you meant by this. But your statement concerns me. While I am excited by your enthusiasm, I am also a bit worried. Because the words you chose, Steve, suggest you fundamentally don’t understand where we are, how we got here, and how it might all go wrong.

Let’s start by talking about how we got here. I don’t have to tell you, Steve, that the year of our Lord 2017 was pretty effed up. In case you were too busy in your previous gig at Ford Motor Co., this is how it went down.
@burgessev: Trump nomination: "Darrell E. Issa of California, to be Director of the United States Trade and Development Agency."

AP, Lawmaker: US Senate, staff targeted by state-backed hackers: "Foreign government hackers continue to target the personal email accounts of U.S. senators and their aides — and the Senate’s security office has refused to defend them, a lawmaker says." It turns out that the problem is really simple: the Sergeant at Arms says they can't legally use funds for securing government accounts to help secure personal accounts. That seems like something that could be quickly and easily fixed.

Atlantic, Elaina Plott, A New Petition From House Democrats Could Complicate Nancy Pelosi’s Future
In a move described as a direct shot at Nancy Pelosi, some Democrats are trying to make it more difficult for one of their own to become speaker of the House.

At least 10 Democrats in the lower chamber have signed onto a letter to Caucus Chair Joe Crowley seeking a change to caucus rules that would raise the number of votes required to nominate a candidate for speaker. Current rules mandate that a nominee receive support from only a simple majority of caucus members before advancing to the floor for a vote. The letter requests that threshold be changed to 218, a majority of the House.
...
The proposed rule change will be voted on next week. That’ll put House Democrats in the potentially awkward position of taking sides in the brewing leadership fight. With many Democratic activists and candidates pushing for a change at the top, incumbents have largely tried to avoid declaring their position on Pelosi ahead of the midterm elections.
...
Multiple House Democratic sources predicted the measure would overwhelmingly fail, noting that there is likely no member, currently, who could get 218 votes.
I fail to see how this plan makes any sense. Requiring support from 218 members to advance to the floor seems like a recipe to just never have another Democratic Speaker again.

@HMAesq [immigration lawyer]: "Here's what it's like dealing with the new ICE" A thread on just the utter procedural nonsense that's happening in immigration court now.

We're going to see a bunch of stories tomorrow morning about how unemployment claims are the lowest since 1969. Martha Gimbel warns us to beware the take from such long-term comparisons: "the percent of the unemployed who qualify for unemployment benefits has been falling over time."

Foreign Policy, White and Male: Trump’s Ambassadors Don’t Look Like the Rest of America
Of the 119 ambassadors Trump has nominated since he took office in early 2017, 91.6 percent—109 diplomats—are white, and 73.9 percent—88 ambassador picks—are men, according to an analysis conducted by FP. (Five of Trump’s ambassador nominees, 4.2 percent, are Hispanic. The U.S. Census Bureau categorizes Hispanic as an ethnicity, separately from race.)

Trump’s picks include no African-American women. In the Obama years, 24 African-American women served as ambassadors around the world, from Niger to Uzbekistan.
CNN, Pompeo cracks down, on improper use, of commas at State Department
In the last few months, two emails have gone out from Pompeo's top staff to employees throughout the State Department giving careful, meticulous instructions on comma usage. The latest email, sent in early September and obtained by CNN, gives "updated guidance ... regarding correct use of commas in paper for Department principals."

"The Secretary has underscored the need for appropriate use of commas in his paper (both their inclusion and omission)," the email declares. It also notes that Pompeo prefers adherence to the Chicago Manual of Style, which states "effective use of the comma involves good judgment, with the goal being ease of reading."
posted by zachlipton at 9:46 PM on September 19, 2018 [22 favorites]


And now we know Donald Trump urged Spain to 'build the wall' – across the Sahara ( Sam Jones for The Guardian, Sept. 19, 2018)

Oh dear gods below. This was their attempt at a meaningful legacy accomplishment & the photo was staged to be the iconic symbol of it. That's so sad. It reminds me of George W Bush being posed as the 5th head on Mount Rushmore. Grandiosely small.
posted by scalefree at 10:42 PM on September 19, 2018 [3 favorites]


Darrell E. Issa of California, to be Director of the United States Trade and Development Agency.

As a Californian, fuck yeah.

Sure, he said he wasn't going to run for reelection, but this seals the deal. Plus, it's also nice to see him physically leave the state.


p.s. make sure your fire insurance policy is up to date
posted by ryanrs at 11:05 PM on September 19, 2018 [8 favorites]


"But fortunately we had a good saying that we've held firm to to this day, as the dean was reminding me before the talk, which is, 'What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep.'"

That Kavanaugh and his buddies would have used this phrase in high school in the 1980s is highly dubious. It clearly alludes to the famous marketing slogan for Las Vegas, which was cooked up by an ad agency in 2003.
posted by St. Oops at 11:41 PM on September 19, 2018 [18 favorites]



Jess Dweck @TheDweck

Congrats to the Trump administration on making “stealing money from cancer patients to use for kidnapping children” a thing that exists outside of comic book villains

The Department of Health and Human Services is diverting millions of dollars from HIV/AIDS and cancer programs to pay for migrant kids’ detention
posted by PontifexPrimus at 11:54 PM on September 19, 2018 [93 favorites]


Darrell E. Issa of California, to be Director of the United States Trade and Development Agency.

Since most people don't know this, he's the guy who got rich inventing the most obnoxious (multitone) car alarm in history. Fuck him forever.
posted by msalt at 11:59 PM on September 19, 2018 [13 favorites]


That Kavanaugh and his buddies would have used this phrase in high school in the 1980s is highly dubious. It clearly alludes to the famous marketing slogan for Las Vegas, which was cooked up by an ad agency in 2003.

The Vegas slogan isn't original -- it was based on "What happens on tour, stays on tour," which dates back to the early 1970s.
posted by mochapickle at 12:11 AM on September 20, 2018 [20 favorites]


That Kavanaugh and his buddies would have used this phrase in high school in the 1980s is highly dubious. It clearly alludes to the famous marketing slogan for Las Vegas, which was cooked up by an ad agency in 2003.

"What happens at beach week..." was a phrase that I heard plenty, as a DC private high school student in the late 80s and early 90s (not at Georgetown Prep, but in similar circles). It was not invented in Vegas.
posted by toxic at 12:35 AM on September 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


As Archelaus famously paraphrased Ariarathes, "What happens in Cappadocia, stays in Cappadocia."
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 1:21 AM on September 20, 2018 [60 favorites]


And now we know Donald Trump urged Spain to 'build the wall' – across the Sahara ( Sam Jones for The Guardian, Sept. 19, 2018)

There are already razor wire fences around the few kilometers of the borders of Ceuta and Melilla with Morocco. People are desperate enough to climb them, and the current Spanish government is actually trying to take them down. Interior minister Grande-Marlaska must not have been on speaking terms with Foreign minister Borrell or something -- but anyway, the current immigration policy is anything but coherent.
posted by sukeban at 2:12 AM on September 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


"What happens in that clump of bushes on the plain, near where Ug was crushed by the stampeding mammoth, stays in that clump of bushes on the plain, near where Ug was crushed by the stampeding mammoth."
posted by Grangousier at 3:18 AM on September 20, 2018 [36 favorites]


FEMA chief considered quitting as feud with Homeland Security secretary boiled over (WaPo):
On Sunday, his bitter feud with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen seemed as though it would abate. The two agreed to a truce so that the Trump administration’s response to Hurricane Florence would not be further overshadowed by the deepening acrimony between them since the disclosure of an internal investigation into Long’s use of government vehicles to travel between Washington and his home in North Carolina.

Nothing would happen to Long in the near term, Nielsen assured him, according to three senior government officials familiar with the conversation. Let’s just get through the storm, she said.

About 24 hours later, as Long’s plane landed in North Carolina, he learned that the DHS Office of Inspector General had referred his case to federal prosecutors for a possible criminal investigation. He felt devastated and betrayed, according to the three government officials, who had knowledge of Long’s reaction.
I guess lol at ever taking anyone in the Trump administration at their word. The article goes on to say that their bad blood goes back to at least 2017 when Nielsen served as DHS chief of staff under John Kelly, and that Long suffers from, what one unnamed source calls, "creeping hubris" because of his good relationship with Trump who he directly reports to during emergencies.
posted by peeedro at 4:00 AM on September 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


I woke up to Angela Burks Hill a conservative politician serving in the Mississippi State Senate from the 40th district since 2012 linked to my family blog by posting screencaps with my page name clearly visible to rile up her base to aim them at me because I won't let conservatives overrun my page about a single mom and her disabled kid living in NJ to debate me about House Bill 610. It's surreal to me that public servants can do that.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 4:08 AM on September 20, 2018 [90 favorites]


More background (Facebook link, sorry) on Mark Judge from Eric Ruyak, a former student at Georgetown Prep who was sexually assaulted there. TW: Child rape. "Mark Judge (Kavanaugh's friend in this who despicable story of sexual assault) reached out to alums saying that Gary Orr was a great priest and that I had obviously been corrupted by liberalism into a homosexual and therefore was most definitely lying."
posted by clawsoon at 4:19 AM on September 20, 2018 [39 favorites]


Just an FYI, they're already running pro-Kavanaugh commercials on MSNBC. I don't think I saw them before the sexual assault issue came out, and it's an ad starring a woman so...that was fast.

Those commercials have been in heavy rotation on MSNBC (in NJ) since his nomination was announced. (I can probably sing to you the other commercials that have been airing as well, and boy, does that Sandals resort look nice). ((Now, sometimes we'll get a Bob Hugin/anti-Menendez ad, followed by a Menendez ad, followed by the earlier Hugin ad)).
posted by armacy at 4:21 AM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]




The Republicans are playing a very dangerous game here by attempting to shove Kavanaugh through. For all they know, they could confirm his nomination and then more women may come forward.

I'll bet a cake that the possibility of other women coming forward is exactly why they're trying to push Kavanaugh's nomination thru so hastily. They were able to avoid testimony from the other women who would have corroborated Anita Hill's testimony, and thus got a reliable conservative vote in Clarence Thomas. But it isn't as easy to silence women today.
posted by Gelatin at 5:15 AM on September 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


Have We Noticed That Brett Kavanaugh (And Friends) Do Not Deny Knowing Christine Blasey Ford? - Elie Mystal, Above The Law
If they didn't go to "that" party, then what party did they meet her at? These are the questions an investigation would reveal.
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:25 AM on September 20, 2018 [38 favorites]


I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here, but assuming there's no statute of limitations and there's enough evidence, why can't Kavanaugh just be arrested or charged with sexual assault or attempted rape?
posted by newpotato at 5:56 AM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Because no DA is going to take a case like this, even if it had happened last week, much less 30 years ago. Women aren't believed unless there is video, and even then, they'll make her out to be unreliable, drunk, slutty, or deserving it.

I was kidnapped in a parking lot, by a long distance trucker with a gun, and taken to a hotel room where I was rescued by police, who promptly ordered me to take a lie and detector test, because surely i provoked this guy to grab me.

Women are never believed. This case is no different.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:05 AM on September 20, 2018 [130 favorites]


why can't Kavanaugh just be arrested or charged with sexual assault or attempted rape?

In Maryland? Where Republican Larry Hogan is governor? Really?
posted by palomar at 6:06 AM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


why can't Kavanaugh just be arrested or charged with sexual assault or attempted rape?

In Maryland? Where Republican Larry Hogan is governor? Really?


And in Montgomery County no less, where a firmly entrenched Blue Dog is the DA.
posted by duffell at 6:07 AM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Artist Puts Bars over Trump's Walk of Fame Star. Huh. Wonder what happened with that unanimous city council vote to remove the damn thing altogether?
posted by yoga at 6:12 AM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


Wonder what happened with that unanimous city council vote to remove the damn thing altogether?

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is not in the City of West Hollywood.
posted by Slothrup at 6:21 AM on September 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


If you vote by mail in Florida, it’s 10 times more likely that ballot won’t count. In which readers will be shocked, shocked to discover "that mail ballots cast by youngest voters, blacks and Hispanics were much more likely to be rejected than mail ballots cast by white voters, and that those voters are less likely to cure problems with their ballots when notified by election supervisors than other voters."

No surprise here. As a young voter in 2012, I had my Florida mail ballot tossed out because my signature on the ballot "didn't match" my signature on my voter registration form. The one I'd signed in high school several years earlier.

Last year I was worried about this happening again, so I tried to call the voter registration office to change my signature and they said I would have to come to the office in person. This was not a possibility, so I asked if they could send me a scan of my old signature they had on file so I could make sure I signed my ballot the same way. They refused to do this.

In the end, I had to figure out on my own what my signature had looked like in high school and guesstimate my signature on my ballot based on that. I'm pretty sure that I'd actually printed my name on my registration back then, since I hadn't developed my adult signature yet. So I tried writing my name in my high school scrawl onto my 2016 ballot.

I have no idea whether they threw out that ballot or not. They would have seen that the return address was in Massachusetts, so... some republican probably tossed it on that basis alone.

Exhibit number... what, like 976? that we don't live in an actual democracy. Next time y'all wonder why us young people don't vote in greater numbers, remember that we're well aware that our society's power structure is set up to keep us from doing so.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 6:23 AM on September 20, 2018 [47 favorites]


It is the one year anniversary of when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico.

. x 2975
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:29 AM on September 20, 2018 [48 favorites]


Uh, John McCarthy's kind of a douche, but Montgomery County is one of the most liberal counties in the country - there are a ton of reasons they aren't going to bring charges on this, but most of them would apply to any district court in the US.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:31 AM on September 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


but assuming there's no statute of limitations and there's enough evidence

There is a gigantic difference between "credible circumstantial / hearsay / testimonial evidence sufficient to suggest that, hey, there's a very strong chance that this guy DID do this" and "hard physical evidence sufficient to convict in a court of law." Particularly in a circumstance that's over three decades old, at a somewhat hazy time and place, behind closed doors, with no corroborating witnesses.

Rape and sexual assault can be fiendishly difficult to prove and convict on in strong and obvious cases, for all the reasons that have been quoted and more. Too often it's a straight credibility check in a forum where the victim is assumed from the start not to have credibility, and there are millions of horror stories to that effect. Legally speaking, this is a non-starter, and a victory in the court of public opinion may be the best outcome she could hope for.
posted by delfin at 6:44 AM on September 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


assuming there's no statute of limitations and there's enough evidence, why can't Kavanaugh just be arrested or charged with sexual assault or attempted rape?

As others have said, there is NEVER enough evidence of rape. My husband served on a jury on a case where a woman was beaten, choked, nearly killed, raped multiple times, and there was extensive medical evidence and documentation of all those facts and still the other (female!) members of the jury argued that it had been consensual and the rapist got probation. Welcome to rape culture.

This case is based solely on testimony, so to most people it just didn't happen.
posted by threeturtles at 6:49 AM on September 20, 2018 [56 favorites]


No Statutes of Limitations - Josh Marshall, TPM (9/18)
Mark Judge, Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged accomplice, does not want to testify in whatever hearing is slated to take place on Monday. Republicans clearly don’t want him to testify either, for a number of obvious reasons. But a friend, who is a member of the bar in Maryland, tells me that for assault, rape, attempted rape and a wide variety of other crimes there is no statute of limitations in Maryland. This surprised me greatly. But this person has practiced law in the state for 25 years and I think I’ve confirmed this with a bit of research on my own. This would appear to confirm this.

The point here isn’t that Brett Kavanaugh is going to be prosecuted for this alleged attempted rape and/or assault. But if Judge doesn’t want to testify before Congress, it would seem he has a reasonable fifth amendment basis for refusing to do so.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:58 AM on September 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


It is the one year anniversary of when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico.

. x 2975

I'm not going to fill the page with 2975 dots, but I think it's worth considering just how much space that would take up.
posted by jaduncan at 7:14 AM on September 20, 2018 [33 favorites]


I'm sure Mark Judge pleading the Fifth during Senate testimony is exactly not the message Republicans want to send in defending Kavanaugh's supposed innocence. No wonder Republicans don't want him as a witness -- they want to run the Anita Hill playbook again.

(Memo to Democrats: Since Republicans -- indeed, a couple of the same Republicans -- want to run the Anita Hill playbook again, you should be repeating that fact to the media so that it, and not "she refused to testify under oath," becomes the narrative.)
posted by Gelatin at 7:15 AM on September 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


Unsurprisingly, the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Chamber of Commerce endorsed the Republican candidate for Governor. Somewhat more surprisingly, a bunch of member businesses are dropping out because of that candidate's anti-LGBTQ history (which is almost certainly, like everything else Bill Schuette has ever done, a cynically calculated pose to attract Republican votes).
posted by Etrigan at 7:24 AM on September 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


Chrysostom: Women are only narrowly opposed, 45-40. Republican women still quite unified in support, 86-6

I foolishly was browsing Facebook last night, and some conservative relatives, men and women, were ranting about the delays and his accuser (without mentioning her name) not wanting to speak and get caught lying or something. I wanted to write back "MERRICK GARLAND, and the name of the woman he tried to rape in high school is Christine Blasey Ford."

But instead I closed unfollowed them and closed Facebook, and thought about the things I would have written the next morning, because I can't stop thinking about what they wrote. So I'm writing this here, which I may further revise and post in reply tonight, dropping it like a truth bomb and closing FB for the night.

"President Obama nominated Merrick Garland, by most accounts a fairly centrist pick, on March 16th, 2016. But on February 13 of that year, Mitch McConnell thought that the next president should make the nomination, MORE THAN 11 MONTHS UNTIL THE NEXT PRESIDENT WOULD TAKE OFFICE. So he DENIED THE PRESIDENT the opportunity to have a hearing on his nomination, not because he was accused of sexual assault, but because McConnell hoped he'd be back in charge of the Senate with a Republican president. And the name of the woman that Kavenaugh tried to rape in high school is Christine Blasey Ford. He turned up the music so no one would hear her scream. He admits to repeatedly getting "black-out drunk," and has a gambling problem, which may or may not have been paid off by someone who now has leverage over him, who might be a Supreme Court Justice for life. I'm happy slow this process down a bit, for Dr. Ford, whose life has been made miserable by assholes who think she's now a fair target for online and in-person harassment, for Merrick Garland, who should have had a chance to be reviewed by Congress, if not seated on the Supreme Court, and the future and security of the Supreme Court, because Brett Kavanaugh would be terrible for so many more reasons than I've listed here."

(In all likelihood, I won't even open Facebook, because it gives me no joy these days, and I don't want to start an in-family fight, especially on my in-laws side of the family.... though now I'm thinking of writing it as "an open response to people who are complaining about delays and accusations.)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:35 AM on September 20, 2018 [39 favorites]


Wow. New York Times, Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti, The Plot to Subvert an Election.

This leads off with two stories I'd never heard (about pro-Putin, anti-Obama demonstrations in the US) and then lays out the Russian manipulation of the election in the clearest description I've seen yet. Here's the start of that description:

"Consider 10 days in March. On March 15 of that year, Mr. Trump won five primaries, closing in on his party’s nomination, and crowed that he had become “the biggest political story anywhere in the world.” That same day in Moscow, a veteran hacker named Ivan Yermakov, a Russian military intelligence officer working for a secret outfit called Unit 26165, began probing the computer network of the Democratic National Committee. In St. Petersburg, shift workers posted on Facebook and Twitter at a feverish pace, posing as Americans and following instructions to attack Mrs. Clinton.

"On March 21 in Washington, Mr. Trump announced his foreign policy team, a group of fringe figures whose advocacy of warmer relations with Russia ran counter to Republican orthodoxy. Meanwhile, Unit 26165 was poring over the bounty from a separate attack it had just carried out: 50,000 emails stolen from the Clinton campaign’s chairman."
posted by martin q blank at 7:37 AM on September 20, 2018 [55 favorites]


Wapo, what happened to Dr. Ford was common behavior.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:53 AM on September 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


Also in the WaPo: Is there a Kavanaugh doppelganger? [real]

Tag needed because WHAT THE ACTUAL FUUUUUUUUUCK.
posted by zombieflanders at 7:55 AM on September 20, 2018 [24 favorites]


I realize everyone is a little more focused on his rape hobby, and for good reason, but choosing women law clerks based on their looks is a scandal and is, by itself, without the knowledge of his violent crimes and his possible substance abuse/gambling history and his financial problems, absolutely disqualifying.

it isn't a problem only if he harassed them. it isn't a problem only if he assaulted them. it isn't a problem only if he didn't treat them respectfully once they were selected. it is, all by itself, disqualifying. for any position of authority. I know we are all used to defining deviancy down, as the saying is, but underplaying this is inexcusable. it's unbelievably bad.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:59 AM on September 20, 2018 [96 favorites]


Jesus, that doppelgänger article. As if things couldn’t get any more stupid.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 8:01 AM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


filthy light thief: Donald Trump urged Spain to 'build the wall' – across the Sahara (Sam Jones for The Guardian, Sept. 19, 2018)

Spain Now Sees More Migrant Arrivals Than Any Other European Country (NPR, Sept. 20, 2018)
While migration routes to Italy and Greece have been busy for years, Spain is now receiving twice as many migrants as Greece and six times as many as Italy. The routes are constantly in flux, but academics believe this shift could be partly due to Italy essentially closing off the central Mediterranean route — first by making a deal with Libya to intercept migrants, then by detaining rescue vessels in the area, and lastly by closing off its ports.
...
When a boat of migrants reaches Spain, they're first taken to the police station to be identified and, if they choose to seek asylum, begin that process. The Red Cross is always on-site, providing clothing, food and any other kind of necessary aid. After the migrants have been identified — which can take up to 72 hours — they're taken to refugee centers run by various NGOs.
...
Joy Good, 20, came to Spain in late August. She's eight months pregnant.

"They told me that I will stay here six months," she says, referring to a six-month program that the Spanish government places asylum-seekers in, which provides legal help and integration classes.

She says she left her small village in Nigeria two years ago, completely on her own, after being raped at age 15 and giving birth to a daughter whom she left with family friends.

Good can't read or write, but she learned English by watching U.S. movies. She's adding Spanish to that list, but says that she's not sure what she'll do for work.

"I don't know how to do anything. What I just know how to do is how to make hair," she says, pointing to her braids.

When asked about her trip to Spain, she puts her face in her hands and shakes her head, saying that it's very difficult to talk about.
Emphasis mine, because with this and the header photo of "A Spanish government relief worker plays with a young migrant child at a sports center in San Roque, southern Spain, after the child was rescued by Spain's Maritime Rescue Service in the Strait of Gibraltar on Aug. 1" reminds me that even when actually inundated with asylum seekers, governments and government workers can be compassionate and caring, because sometimes I forget that in the face of the current U.S. atrocities.


Also in the WaPo: Is there a Kavanaugh doppelganger? [real]

Tag needed because WHAT THE ACTUAL FUUUUUUUUUCK.


First they deny that it happened, then they try to discredit the accuser, then they say "hey, what if it was a dude who looked like Brett?"

Because "it was just horseplay" went down like a lead balloon.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:02 AM on September 20, 2018 [34 favorites]


Leonard Pitts of The Miami Herald: Kavanaugh case shows how America accepts men's predations against women
Here, then, is where we stand: After supporting senatorial candidate Roy Moore (a credibly accused child molester), Donald Trump (a confessed perpetrator of sexual assault) has nominated to the Supreme Court Brett Kavanaugh (a credibly accused attempted rapist) who would, if confirmed, serve alongside Clarence Thomas (a credibly accused sexual harasser).
posted by virago at 8:03 AM on September 20, 2018 [55 favorites]


This guy that looks like Bret hangs out with absolutely-a-creeper Mark Judge or a guy who just looks like Mark Judge?
posted by Artw at 8:04 AM on September 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


I realize everyone is a little more focused on his rape hobby, and for good reason, but choosing women law clerks based on their looks is a scandal and is, by itself, without the knowledge of his violent crimes and his possible substance abuse/gambling history and his financial problems, absolutely disqualifying.

Absolutely — and, per the article, shame on Amy Chua for validating and enabling the practice. Her gross selling-out of other women is comprador-tier behavior, tending toward Kapo.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:07 AM on September 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


I realize everyone is a little more focused on his rape hobby, and for good reason, but...

Honestly, is anyone surprised that the most horrible and blackmailable person in the world managed to pick the most horrible and blackmailable nominee in the world? I'm only surprised it took this many tries.
posted by Etrigan at 8:09 AM on September 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


File under "bipartisan support still exists": Senate passes copyright bill to end 140-year protection for old songs -- The Senate just passed a major copyright bill—here's what it does. (Timothy B. Lee for Ars Technica, Sept. 19, 2018)
For the last decade, the Congressional debate over copyright law has been in a stalemate. Content companies have pushed for stronger protections, but their efforts have been stopped by a coalition of technology companies and digital rights groups.

But on Tuesday, we saw a rare moment of bipartisan and trans-industry harmony on copyright law, as the Senate unanimously passed the Music Modernization Act, a bill that creates a streamlined process for online services to license music and federalizes America's bizarre patchwork of state laws governing music recorded before 1972. That will mean effectively shortening the term of protection of older music published between 1923 and 1954—under current law, these songs may not fall into the public domain until 2067.

The bill managed to get the support of several groups that are normally at each others' throats: music publishers, record labels, songwriters, major technology companies, and digital rights groups.

The bill isn't perfect, but Public Knowledge—a digital rights group that usually opposes legislation sponsored by big content companies—gave the bill its endorsement, describing it as a "significant step forward for music consumers and fans."

The Senate must now negotiate with the House, which passed its own version of the legislation earlier this year. Public Knowledge was not a fan of that legislation because it keeps pre-1972 sound recordings out of the public domain for much longer. The big question now is whether the final version of the bill will look more like the consumer-friendly Senate version or the more industry-friendly House legislation.
...
When the agreement reached the Senate, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) pushed for changes to this portion of the legislation—and he made significant progress. According to Public Knowledge's Ryan Clough, works published before 1923 would expire three years after the legislation was passed. Works published between 1923 and 1946 would get the same 95-year term as other types of work—albeit with an extra five-year "transition period" following the 95-year term. Works published between 1947 and 1956 would get a total of 110 years of protection, while works published between 1957 and 1972 would expire in 2067—the same as under current law.

That's a long time, but it's arguably an improvement over existing law, where a song recorded in 1927 gets 140 years of state quasi-copyright protection before officially falling into the public domain in 2067.
Emphasis mine, because the fact that this is an improvement is insane. But hey, those musicians from the 1920s and before are still owed their due, right? Oh, they're all dead. Huh, so who is this benefiting again?
posted by filthy light thief at 8:10 AM on September 20, 2018 [23 favorites]


From the doppelgänger article:
In a case without evidence, witnesses or corroboration, mistaken identity would provide a welcome resolution to this terrible riddle.
But would it be true? wtf?
Jesus, that doppelgänger article. As if things couldn’t get any more stupid.
This.
posted by mazola at 8:10 AM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Senate passes copyright bill to end 140-year protection for old songs

The Mouse won't stand for this. Don't fuck with The Mouse, Congress.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:15 AM on September 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Honestly, is anyone surprised that the most horrible and blackmailable person in the world managed to pick the most horrible and blackmailable nominee in the world? I'm only surprised it took this many tries.

I am slightly surprised that the nominee was dumb enough to invite this much scrutiny by going for the big job. You may apply that to each or both.
posted by jaduncan at 8:15 AM on September 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


First they deny that it happened, then they try to discredit the accuser, then they say "hey, what if it was a dude who looked like Brett?"

And throughout they pretend that Christine Blasey Ford lacks credibility.
posted by Gelatin at 8:17 AM on September 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


Huh, so who is this benefiting again?

The MMA is mostly designed to correct the disconnect between streaming usages and what artists and other rightsholders are actually paid from those streams (now: basically nothing; future: maybe slightly more than nothing). The copyright extensions / changes are sort of secondary, and (I think?) there mostly to get some major rightsholders on board (otherwise many of their works would be free to stream).
posted by uncleozzy at 8:20 AM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


I am slightly surprised that the nominee was dumb enough to invite this much scrutiny by going for the big job. You may apply that to each or both.

Privilege is not only in knowing that you'll get away with sexual assault, sexual harassment, money laundering, influence-peddling, naked partisanship, and perjury; it's in being taken absolutely aback when the slightest obstacle is placed in your way because of all of those things. I'm sure that Kavanaugh, after all of this, is genuinely flabbergasted that he isn't already bringing "his girls" to ooh and aah over the Highest Court in the Land.
posted by Etrigan at 8:21 AM on September 20, 2018 [41 favorites]


First they deny that it happened, then they try to discredit the accuser, then they say "hey, what if it was a dude who looked like Brett?"

Maybe it was Bart O'Kavanaugh.
posted by skewed at 8:30 AM on September 20, 2018 [28 favorites]


David Corn: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Endorses Local Politician Accused of Peddling “Racist Conspiracies”
Last week, Mother Jones reported that controversial, Putin-loving Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) had hobnobbed at a fundraiser with an alleged Holocaust denier—after being criticized for his previous association with this fellow. This week, Rohrabacher, who is in a tough race to hold on to his Southern California congressional seat, pulled a similar move: he endorsed a local politician who has been described by one media outlet as a “peddler of racist conspiracies.”

On Tuesday, Rohrabacher posted on his Instagram feed a photo of him with Gracey Larrea-Van Der Mark, a candidate for a school board seat in Huntington Beach, California. He endorsed her and called her a “patriot.”

The Republican Party of Orange County also endorsed her candidacy, according to Larrea-Van Der Mark’s Facebook page.

Last month, OC Weekly, which covers Orange County, California, published a story on Larrea-Van Der Mark that makes these endorsements seem curious. The publication chronicled her known associations with alt-right activists and white nationalists and her previous remarks that have been criticized as racist and and anti-Semitic: The headline: “Gracey Van Der Mark, peddler of racist conspiracies, runs for school board in HB.”

In April, Larrea-Van Der Mark had run into trouble, when it was reported that after joining an alt-right protest against a local workshop addressing “white privilege” in the summer of 2017, she had posted a YouTube video from that event with this comment: “This meeting was being ran by the elderly Jewish people who were in there. The colored people were there doing what the elderly Jewish people instructed them to do.” Also, OC Weekly reported at that time, “One of her YouTube channel playlists dubbed ‘Holocaust hoax?’ includes half-a-dozen anti-Semitic videos.”
posted by zombieflanders at 8:31 AM on September 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


SecretAgentSockPuppet, I am so fucking sorry. That is unconscionable.
What’s a stronger word than unconscionable? Fucking rage-inducing.
posted by greermahoney at 8:32 AM on September 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


John Dean: If GOP Senate Jud Comm insists on hearings Monday on Dr. Ford’s charges she should go on “60 Minutes” Sunday to explain how unfair and inappropriate it is to do so, then show up Monday to make her charges. Meanwhile, DOJ should provide Ford & family with Fed Witness Protection
posted by growabrain at 8:37 AM on September 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


then they say "hey, what if it was a dude who looked like Brett?"


Great! Then just confirm a SCOTUS justice who looks like Brett—but is pro-choice, pro-immigrant, anti-racist, isn't a sexual assaulter, and believes sitting presidents can be indicted.
posted by Rykey at 8:40 AM on September 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


Kathleen Parker is one of the Post's old-school professional idiots, it's much better to just ignore anything she says than to attempt to make sense of it.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:44 AM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


From growabrain's John Dean tweet

Replying to @JohnWDean
Death threats made to Dr Ford & her family, necessitating their relocation for safety, constitute Federal witness-tampering,
…so must be investigated *immediately* by the FBI
…including investigation of the history which led to this witness-tampering.


I have heard nothing about any investigation of these threats. Maybe because they are in process? Can we assume there is a vigorous investigation going? Or would that be too naïve?

edit to add cite tags
posted by maniabug at 8:44 AM on September 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


For middle school and part of high school I went to fancypants private schools in Maryland. They weren't quite as fancypants as the the DC-area ones that Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford went to but in the same general world and the same general time (the 80s).

I was never sexually assaulted, but I knew that my body was at the mercy of the boys around me.

In middle school, all of the girls knew to wear shorts under our uniform skirts because the boys would pull up our skirts as we walked by. It wasn't the boys' fault if we didn't protect ourselves from having our underwear exposed; it was ours.

In 9th grade, an older boy grabbed my ass as I stood in the lunch line. I burned with shame afterwards because I felt guilty and humiliated. I remember exactly what I was wearing that day and I never wore it again because I knew it was my fault for picking an outfit that caused him to grab me. (Yes, I realize that I said earlier that I'd never been sexually assaulted and I just described being ... well ... sexually assaulted. But that was the environment.)

It would have never occured to me to say anything about incidents like this because it was the air we breathed. It was a fact of the world I'd been born into, just as it was a fact that I had to go to school or do homework. Boys will be boys. Girls must deal with it. Why are you making a fuss? What could possibly be done about it? Go back to class and why were you wearing that? Do you know how powerful his father is?

To this day, I become hyperalert walking past groups of white high-school-aged boys, bracing myself for what they might do or say to me.

All of this to say: I find absolutely nothing surprising about Christine Blasey Ford's account and I would be shocked if more women weren't attacked by Kavanaugh in high school.
posted by mcduff at 8:48 AM on September 20, 2018 [132 favorites]


Pulls from the WaPo article above cited by secretagentsockpuppet regarding the parties, drinking and assault at these particular prep schools.
“We believe you. Each one of us heard your story and not one of us was surprised. These are the stories of our lives and our friends’ lives.”
and
Another woman who did not want to be identified said what she witnessed and what happened to her friends left her scarred three decades later.

“It was just a horrible culture,” she said. “I never married, I don’t have kids, and I trace it all back to those parties.”
Mine was in 1987. I know it wasn't just the 80s, but what was it with the 80s?
posted by Sophie1 at 8:50 AM on September 20, 2018 [40 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 Senate:
-- TN: Triton poll has GOPer Blackburn up 48-45 on Dem Bredesen [MOE: +/- 3.0%]. Triton is not a pollster rated by 538.

-- TX: Clare Malone write-up of the Beto campaign.

-- 538: Dem chances in open GOP-held seats, and polling vs. fundamentals.
** 2018 House:
-- FL-06: St. Pete Polls has GOPer Walts up 48-43 on Dem Soderberg [MOE: +/- 3.6%]. [Trump 57-40 | Cook: Likely R]

-- NJ-07: Monmouth poll has Dem Malinowski up 47-39 on GOP incumbent lance among potential voters. Their midterm model has Malinowski up46-43; Dem surge model has Malinowski up 47-41 [MOE: +/- 3.6%]. [Clinton 49-48 | Cook: Tossup]

-- Cohn: What makes polling hard (it's not just cell phones).
** Odds & ends:
-- TN gov: Same Triton poll has GOPer Lee up 54-37 on Dem Dean.

-- PA gov: Rasmussen poll has Dem incumbent Wolf up 52-40 on GOPer Wagner [MOE: +/- 3.5%].
posted by Chrysostom at 8:59 AM on September 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


but what was it with the 80s?

Cocaine and greed.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:01 AM on September 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


And Ronald Reagan.
posted by maniabug at 9:01 AM on September 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


ZuessHUmms quoting NY Times: “The committee’s stated plan to move forward with a hearing that has only two witnesses is not a fair or good faith investigation; there are multiple witnesses whose names have appeared publicly and should be included in any proceeding,” the lawyer, Lisa J. Banks, said in a statement. “The rush to a hearing is unnecessary, and contrary to the committee discovering the truth.”

I can imagine the next mind-numbing GOP talking point as "Oh yeah, well, if her story is so credible, why does she need more witnesses to back it up?"

msalt: Darrell E. Issa of California, to be Director of the United States Trade and Development Agency.

Since most people don't know this, he's the guy who got rich inventing the most obnoxious (multitone) car alarm in history. Fuck him forever.


And he got into that industry by way of his own history of stealing expensive cars. (The cases kept getting dropped by prosecutors even after juries found him guilty; I'm not sure why.) Today he's the second-wealthiest person in the House -- he was the wealthiest before the arrival of reporter-assaulting Greg Gianforte.

So yeah, it's a mystery that this party of unrepentant thugs who fail with apparently infinite upward trajectory would get mixed up with the likes of Brett Kavanaugh.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:02 AM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


I don't know if this should go here or in the Ontario politics thread, but I flipped a coin and it landed here.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford dines at Trump hotel.

After meeting with Freeland, Ford lunched at the Trump International Hotel with U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft and Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. David MacNaghton.

Ford said it was Craft who chose to patronize the president’s hotel, and that it would have been rude to complain about the sometimes controversial venue.

“When someone is gracious enough to invite you to lunch (as) Ambassador Craft did ... you don’t question where you go,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a Trump hotel,” he added. “She could have asked me to go to McDonald’s, I would have showed up at McDonald’s.”


I don't know which is worse. Ford accepting that invitation or the US team hosting that meeting at that location.
posted by sardonyx at 9:05 AM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Sophie1:
Another woman who did not want to be identified said what she witnessed and what happened to her friends left her scarred three decades later.

“It was just a horrible culture,” she said. “I never married, I don’t have kids, and I trace it all back to those parties.”
Mine was in 1987. I know it wasn't just the 80s, but what was it with the 80s?


Twelve years ago, Amber Wyatt reported her rape. -- Few believed her. Her hometown turned against her. The authorities failed her. What do we owe her now? (Danielle Kunitz and Gillian Brockell for The Washington Post, Sept. 19, 2018) [Also posted on the blue]

Rape culture didn't peak in the 1980s. In and after 2006, parents of teenagers chose to protect their own kids' futures or some bullshit instead of hold two young men accountable for rape. It's a brutally detailed report of how a town turned against a young lady, instead of defending her.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:18 AM on September 20, 2018 [44 favorites]


I can imagine the next mind-numbing GOP talking point as "Oh yeah, well, if her story is so credible, why does she need more witnesses to back it up?"

And the answer, which needs to be made explicit, is "no one trusts the Republicans on the committee to act in good faith, least of all those who pilloried Anita Hill in order to install another conservative judge on the Court."

NPR's coverage has been predictably terrible -- interviewing someone from the partisan Judicial Crisis Network? Really? -- but Dr. Ford's advocates have been good at cutting thru the Republican framing with which NPR has been approaching their interviews. Still, they need to make Republican bad faith explicit, not implicit. Republican bad faith always is implicit, and here we are.
posted by Gelatin at 9:20 AM on September 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


I can imagine the next mind-numbing GOP talking point as "Oh yeah, well, if her story is so credible, why does she need more witnesses to back it up?"

If Kavanaugh's story is so credible, why doesn't he want to go under oath to the FBI and have them clear him?

If Judge's story is so credible, why is he afraid to testify under oath to the Senate or FBI?
posted by chris24 at 9:26 AM on September 20, 2018 [46 favorites]


Gelatin: And the answer, which needs to be made explicit, is "no one trusts the Republicans on the committee to act in good faith, least of all those who pilloried Anita Hill in order to install another conservative judge on the Court."

I don't disagree about that, but my main point (said dryly) is that additional witnesses can only add credibility. I was writing a sort of Lionel-Hurtz-from-the-Simpsons line, but perhaps I'm better at bullshit than I thought. (Or maybe this is a trick actual lawyers have tried? "You have so much evidence that it looks desperate" -- were there elements of that in the Manafort trial?)

The key important question is whether the incident happened. Ford's own telling the story is of course the central evidence that it did, but supporting evidence would include other witnesses and Kavanaugh's personal traits/history. In short, Ford's job shouldn't be to audition for Can You Single-Handedly Convince Us, and each new piece of evidence doesn't somehow amount to unfair help ("Wait, you're saying it happened and this other person is also saying it happened? How does that add up?"). He's the one being tested, not her.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 9:37 AM on September 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


filthy light thief - I read the article (as far as I could), and I clearly said:

I know it wasn't just the 80s, but what was it with the 80s? I know girls are still getting raped at keg parties every single year. I am painfully aware of that.
posted by Sophie1 at 9:55 AM on September 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


I don't follow WaPo so I don't know if Kathleen Parker is a habitual shill or just temporarily delusional, but that doppelganger piece was a completely useless load of garbage.

In the tradition of "there's always a tweet" for Trump, it would be fun to see how Brett/Bart addressed these types of inane "dog ate my homework" defenses in cases that came before him. I bet the doppelganger defense is a favorite of your cognitively less advanced defendants.
posted by duoshao at 9:55 AM on September 20, 2018


'No accident' Brett Kavanaugh's female law clerks 'looked like models', Yale professor told students - Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Jessica Glenza, Guardian.

Follow up to the story told in HuffPo (and linked above), where they sought out the Yale Law professors involved (Amy Chua and her husband Jed Rubenfeld) and their students.
Sources who spoke to the Guardian about their experiences with Chua and Rubenfeld would only speak under the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution and damage to their future careers.

There is no allegation that the female students who worked for Kavanaugh were chosen because of their physical appearance or that they were not qualified.

However, the remarks from Chua and Rubenfeld raise questions about why the couple believed it was important to emphasize the students’ physical appearance when discussing jobs with Kavanaugh. The couple were not known to do that in connection with other judges, sources said.
Worth noting as a reference:
The Guardian was assisted in its reporting by Elie Mystal, the executive editor of the Above the Law blog
posted by ZeusHumms at 9:56 AM on September 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


I don't follow WaPo so I don't know if Kathleen Parker is a habitual shill

Habitual shill. Her career as a habitual shill has lasted decades.
posted by Gelatin at 10:03 AM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


I know it wasn't just the 80s, but what was it with the 80s? I know girls are still getting raped at keg parties every single year. I am painfully aware of that.

Have you noticed how Trump's election has changed the political climate and emboldened the right? Reagan's sweeping victor (except for Minnesota, hooray!) did the same thing in the eighties.

A huge amount of eighties public intellectual and pop culture discourse framed the eighties as a time of revenge against or rejection of "the sixties", meaning liberal changes to the culture that occurred through the sixties and seventies - including feminism. Consider the Rambo movies - the first is ambiguous, but they grow more and more about "winning" a metaphorical Vietnam War. (Consider Bruce Sterling and his framing of cyberpunk - which was pretty misogynist in its mainstream incarnation - as a way of throwing off the bad old stupid old static old science fiction of the seventies, science fiction that was most notable for its feminist writers and focus on social justice.)

I remember the nineties pretty well, politically speaking. A lot of the language we have today about rape culture, sexual assault and misogyny is rooted in work that was done in the nineties, itself being done as a recovery of the seventies/feminism. That language did not exist in the eighties. Those cultural formations did not exist. Think about all the rape scenes in teen movies that were so very unremarked that they appeared in movies you'd show to, like, kids.

The eighties were a revanchist decade. We're in another one now - a worse one in terms of absolute power but a better one in terms of the social formations and language at our disposal.
posted by Frowner at 10:06 AM on September 20, 2018 [116 favorites]




'No accident' Brett Kavanaugh's female law clerks 'looked like models', Yale professor told students - Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Jessica Glenza, Guardian.

Don't miss the part where Rubenfeld is himself under investigation by Yale Law School for inappropriate behavior with female students. Elie Mystal has the details over at ATL: Details On The Allegations Against, And Yale Law School Investigation, Into Professor Jed Rubenfeld
[The independent investigator is looking into:]
Disparate treatment of, or boundary crossing with, women in the YLS community. She is interested in hearing from subjects of, or witnesses to, that treatment. (E.g., comments about female students’ physical appearances or relationship histories, conversations that seem designed to “test the waters,” intimidation or efforts at manipulation targeted at female students, etc.).
Conduct related to excessive drinking with students (driving with students while drunk, etc.).
Inappropriate employment practices relating to RAs or Coker Fellows.
Retaliation against students who do not show sufficient loyalty.

[...]Moreover, Yale Law alumni tell us that Rubenfeld’s behavior towards women was an “open secret” within the Yale Law community. The allegations of “boundary crossing” mentioned in the email have been repeated to us via anonymous emails, texts, and DMs from alumni that are known to us but do not want to go on the record until the investigation is complete. There are even public tweets which seem to speak to these matters, if you know what you are looking for.

There are also questions surrounding Professor Amy Chua. The email suggests an investigation into possible retaliation for insufficient “loyalty,” which would reasonably have to include an inquiry into whether or not the clerkship process was compromised. This is, of course, unrelated to the Kavanaugh comments currently at issue.
posted by melissasaurus at 10:15 AM on September 20, 2018 [20 favorites]


@aterkel [video, cw: Christine Blasey Ford's description of the assault]: New anti-Kavanaugh ad using Christine Blasey Ford's words... running in Alaska, Maine, Colorado, and Nevada

It's a bold ad from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, but I'm not super comfortable with the potential effects on survivors of saturating the airwaves with descriptions like this.
posted by zachlipton at 10:20 AM on September 20, 2018 [4 favorites]




It seems clear that Grassley and his collection of rapist fanboys are looking to press full-steam ahead with this joke of a hearing, even though Kavanaugh's approval has tanked below Watergate conspirator Robert Bork.

It seems that the only real avenue to stopping this nomination will be to utterly flood all Senatorial phones, emails, and faxes with messages indicating that We the People believe the Republicans to be supportive of rape. They must begin to see it as a worse deal to confirm Kavanaugh than to send his rapist self to the USSC.

Call script for Senators (Senate Directory) and for the Senate Judiciary Committee (202-224-5225):
I am calling to demand in an immediate halt to the hearings on Brett Kavanaugh for a full investigation into his alleged black-out drinking and sexual assault of Christine Blasey Ford. The proposed hearings of two witness are an obvious farce intended to harass Professor Ford and prevent more damning information coming to light about Kavanaugh.

Failure of the Republican majority to stop this travesty of injustice further reinforces the idea that Republicans Routinely Enable Rapists. Men like Kavanaugh rarely rape only once. Brett Kavanaugh is completely unfit to serve on the US Circuit of Appeals for DC, much less the United States Supreme Court.
I was able to get through to the Judiciary Committee to a live staffer--who said he'd pass it along to Grassley. No busy signal or message box means we need to step up our calling game.

I am now shaking from all the adrenaline from talking to a Republican staffer. Damn, that's a rush.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 10:22 AM on September 20, 2018 [64 favorites]


Web of influence. From Time's How Putin's Oligarchs Got Inside the Trump Team

Why do news orgs that make graphs cross their edges willy-nilly? I swear they're trying to make things look more complicated than they are. Here's the same information without edge crossings.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 10:22 AM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


Intercept. "Kick ass, ask questions later": a Border Patrol whistleblower speaks out about culture of abuse against migrants

The 4-year-old boy and his parents had been lost for days in the desert and were desperately thirsty. [...] The family readily gave themselves up, and the woman told Mario that they needed water. He alerted his superior officer to his location. Just as the officer was arriving on the scene, Mario handed the 4-year-old boy a jug of water. Before the boy could take a sip, however, the officer kicked the jug out of the child’s hands and barked, “There’s no amnesty here.” He then reprimanded Mario for offering him water, warning him, “Don’t go south on me.” In other words, don’t show an ounce of sympathy for those from below the border.

The worst humanity has to offer. Truth and Reconciliation will not cut it. There need to be tribunals.
posted by Rust Moranis at 10:23 AM on September 20, 2018 [111 favorites]


This was linked when originally published in 2016, but bears re-reading in light of the above:

I Went Undercover With a Border Militia. Here’s What I Saw. [S. Bauer, Mother Jones]

and a reminder re: the expansive de jure coverage of the abridged-rights "border zone".
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:45 AM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


An insteresting Terry Gross's interview with NYT reporter Ken Vogel about Manafort's illegal lobbying on behalf of Yanukovych (36 min.)
posted by growabrain at 10:50 AM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


Ben Carson’s HUD: Political loyalty required, no experience necessary (WaPo):
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded promotions and pay increases to five political operatives with no housing policy experience within their first months on the job, demonstrating what government watchdogs and career staff describe as a premium put on loyalty over expertise.

The raises, documented in a Washington Post analysis of HUD political hires, resulted in annual salaries between $98,000 and $155,000 for the five appointees, all of whom had worked on Donald Trump’s or Ben Carson’s presidential campaigns. Three of them did not list bachelor’s degrees on their résumés.
Includes a quote from Steve Preston, Bush's final HUD secretary, defending Carson's staffing by saying, "Knowing stuff doesn’t mean you can get stuff done."
posted by peeedro at 10:50 AM on September 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


Called both my senators. Got through to Blunt, left a message for McCaskill. Also sent emails. Calling the judiciary committee next.
"I am writing to demand a halt to the hearings on Bret Kavanaugh and a delay on the confirmation vote until the FBI has made a full investigation into: the allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford; lies by Kavanaugh vis-a-vis his receipt of stolen emails when working to shepherd judges during the Bush administration; his apparent problems with gambling and drinking to oblivion; and the literally incredible disappearance of large debts, which suggests the threat of blackmail."
posted by notsnot at 10:50 AM on September 20, 2018 [30 favorites]


It seems clear that Grassley and his collection of rapist fanboys are looking to press full-steam ahead with this joke of a hearing, even though Kavanaugh's approval has tanked below Watergate conspirator Robert Bork.

It seems that the only real avenue to stopping this nomination will be to utterly flood all Senatorial phones, emails, and faxes with messages indicating that We the People believe the Republicans to be supportive of rape. They must begin to see it as a worse deal to confirm Kavanaugh than to send his rapist self to the USSC.


At this point I feel that it might be good to put some pressure on other high ranking republican members of the judiciary. A little "If this is the best the Republican Party has go to offer for the most important position in the judiciary where does that leave you? Are you worse than a unrepentant suspected teen rapist and blackout drunk gambler who can't manage their finances? What have you done that is worse than that?"
posted by srboisvert at 10:54 AM on September 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


I called my senators, not that it will do any good (Tom Tillis and Richard Burr). The first call I got riled up about Republicans condoning rape. The second one I tried a different strategy: Kavanaugh's own statements that show he's proud of being a drunk who relies on his friends to tell him how he acted while blacked out. The Republicans sure don't care about sexual assault, but maybe some of them still want to be seen as caring about the appearance of propriety? In the Trump age, probably not. But maybe they might take more seriously the concerns of constituents they aren't sure are liberals who will never vote for them anyway?
posted by rikschell at 10:57 AM on September 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


Roy Moore endorses Kavanaugh [real]
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 11:08 AM on September 20, 2018 [43 favorites]


Roy Moore endorses Kavanaugh [real]

< cackling>[real]
posted by Sophie1 at 11:11 AM on September 20, 2018 [23 favorites]


assault description cw

I just got an e-mail from a dude I'm friendly with at work -- like, I knew he was conservative, and I knew he was in the Federalist Society, but we work together, and there are certain kinds of things that come in that I have to take to him, and I helped his buddy out recently with something that was in my professional wheelhouse. So we chat about fun restaurants in town and his dog and his dating travails and vacations, but generally, we avoid politics because he knows that we disagree.

And he just sent me the text of an article that he wrote that's getting published tomorrow in some nonsense online Internet publication.

And there's this whole thing in it about how MeToo is politicized, and how Ford is BAD because she can't remember what day and time and location Kavanaugh attemped to rape her, and I just, I can't even get more than two paragraphs in before I start thinking about how I've been sexually assaulted, including the time that I call in my head the Bad One. I don't fucking remember what time and date it was. I don't even know the address. I've worked really hard to get past it, but it's still with me. It still happened. Sometimes, if I think back to what happened, I swear I'm back in the moment, feeling hands on me.

I don't even know what to do with my anger.
posted by joyceanmachine at 11:11 AM on September 20, 2018 [159 favorites]


This guy's horrid judicial opinions should have been enough alone to keep him off the bench, let alone all the horrid character stuff they already knew about, and Ford would have never had to deal with all this horrific nonsense.

This is a near-constant source of anger for me.
posted by aspersioncast at 11:15 AM on September 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


Also in the WaPo: Is there a Kavanaugh doppelganger? [real]

From the headline I thought this was going to be about a conspiracy theory along the lines of people who think Hillary used a body double on the campaign trail, but the actual column is much, much stupider than that.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 11:16 AM on September 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


> Senate passes copyright bill to end 140-year protection for old songs

ZenMasterThis: The Mouse won't stand for this. Don't fuck with The Mouse, Congress.

Why Mickey Mouse’s 1998 copyright extension probably won’t happen again -- Copyrights from the 1920s will start expiring next year if Congress doesn’t act. (Timothy B. Lee for Ars Technica, January 8, 2018)
On January 1, 2019, every book, film, and song published in 1923 will fall out of copyright protection—something that hasn't happened in 40 years. At least, that's what will happen if Congress doesn't retroactively change copyright law to prevent it—as Congress has done two previous times.

Until the 1970s, copyright terms only lasted for 56 years. But Congress retroactively extended the term of older works to 75 years in 1976. Then on October 27, 1998—just weeks before works from 1923 were scheduled to fall into the public domain—President Bill Clinton signed legislation retroactively extending the term of older works to 95 years, locking up works published in 1923 or later for another 20 years.

Will Congress do the same thing again this year? To find out, we talked to groups on both sides of the nation's copyright debate—to digital rights advocates at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge and to industry groups like the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America. To our surprise, there seemed to be universal agreement that another copyright extension was unlikely to be on the agenda this year.
I would say congress seems a bit preoccupied these days, but they're moving towards passing the Music Modernization Act, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Sophie1: filthy light thief - I read the article (as far as I could), and I clearly said:

I know it wasn't just the 80s, but what was it with the 80s? I know girls are still getting raped at keg parties every single year. I am painfully aware of that.


Sorry, I mis-read your comment and replied in haste, and I used that as an excuse to post a link to that article.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:18 AM on September 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


Everyone who has seen Eastbound and Down should know that he has a doppelganger.
posted by frogmanjack at 11:18 AM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


how Ford is BAD because she can't remember what day and time and location Kavanaugh attemped to rape her,

This is such bullshit. Someone said something similar to me and I said "Who was your best friend when you were 15? What was their address? You went there hundreds of times right? When's their birthday? Their phone number?" They couldn't give one identifying detail about their best high school friend besides their name. But they sure remembered all the times they had together.
posted by chris24 at 11:22 AM on September 20, 2018 [75 favorites]


Everyone who has seen Eastbound and Down should know that he has a doppelganger.

More like Glen from Superstore.
posted by peeedro at 11:23 AM on September 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


Stopped clock and WashPost conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin has some good ideas here, perhaps.
Republicans, be forewarned: Kavanaugh's accuser has options
posted by martin q blank at 11:42 AM on September 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


Trump Officials 'Did Not Want' Census Survey To Ask About Sexual Orientation - Hansi Lo Wang, NPR

The picture at the top of the article is priceless. The caption: "Then-candidate Donald Trump holds an LGBT rainbow flag during an October 2016 presidential campaign rally at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo. "
posted by ZeusHumms at 11:43 AM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


From the Rubin article:

Ford also might have the ability to go to local police to investigate if the White House refuses to activate the FBI. The Hill reports: “Can Brett Kavanaugh be investigated for an attempted rape he allegedly committed over three decades ago? In Maryland, it’s entirely possible under the law, according to some experts. Now members of the American public are calling for Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh to open an investigation, especially if the FBI doesn’t.” That would be a process over which neither the Senate nor the Trump administration would have any control.

A.G. Frosh is a Democrat who has already filed a bunch of lawsuits against the Trump Administration.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:49 AM on September 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


I realise there would be serious ethical and moral implications in such an organisation (avoiding any doxxing, outing, or unintended consequences of any investigation)

I think the more serious implications are for your safety, since the entire weight of the modern political class, police state, and patriarchy will come after you after the first few takedowns.

A better long term strategy is to elect progressive AGs in as many places as possible who don't have a vested interest in making sure rich white guys don't get prosecuted ever.
posted by benzenedream at 11:51 AM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


I just got an e-mail from a dude I'm friendly with at work

Fuck, joyceannmachine. Sending that email, in that context, sounds incredibly inappropriate and deliberately aggressive. Almost assaultive in itself.

Fuck all of this.
posted by schadenfrau at 11:53 AM on September 20, 2018 [61 favorites]


Fuck all of this, indeed.

If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:02 PM on September 20, 2018 [69 favorites]


All my conservative friends are either former conservatives or former friends here in the Year of Our Lord 2018.

In calling-your-trash-senator news, neither Cornyn nor Cruz picked up their phone and Cruz's message said it was "high call volume," but who knows. Because they are trash. But I did get to give them a righteously angry voicemail, which I recommend for catharsis.
posted by emjaybee at 12:04 PM on September 20, 2018 [36 favorites]


NYT:
The woman who has accused Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault has told the Senate Judiciary Committee, in an apparent bid to jump-start negotiations, that she “would be prepared to testify next week,” so long as senators offer “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” according to an email her lawyers sent to committee staff members.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:16 PM on September 20, 2018 [28 favorites]


I don't even know what to do with my anger.

I think you should trot it right over to HR, myself, but I don't know your life. To my mind that's a pretty inappropriate thing to send a coworker who you don't have that sort of connection with, and assuming your IT department has any sort of retention policy at all they can easily see that it's not the sort of thing you tended to email each other about.

Regardless, I'm sorry you've got a hostile sea lion problem. That's a shit thing to have to deal with in the workplace.
posted by phearlez at 12:20 PM on September 20, 2018 [42 favorites]


Fucks sake... 1488 rearing it’s head again in ICE numbers.
posted by Artw at 12:21 PM on September 20, 2018 [21 favorites]


I was a bit young to have paid close attention to the Anita Hill hearings, but did she have to explicitly negotiate terms for her appearance that would "ensure her safety"? This is the sort of thing you read in stories about people testifying against Mafia dons and....ohhhhhhhhh.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:42 PM on September 20, 2018 [49 favorites]


The bravery of Anita Hill, titanic at the time, becomes evermore powerful and stark as the years pass.

Also, Mazie Hirono for Minority Leader.

Mazie Hirono for President.

Once elected, Anita Hill and Prof. Ford for the Supreme Court.
posted by riverlife at 12:50 PM on September 20, 2018 [45 favorites]


ABC, Michael Cohen spoke to Mueller team for hours; asked about Russia, possible collusion, pardon: Sources
President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has participated over the last month in multiple interview sessions lasting for hours with investigators from the office of special counsel, Robert Mueller, sources tell ABC News.

The special counsel’s questioning of Cohen, one of the president’s closest associates over the past decade, has focused primarily on all aspects of Trump's dealings with Russia -- including financial and business dealings and the investigation into alleged collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign and its surrogates to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
...
ABC News has also learned that Cohen is also cooperating with a separate probe by New York state authorities into the inner workings of the Trump family charity and the Trump Organization, where Cohen served as an executive vice president and special counsel to Trump for 10 years.
posted by zachlipton at 12:51 PM on September 20, 2018 [52 favorites]


> The picture at the top of the article is priceless. The caption: "Then-candidate Donald Trump holds an LGBT rainbow flag during an October 2016 presidential campaign rally at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo. "

Also in the Homophobic Politicians at LGBT Events Hall Of Fame: Rob Ford at the flag-raising ceremony to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in 2013 (context; it was taken the day after the Gawker crack tape story broke, and he basically fled up to the ceremony to get away from reporters for a few minutes).
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:51 PM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


I want to pull another quote from the Times latest Kavanaugh story:
Earlier on Thursday, committee Republicans had decided to hire an outside counsel to lead their questioning of Dr. Blasey, rather than the committee members themselves, according to a Republican Senate official familiar with the decision. Although they have yet to hire someone to fill the role, the Republicans have been eager to avoid the image of 11 male senators questioning Dr. Blasey about her account.

Instead, they are seeing to enlist the help of an experienced litigator familiar with assault cases.
It's interesting how the same people who constantly mock the concept and value of diversity are so quick to realize its importance, even if only for superficial optics reasons, when this happens.
posted by zachlipton at 12:54 PM on September 20, 2018 [64 favorites]


Mazie Hirono for President.
Unfortunately, she was born in Japan.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:57 PM on September 20, 2018


Mazie Hirono for President.
Unfortunately, she was born in Japan.


Her mother was an American citizen, though.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 12:59 PM on September 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


It's interesting how the same people who constantly mock the concept and value of diversity are so quick to realize its importance, even if only for superficial optics reasons, when this happens.

It's not just about optics for diversity, it's that whoever it is will drag her through the mud and they don't want to be on camera being the ones doing it.
posted by Candleman at 1:02 PM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


NYT, On Hurricane Maria Anniversary, Puerto Rico Is Still in Ruins
Leomida Uniel, 82, the walls of her house stained in black mold that gave her a lung infection, was sitting on her porch, sobbing. Gilberto Díaz and his wife, María Carrión, were bathing and washing dishes with the aid of a neighbor’s hose stuck through a window. Roberto Albino had an inch of water inside his house.

“They did a ‘magnificent job.’ President Trump says so himself,” Ms. Cruz said. “Have him come say that to my face.”
The photography is devastating.
posted by zachlipton at 1:11 PM on September 20, 2018 [56 favorites]


The confirmation hearings are in a real sense a test of the limits of the American ariostocracy

Interesting read, but I don't buy the premise:
"His nomination is now a referendum on that aristocracy ― one whose very existence and protection is the primary goal of conservative government."

As the author himself points out, the Republicans could push through almost any name from Trump's original list of potential nominees with less trouble than Kavanaugh and I suspect that at least 50% (if not 100%) of those folks could be considered part of the same aristocracy that Kavanaugh hails from. Cutting their loss and picking another aristocrat would guarantee that this remains nothing more than a referendum on Kavanaugh himself.

It seems more likely to me that there's some more practical reason for not dropping Kavanaugh yet... like his views on impeachment, or just to give him his quid pro quo for being a good political operative and Starr's and W's legal bag man. That's what got Bork nominated too.
posted by duoshao at 1:11 PM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


>> Mazie Hirono for President.
>Unfortunately, she was born in Japan.

Her mother was an American citizen, though.


Her father was Japanese, however. This combination of parentage and birthplace disqualifies her, unfortunately, from the Natural Born Citizen Clause. (This is veering into a pedantic derail, but the way the Trump administration appears dead set on re-evaluating birthright citizenship, I fear this may not be the last time the topic comes up in the POTUS45 megathreads.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:13 PM on September 20, 2018 [6 favorites]


CNN, Tal Kopan, ICE arrested undocumented immigrants who came forward to take in undocumented children
Federal officers have arrested dozens of undocumented immigrants who came forward to take care of undocumented immigrant children in government custody, and the Trump administration is pledging to go after more.

The news will serve as confirmation of the worst fears of immigrants and their advocates: that a recent move by President Donald Trump's administration to more fully vet people who come forward to care for undocumented immigrant children who are alone in the US has been a way for the administration to track down and arrest more undocumented immigrants.

On Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement senior official Matthew Albence testified to Congress that, after Health and Human Services and ICE signed a memorandum of agreement to background-check and fingerprint potential "sponsors" of immigrant children, ICE arrested 41 people who came forward.

In response to an inquiry from CNN, an ICE official confirmed that 70% of those arrests were for straightforward immigration violations -- meaning they were arrested because ICE discovered they were here illegally.
This is important to understanding two of yesterday's news stories: the thousands of unaccompanied minors who the government has "lost" (how likely are you to keep checking in with HHS if they'll call ICE on your family?) and the millions of dollars transferred from other HHS components to housing unaccompanied minors (unaccompanied children are staying longer in HHS shelters because the vetting process has been prolonged and people aren't inclined to participate in it if they'll be reported to ICE).
posted by zachlipton at 1:17 PM on September 20, 2018 [44 favorites]


Cutting their loss and picking another aristocrat would guarantee that this remains nothing more than a referendum on Kavanaugh himself.

I think the implication is rooted in the hubris of said aristocracy. Sure, they could pick any number of others from their pool, but why should they cede such a move? Aristocracy is not to be questioned, only acquiesced to. These charges are de facto inappropriate, by that metric. Backing away from that position is ceding power. Not acceptable.
posted by Brak at 1:20 PM on September 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


duoshao: Cutting their loss and picking another aristocrat would guarantee that this remains nothing more than a referendum on Kavanaugh himself.

But cutting their loss would mean abandoning one of their own. The "referendum" is on whether they can protect one of their own no matter what that person has done. That's a critical test for an aristocracy as an aristocracy: Does it have immutable privileges - like immunity from prosecution for crimes like rape? Can it successfully defend those privileges, as a class, for all of its members?
posted by clawsoon at 1:21 PM on September 20, 2018 [24 favorites]


Her father was Japanese, however.

How is she different than Ted Cruz? Cuban father born in Cuba, American mother, Ted was born in Canada.
posted by chris24 at 1:26 PM on September 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


Here's another angle to pressure Grassley and the Judiciary Committee:

GOP Judiciary Staffer Deletes Tweet Pledging ‘We Will Confirm Judge Kavanaugh’
The Republican chief counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee posted in since-deleted tweets Wednesday night that he was “unfazed and determined” and that “We will confirm Judge Kavanaugh.”
Mike Davis is the chief counsel for nomination on the SJC. He just broadcast their playbook: The proposed hearings are clearly not for the purpose of learning the truth about Professor Ford's allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, but are, in fact, pretext to push the nomination through, irrespective of whether or not the allegations are true.

I do think the pressure can work, because when the accusation first came to light, Grassley was ready to hold the committee vote today; however, it became untenable to do so. It's important to let them know we see through the bullshit being used to defend another man accused of sexually violating a woman.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 1:28 PM on September 20, 2018 [26 favorites]


But cutting their loss would mean abandoning one of their own

No. It would mean admitting that they too are unfit for office. This is coming from personal identification. I guarantee you every male Senator and staffer involved has either committed assault or enabled it and is just now realizing that, if they set the precedent of abandoning Kavanaugh, their own pasts would put them at risk.

This is why they’re genuinely threatened. Why they’re digging in. It’s personal to them.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:28 PM on September 20, 2018 [35 favorites]


It seems more likely to me that there's some more practical reason for not dropping Kavanaugh yet... like his views on impeachment, or just to give him his quid pro quo for being a good political operative and Starr's and W's legal bag man.

The first is more likely - and in my mind probably the only underlying reason - than the second. What does Trump care about honoring old political debts? All of this IMNSHO is overthinking it. The reason they haven't kicked Kavanaugh to the curb is because Trump's not on board with it and nobody in the Senate has the nerve to flat-out tell Trump no. If they do he might turn his turd army on them and enough of them can't keep their seats if they alienate some percentage of deplorables, either in a primary or in a general election.

Kav is still in the running because Trump is in the driver's seat and Trump doesn't care if these Senators get raked over the coals for looking like revealing themselves to be rape apologists. Senate Rs will keep marching right up to a vote that might not go their way if that's what Trump insists on, just like the various ACA repeal votes.
posted by phearlez at 1:31 PM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


How is she different than Ted Cruz?

Hirono isn't. However, Cruz's eligibility has never been fully tested in the courts, and many argue he isn't.

Ted Cruz Is Not Eligible to Be President—The Washington Post
Under Ted Cruz's own logic, he's ineligible for the White House—Boston Globe
Ted Cruz Is Not Eligible to Be President—Slate
Ted Cruz Isn't a 'Natural Born' Citizen—US News
More Scholars Say Ted Cruz Can't Be President—Newsweek
Et cetera, et cetera.

Now imagine what kind of legal campaign a fully Trumpist party would mount against any candidate who doesn't unambiguously qualify for the Constitution's admittedly ill-defined Natural Born Citizen status.

/derail
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:38 PM on September 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


I also think it would be very difficult for a non-Christian to be elected president. Would be happy to be wrong, though.
posted by Quonab at 1:44 PM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


You know, it's interesting. I was 21 during the Anita Hill hearings, and I was so naive and mystified. I didn't have a vocabulary for what Thomas allegedly did. I remember hearing about pubic hairs and coke cans and I was just like what who would do that that's psycho.

And then some bad shit happened to me. And friends, I am now so fluent in that language. The shaming, the mockery. I had no idea what was coming down the pike when I pressed charges. When we lost at the grand jury, the prosecutor angrily asked me why I hadn't disclosed the roommate was naked when I entered the apartment, before the attack. And I was like--nobody asked? Why are you angry? At me? When he did x y and z? I was so amazingly confused and trusting that the system would take care of me. So fucking naive. I remember almost crying when the prosecutor asked me that question. My fault, because he was naked. My fault, because I didn't think to mention it.


All the little humiliations, ah yes, every single aspect of that day eighteen years ago. Coming back now, yep.
posted by angrycat at 1:53 PM on September 20, 2018 [77 favorites]


In a week of WTF, that doppelganger article - which isn't actually an article, it's a column, which you can tell by the utter lack of anything to actually report - is the WTFiest.

That is the absolute worst case of both-sidesism I have ever seen in print. Only it's kind of worse, because it's not just "well both sides have their issues;" it's "I would rather believe Brett Kavanaugh has a rapist lookalike than believe this woman who says Bret Kavanaugh tried to rape her."

What a pathetic, hand-wringing pile of nothing that was.
posted by invincible summer at 1:55 PM on September 20, 2018 [21 favorites]


If there was ever any concern about the ability, professionalism or direction of Robert Mueller’s special counsel team, Paul Manafort’s guilty plea erases all such doubt. The Manafort prosecution is a textbook example of how a prosecutor, using all available investigative tools, can build a case against a secret conspiracy by identifying a key suspect and then forcing him to give up his criminal confederates, casting an ever wider and tighter net.
Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman: Mueller's Paul Manafort indictments were prosecutorial masterpieces. Trump should be worried.
posted by growabrain at 2:04 PM on September 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


Most of the comments on the doppelganger column are actually restorative, though! Here's my favorite:

Maybe when Kavanaugh was beaming up, the transporter malfunctioned and his evil side became a physical person.
posted by invincible summer at 2:06 PM on September 20, 2018 [20 favorites]


Just in case you had any doubts about these people, SC congressman jokes about Supreme Court sexual assault amid Kavanaugh drama:
A South Carolina GOP congressman opened an election debate Thursday by joking that he almost had to miss it and fly back to Washington to address the latest drama involving the Supreme Court.

“Did y’all hear this latest late-breaking news from the Kavanaugh hearings?” said U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg came out that she was groped by Abraham Lincoln.”
posted by peeedro at 2:09 PM on September 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


Beast, Wayne Allyn Root, Trump’s Rally Opener, Is a Conspiracy Theorist Who Thinks the Vegas Shooter Was ISIS, in which Trump's opening speaker tonight, who claims Trump supposedly "personally requested" him, is bad.
posted by zachlipton at 2:09 PM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


Survivors of sexual assault have taken over Chuck Grassley's office. And I am 100% here for that.
posted by Sophie1 at 2:27 PM on September 20, 2018 [113 favorites]


@jaketapper:
BREAKING — @SenWhitehouse, D-RI, says “as soon as Democrats get gavels“ (retake the House or Senate) they will “get to the bottom” of what happened between Kavanaugh and Ford and “why the FBI stood down” in background investigation of Kavanaugh given new allegation
posted by Chrysostom at 2:47 PM on September 20, 2018 [74 favorites]


BREAKING — @SenWhitehouse, D-RI, says “as soon as Democrats get gavels“ (retake the House or Senate) they will “get to the bottom” of what happened between Kavanaugh and Ford and “why the FBI stood down” in background investigation of Kavanaugh given new allegation

YES!!! About fucking time. Put them on notice we're coming for them and they won't get away with it.
posted by chris24 at 2:47 PM on September 20, 2018 [46 favorites]


George H.W. Bush picked Clarence Thomas to fill the seat vacated by the death of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Justice. Marshall was a legal titan and one of the greatest justices; Thomas, who had been a federal judge for 16 months, is not.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:49 PM on September 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


“as soon as Democrats get gavels“ (retake the House or Senate) they will “get to the bottom” of what happened between Kavanaugh and Ford and “why the FBI stood down” in background investigation of Kavanaugh given new allegation

And while we're at it, vow to subpoena all the records Rs refused to release. Hardball is the only game they want to play, so play it.
posted by chris24 at 2:51 PM on September 20, 2018 [20 favorites]


Kavanaugh polling:

@mmurraypolitics:
New NBC/WSJ poll on Kavanaugh:
34% support his nomination
38% oppose

In August, it was:
33% support
29% oppose

In July, it was:
32% support
26% oppose
@eyokley:
NEW #Kavanaugh numbers out today:
• Share of voters opposing confirmation at highest point since his nomination in July, per our polls: 34% support, 33% oppose
• 42% of voters don’t find Christine Blasey Ford credible, while 38% do.

Much more: https://morningconsult.com/2018/09/20/americans-more-divided-about-kavanaugh-after-allegations-of-sexual-assault/

(I hope I don't come across as trivializing the situation, it's just that there is a political dimension to all this. The less popular Kavanaugh is, the less likely there are any Dem defections, etc.)
posted by Chrysostom at 2:52 PM on September 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


SF Chronicle: Feinstein critic Kevin de León failed his own #MeToo test, activists say

Context: Dianne Feinstein is facing a Democratic challenge from the left for her Senate seat in November, and de León's been hitting her on keeping Dr. Blasey Ford's letter under wraps (ie honoring her request for confidentiality). However, he was president pro tempore of the California state senate when it faced a bunch of sexual harassment scandals earlier this year, and women who came forward then say he dragged his feet and handled things poorly.

edit: fixed link
posted by sunset in snow country at 2:58 PM on September 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


I am surprised and dismayed that fewer people find her accusation credible than otherwise. From Vox: "I’ve studied false rape claims. The accusation against Kavanaugh doesn’t fit the profile." It's a very believable accusation.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 2:58 PM on September 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


I am surprised and dismayed that fewer people find her accusation credible than otherwise

This is with the Republicans blitzkrieging her on all media channels and Ford staying mostly quiet.

It only gets worse for them from here.
posted by schadenfrau at 3:04 PM on September 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


The more I read about the incredible pain that my fellow MeFites have experienced & continue to experience coupled with the more I read about daily ongoing interactions folks are having in their social spheres, I, personally, want to volunteer my services as a white male who will happily dive into any online interaction where you "just can't even."

I've self-selected the people in my own circle, so I rarely run into opportunities to educate folks on the fucked-up-ness of their positions or policies. I post content I find here in these threads to facebook and implore my outer-friends/family/associates who disagree to tilt their lances at me. No one takes me up on my offer. I get likes & re-shares & words of encouragement from those on the side of goodness & virtue. I get silence from those who post Republican memes on their own walls.

I tried running down my friend list, finding these posts in the wild, so that I can pick up conversation within their own thread. I get ignored & occasionally blocked. It feels cheap, because often times, they're just resharing vitriol that they haven't thought through. No amount of thought on my part will engage any thinking on theirs.

But it sounds like at least some of you are involved with people who are actively assaulting you. People who are carrying on these hurtful attacks where they imply that a woman is less than a person, a muslim is less than a person, an immigrant is less than a person, that being gay or black or transgender makes one less than a person.

I want to be some kind of internet fireman. I want to be called to five alarm fires where some hateful stuff is going on & I want to stand in that blaze and take on that hurt so that you, whoever you are, can disengage & leave it behind you.

I'm not trying to change minds or pick fights or win an argument. I just want to let them tire themselves throwing punches at me instead of you. I want you to have the peace of mind that someone out there is pushing back on these toxic ideas, even if you, personally, can't or won't.

So yeah. MeMail me if you need an ally, if you need someone to stand with you, or if you need someone to stand in for you. This is a problem of OUR (white men) making & I'm sick & tired that WE expect YOU to do the work of solving it.
posted by narwhal at 3:06 PM on September 20, 2018 [36 favorites]


Apparently that doppelgänger idea has legs in the "conservative" community, complete with the identity of the doppelgänger: another friend of Mark Judge who lives near the Country Club (according to some amateur twitter detective).
posted by pjenks at 3:20 PM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


The number of journalists who have seen fit to signal boost this nuttery (and outright defamation) is disturbing. Jake Tapper retweeted it, but deleted after people pointed out that it's a horrifically bad idea to spread this further. Now Haberman is spreading it to her audience. It's phenomenally irresponsible. Why have investigative journalists or an FBI when we can just share the ramblings of a Kavanaugh supporter with a Zillow account?

@steve_vladeck: Shows I probably wouldn't watch: CSI: Ed Whelan
posted by zachlipton at 3:34 PM on September 20, 2018 [12 favorites]


That thread inadvertently makes a strong argument than an FBI investigation would be able to shed real light on the case despite the age of the accusation, though that wasn't the author's intent. If he could do that from his couch, imagine what trained experts with resources could do.
posted by gerryblog at 3:41 PM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


We're one step removed from Republicans using "the Universe is a simulation" as an alibi for their crimes.
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:42 PM on September 20, 2018 [36 favorites]


He dialed up a yearbook photo, an address, and a Zillow floor plan, of unknown provenance, of a house at that address and said there’s your real attempted rapist. See? This is all a misunderstanding brought on by years of post assault trauma. She’s not lying and neither is he. She’s just confused is all!

It’s made up bullshit that starts with a conclusion and fills in the gaps with ephemera google pulls up.

Can’t wait for the serialized podcast.
posted by notyou at 3:51 PM on September 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


On Sept. 4, a progressive woman and defense attorney won the Democratic primary for DA in Berkshire County, Mass. (the part of the state along the New York border), defeating two candidates, one of them the hand-picked choice of the incumbent DA (who quit several months early to give the guy an advantage). Now that guy is running a write-in campaign in the general election (there is no Republican running).
While there was no professional research, like polling, behind Caccaviello's decision to run, he said that nearly every day since Sept. 4, he has been contacted by men and women who were either unable to vote because they are registered Republicans or Independents, or are unenrolled and didn't vote.
posted by adamg at 3:56 PM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ah, the ol’ non-voter bloc. I’m sure that’ll work out well for him.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 3:59 PM on September 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


We're one step removed from Republicans using "the Universe is a simulation" as an alibi for their crimes.

Man remember when claiming there wasn’t an objective reality and all experiences are subjective was one of the things The Rught rallied against and not a major argument they make as for why should be allowed to do whatever they rught?
posted by The Whelk at 4:03 PM on September 20, 2018 [31 favorites]


One incredible part of this is that Politico talked up Whelan this morning:
On Tuesday evening, Ed Whelan, a conservative activist and legal commentator, posted a remarkable claim about the charge of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

“By one week from today, I expect that Judge Kavanaugh will have been clearly vindicated on this matter,” Whelan wrote. “Specifically, I expect that compelling evidence will show his categorical denial to be truthful. There will be no cloud over him.”
We're told he was getting the attention of Congress and the White House. And then when he decided to start putting cards on the table, it's 'this house has stairs, bedrooms, and bathrooms' and 'I found a guy I think looks similar; let me name him.' I like to think Republicans were seriously pinning their hopes on this guy having some kind of gamechanging evidence, and they got Zillowman.

@jamespmanley: as a reminder washpo columnist kathleen parker previewed this line of "attack" in her column yesterday about a possible doppleganger who looks like kavanaugh. this was a political hit folks - carefully "thought" out

(Haberman has also come around to the idea that retweeting it was a bad idea and deleted that. There's a serious journalistic ethics conversation that needs to happen here. I get the impulse to go "WTF?" and bonk that retweet button, but this isn't journalism.)
posted by zachlipton at 4:05 PM on September 20, 2018 [39 favorites]


Yeah WTF is any journalist, much less one of Haberman’s stature, thinking by retweeting Whelan’s noodling? Her retweet lends the charge her and the Times’ credibility!
posted by notyou at 4:09 PM on September 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


Jonathan Swan at Axios did the same; tweeted it and then apologized and deleted the tweet. Seems pretty widespread.
posted by Justinian at 4:15 PM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


It’s made up bullshit that starts with a conclusion and fills in the gaps with ephemera

You've just described the entire conservative thought process, so it's hardly surprising they'd use it again now.
posted by Gelatin at 4:22 PM on September 20, 2018 [28 favorites]


man, I am getting some groovy nostalgia vibes from that time Reddit caught the Boston Marathon Bomber

who wouldn't want to recreate that shining moment of online sleuthery
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:28 PM on September 20, 2018 [29 favorites]


I would say this is worse. That was incompetence and carelessness. This is actual malice. It's a coordinate Republican campaign which libels someone we have absolutely no reason to believe was involved.
posted by Justinian at 4:39 PM on September 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


Even a lot of Rs are like WTF because it's insane and it makes the case for an FBI investigation.

Mostly the latter.
posted by chris24 at 4:48 PM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


I would say this is worse. That was incompetence and carelessness. This is actual malice. It's a coordinate Republican campaign which libels someone we have absolutely no reason to believe was involved.

Of course, in this timeline it means that chances are high that at least one member of the Judicial Committee (I'm betting on Hatch) will be pushing this theory hard over the weekend
posted by zombieflanders at 4:54 PM on September 20, 2018 [4 favorites]


Even a lot of Rs are like WTF

Like even Twitchy won't print the tweets.
posted by chris24 at 4:56 PM on September 20, 2018


@seungminkim:
Some NEWS on a call that Katz, the attorney for Ford, had with Judiciary earlier as they negotiate terms of hearing next week, per senior Senate source --
--Katz raised concerns about security and how to ensure Ford's safety
--Katz raised concerns about potential outside counsel
(bringing in an outside counsel would make it too trial-like, they believe)
--Ford does NOT want Kavanaugh in the room when she testifies, and she asked that Kavanaugh testify first
--Raised prospect of subpoena for Mark Judge and other potential witnesses
Oh! One more tidbit from the call. They are discussing Thursday as a potential hearing date but that is not yet locked down
And, um, Michael Cohen just tweeted and deleted a tweet praising himself in the third person.Does he have another account or something?
posted by zachlipton at 5:09 PM on September 20, 2018 [27 favorites]


Jonathan Swan at Axios did the same; tweeted it and then apologized and deleted the tweet. Seems pretty widespread.

Every day, I get a stronger and stronger sense that there are essentially no journalistic credentials involved in being part of the Washington Press Corps and the Trump beat at many news organizations. Self-promotion and the ability to schmooze well enough to get juicy, unverifiable "background" and the occasional exclusive interview with a political celebrity, so long as no real questions are asked, is the order of the day.

Corporate media political coverage finished turning into reality TV well before Trump, which is a big part of why Trump happened and may happen again.
posted by kewb at 5:11 PM on September 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


Looks like NYT columnist and human pilonidal cyst Ross Douthat is also doppleganger-curious. Which means that Wari Beiss is probably not far behind.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:16 PM on September 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


I know it wasn't just the 80s, but what was it with the 80s?

You may have something there: the 80s weren't unique, as you say, but they do seem to stand out in a way that the 70s and 90s don't. Daniel Akst's 1994 retrospective from the LA Times is eerily prescient about the social changes that continue apace. The author's analysis has it that these changes (which he applauds) are about "freedom", but here's how he characterises the “misunderstanding” of that decade, which he blames on the “media and the intelligentia [who] are Democrats by affiliation and agnostic in their view of commerce”:
Capitalism--the word itself seems a kind of expletive in our mouths--makes us flinch. Its amoral nature, its emphasis on self-interest, its happy readiness to reward the unworthy, all make us squeamish. The corruption of men like Boesky and the outrageous pay of many corporate chieftains repel us.
Obviously they didn't repel us enough. I know the same might have been said about the robber barons of America's gilded age, but that's my point: these things are cyclical, and we're at the point where kids born during this period worked as interns for the previous generation of people exposed to the status=license mentality. And so we see Kozinski forcing his weird sex emails on people; his former clerk, Kavanaugh, reportedly picking out a harem of young women with a particular “look”; Zina Bash, one of those young women, apparently pwning the libs by flashing White Power symbols. I don't think it's a coincidence that Richard Spencer, quoted by Wikipedia, says
"if we were to make a composite image of the Alt-Right, I would probably say someone who is thirty years old, who is a tech professional, who is an atheist, and who lives on one of the coasts."
Leaving the atheism bit aside, this is the age and demographics of people young enough to have their foot in the door of current disruptive capitalism but who have almost certainly missed their own chance at becoming another Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey. Their aspirational models are almost all both amoral and astonishingly wealthy; why shouldn't they believe that one causes the other? It's probably true!
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:19 PM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


Update: Cohen's tweet has re-emerged coming out of the account of his lawyer, Lanny Davis. Then there was a follow-up to explain "my Tweet sent to @MichaelCohen212 and I asked him to re-send to his followers," which isn't how this works at all.

Cohen ghostwriting tweets praising his loyalty to country over Trump is sure something though.

In summary, the moral of the past two hours: Twitter is terrible.
posted by zachlipton at 5:24 PM on September 20, 2018 [21 favorites]


Trump Just Realized He’s Not Getting His Wall - Martin Longman, Washington Monthly
On Tuesday, the Senate approved the conference report with the House by a bipartisan 93-7 majority for funding the Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments next year.
...
[It] included a continuing resolution to keep the rest of the government agencies funded through the election. In other words, the bill was designed to cut off the kind of standoff about Donald Trump’s stupid border wall that he was promising earlier this year. If Trump paid even a modest amount of attention to doing his primary job, this would not have come as a surprise to him and he would not be responding, “Where is the money for the WALL?”
...
There is no money for the wall. The Republicans in Congress made sure of that, and it seems the bill was passed through the Senate before the president even noticed.
...
The House still needs to pass the conference report, and they plan to do so next week. That means Trump can still try to revive his veto threat if he wants, but the Senate passed the bill [by] a very strong veto-proof majority so I think it’s a little late for the president to try to influence the final product.
posted by ZeusHumms at 5:35 PM on September 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


Oh, man. I could totally see that dumbass vetoing the bill to try and regain control of the narrative and put the pressure back on Republicans in Congress to pass a fucking loyalty test over the wall.
posted by duffell at 5:53 PM on September 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


joyceanmachine: how Ford is BAD because she can't remember what day and time and location

(Trigger warning for descriptions of sexual assault, and quotes from cops who think survivors are liars)

The Neurobiology of Sexual Assault


From this 2014 metafilter discussion.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 6:02 PM on September 20, 2018 [20 favorites]


The addition of the mistaken identity/doppelganger trope confirms that Bret Easton Ellis is in the writer's room and did the script for this episode.
posted by johnny jenga at 6:11 PM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


Oh, man. I could totally see that dumbass vetoing the bill to try and regain control of the narrative and put the pressure back on Republicans in Congress to pass a fucking loyalty test over the wall.

Trump is already blaming Democrats for it. If I was Chuck Schumer I'd be walking up to McConnell and just point blank tell him "He's blaming us, we'll lean into it. If he vetos this we're going to demand a bill that we're happy with for 67 votes. We will not give you 60 on your terms."
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:11 PM on September 20, 2018 [14 favorites]




Come on, Schumer. How hard is it really to just pick up your phone and write "Toddler in chief threatens to throw tantrum and shut down US govt over stupid wall. Wah wah."
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:16 PM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


Imagine coming up with a racist proposal that is so stupid that even 2018’s Congressional Republicans think it’s bullshit.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:17 PM on September 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


Willie Nelson is playing a political concert for Beto O'Rourke. Some fans are abandoning him.

the Democrat was in front of the thousands that came out for Willie Nelson's Fourth of July Picnic, an annual celebration of country music started by the legendary singer 45 years ago.
...
O'Rourke, whose punk-rock roots would later be rehashed by the Cruz campaign, shed his button-down for a black T-shirt and guitar and joined Nelson and the rest of his band on stage for spirited renditions of "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" to close out the show.

Cool.

Willie Nelson can lose half his fans and still never have to pay for a beer (or a joint, more likely) anywhere in America. I'm sure he's happy that the people who support baby prisons are self-selecting themselves out of his audience. They can get their entertainment from the freestyle bebop jazz poetry of feeble jingo wank known as a Trump rally.

I'm glad that Cruz decided to attack punk rock, knowing that when people in nursing homes talk about how good music was back in the day, they're thinking of how great it was being in the front row of a Ramones concert. You'd think by now conservatives would have abandoned the concept of super scary devil music corrupting the kids. Those kids are now retirement age!
posted by adept256 at 6:20 PM on September 20, 2018 [47 favorites]


Since we're on a Hirono kick, this is from this morning: twitter video where she says to a news crew Chuck Grassley's letter is "such bullshit I can't stand it."

That's pretty monocle-popping, right? Congresspeople don't use language that has to be bleeped, and they especially don't talk like that about their colleagues.

I found it buried in a news story about Gillibrand here. Gillibrand's stuff made it to the AP feed, but Hirono didn't.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 6:27 PM on September 20, 2018 [32 favorites]


I'm glad that Cruz decided to attack punk rock, knowing that when people in nursing homes talk about how good music was back in the day, they're thinking of how great it was being in the front row of a Ramones concert. You'd think by now conservatives would have abandoned the concept of super scary devil music corrupting the kids. Those kids are now retirement age!

Now I have images of Cruz being all "You know what I heard? Beto doesn't even watch NCIS! You know what he watches? Must See TV on NBC Thursday nights! He thinks "The Good Place" is Must See TV? He was probably a fan of Parks and Recreation which just served to ridicule small towns like ours!"

Then Beto comes out at his next rally with Chris Pratt playing together in an impromptu performance of 5,000 Candles in the Wind with him or some shit and Cruz doesn't even realize once again how hard he just own goaled.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 6:27 PM on September 20, 2018 [28 favorites]


[It] included a continuing resolution to keep the rest of the government agencies funded through the election. In other words, the bill was designed to cut off the kind of standoff about Donald Trump’s stupid border wall that he was promising earlier this year. If Trump paid even a modest amount of attention to doing his primary job, this would not have come as a surprise to him and he would not be responding, “Where is the money for the WALL?”

Washington Post delves into the sorry history of the GOP-Trump border wall negotiations: Trump Demands a Border Wall But Many Republican Lawmakers Aren’t Convinced
Trump’s current ask for the wall is $5 billion for 2019, but Senate Democrats won’t go along with that figure after striking a deal with Republicans to provide $1.6 billion for 2019, which was the original White House request.

Republicans have tried to convince Trump that the lower number is the best they can do for now, and that the issue will have to be worked out after the elections.

But earlier this year Trump blew up at aides over the $1.6 billion, saying it was not enough. Former legislative affairs director Marc Short, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and others explained to him that it was what his own budget team asked for. Trump did not understand why they didn’t get more — and seemed unaware of what was in his own administration request, according to the Trump adviser. The president has griped periodically about the Office of Management and Budget request.

Then, at a meeting with congressional appropriators in June, Trump demanded $5 billion, without a clear justification for the number.
This level of confusion is worse than even second-term Reagan.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:30 PM on September 20, 2018 [16 favorites]


In summary, the moral of the past two hours years: Twitter is terrible.
posted by Behemoth at 6:40 PM on September 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


@realDonaldTrump this morning: "I want to know, where is the money for Border Security and the WALL in this ridiculous Spending Bill, and where will it come from after the Midterms? Dems are obstructing Law Enforcement and Border Security. REPUBLICANS MUST FINALLY GET TOUGH!"

From the Washington Post article above:
Republican leaders have been lobbying Trump to stick with their strategy, which would deliver a big increase in Pentagon spending. Trump has speculated publicly that shutting down the government to get more wall money could be good politics, but Republicans fear a shutdown just before the elections would be disastrous.

No one knows what Trump will do, and some White House officials have begun preparing a contingency plan for the partial shutdown that would occur if Trump vetoes the spending bill.

Trump is being told by aides that he will get more wall money after the elections — even though many in the White House are concerned there won’t be the votes, according to a Trump adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk freely. Trump often asks what the strategy is for getting wall money after the elections.[...]

Administration officials acknowledge privately that there is no plan for how additional funding will be achieved after elections that could see Republicans lose seats in Congress or even their majority.[...]

In the meantime, Trump continues to remind aides about the cheers the wall gets at rallies but has expressed concerns that his supporters are not seeing enough progress. “We have to keep saying the wall is already happening,” the president said recently, according to the Trump adviser.
Trump is going to be off the hook about his WALL at his Las Vegas rally tonight…
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:47 PM on September 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


Trump blew up at aides over the $1.6 billion, saying it was not enough. Former legislative affairs director Marc Short, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and others explained to him that it was what his own budget team asked for.

This really isn't all that difficult. The number doesn't really matter. At 1.6, his ask is 5. If they'd manage 5, his ask would be 10. At 10, he'd demand 20. This is the only kind of negotiation he knows - as long as you're still pushing, you haven't fleeced the other guy for enough yet. He really just wants infinite money for the wall, and he'll compromise as close to his number as he can manage.
posted by mrgoat at 6:49 PM on September 20, 2018 [20 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS - Pt. 2

** 2018 House:
-- IA-01: Siena poll has Dem Finkenauer up 52-37 on GOP incumbent Blum [MOE: +/- 4.6%]. [Trump 49-45 | Cook: Lean D]

-- Two MN polls from PPP. Note that these don't have MOE listed (which PPP does a lot, and it drives me nuts), were commissioned by a progressive group, and asked some policy questions before the horse race questions. You aren't supposed to do that, as it can skew the responses. That said:
-- MN-02: Dem Craig up 48-45 on GOP incumbent Lewis. [Trump 47-45 | Lean D]
-- MN-03: Dem Phillips up 52-39 on GOP incumbent Paulsen. [Clinton 51-41 | Lean D]
-- NC-13: DCCC poll has Dem Manning up 46-42 on GOP incumbent Budd [MOE: +/- 4.2%]. This is DCCC in-house polling. [Trump 53-44 | Lean R]

-- NY-01: GSG poll has GOP incumbent Zeldin up 47-44 on Dem Gershon [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. Poll was commissioned by a Dem SuperPAC. [Trump: 55-42 | Cook: Likely R]

-- NY-22: GOP incumbent Tenney going all in on accusations of Dem Brindisi having mob ties. [Trump 55-39 | Cook: Tossup]
** 2018 Senate:
-- Several polls from Vox Populi. These forced people to pick a candidate, not be undecided; this isn't shady, necessarily, but it's not considered best practice.
-- TX: Dem O'Rourke tied 50-50 with GOP incumbent Cruz [MOE: +/- 4.4%].
-- TN: Dem Bredesen up 51-49 on GOPer Blackburn.[MOE: +/- 4.1%].
-- CA: Incumbent Feinstein up 55-45 on de León [MOE: +/- 4.4%].
-- TX: PPP also polled this race, finding GOP incumbent Cruz up 48-45 on Dem O'Rourke [MOE: +/- 4.0%]. Same caveats as their House polling.

-- RI: Roger Williams poll has Dem incumbent Whitehouse up 54-35 on GOPer Flanders [MOE: +/- 4.8%].

-- MT: NRSC poll has Dem incumbent Tester tied 44-44 with GOPer Rosendale [MOE: +/- 4.5%]. This is NRSC in-house polling.

-- NV: Why Dean Heller isn't dead yet.
** Odds & ends:
-- RI gov: Same Roger Williams poll has Dem incumbent Raimondo up 43-36 on GOPer Fung.

-- CT gov: Sacred Heart poll has Dem Lamont up 43-37 on GOPer Stefanowski [MOE: +/- 4.3%].

-- Vox Populi governor polls:
-- TX: GOP incumbent Abbott up 55-45 on Dem Valdez.
-- TN: GOPer Lee up 55-46 on Dem Dean.
-- CA: Dem Newsom up 60-40 on GOPer Cox.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:50 PM on September 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


@mkraju:
MORE: Ford attorneys did NOT draw hardly any red lines in the list of requests. Those were mostly asks and appear to be negotiable, sources say. The only red lines: Ensuring her safety and making sure she’s NOT in the same room as Kavanaugh. Both sides say it was productive call
posted by Chrysostom at 6:52 PM on September 20, 2018 [19 favorites]


From that Post article (the Kavanaugh one, not the wall one):
Kavanaugh and his allies have been privately discussing a defense that would not question whether an incident happened to Ford, but instead would raise doubts that the attacker was Kavanaugh, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
I understand why this would be appealing to them, in terms of the PR value of casting Ford as mistaken about the ID rather than insisting she made it all up, but ew. There needs to be a real look at how this defense strategy wound up having seeds planted in both Whelan's Zillow investigation and Kathleen Parker's dopelganger column, because it sure seems like this was not a mere "privately discussing" and more of a series of public efforts.
posted by zachlipton at 6:52 PM on September 20, 2018 [33 favorites]


-- MN-03: Dem Phillips up 52-39 on GOP incumbent Paulsen. [Clinton 51-41 | Lean D]

Bigfoot gets results.
posted by chris24 at 6:56 PM on September 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


The addition of the mistaken identity/doppelganger trope confirms that Bret Easton Ellis is in the writer's room

No, the narrative is too coherent, with actual cause and effect, even if both cause and effect are frequently ridiculous.

This is just ... It’s the evil twin. They’re doing evil twin.

That is nobody’s first choice of defense. They cycled all the way through from “he doesn’t know her” to “it was his evil twin” with literally no further public statements from Ford. I bet there’s something else coming.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:11 PM on September 20, 2018 [50 favorites]


Kavanaugh and his allies have been privately discussing a defense that would not question whether an incident happened to Ford, but instead would raise doubts that the attacker was Kavanaugh, according to a person familiar with the discussions.


Tom Nichols
If this is true, and Kavanaugh is found *in any way* to have been a part of concocting this stupid and creepy defense, he should be disqualified immediately. If he was involved in this, it speaks to his character right now - not 35 years ago - and is utterly disqualifying.


Josh Barro
Is it plausible Whelan made this statement without Kavanaugh's knowledge and consent? This feels like the sort of thing you'd run by Team Kavanaugh. If he said to go ahead, what does that say about Kavanaugh's character?
posted by chris24 at 7:15 PM on September 20, 2018 [44 favorites]


This doppelgänger thing only makes sense if you assume Dr. Ford is unfathomably stupid
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:39 PM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


White dudes with infinite privilege and zero empathy see no reason a woman's memory of her rapist would be any clearer than their memories of their victims.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:42 PM on September 20, 2018 [97 favorites]


Pardon. These times have turned my brain to absolute mush and I'm a bit lost. Are they saying it wasn't Kavenaugh but another SPECIFIC individual that did this thing? Like named another guy? Or just "some other dude musta done it"?
posted by thebrokedown at 7:43 PM on September 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


Another specific guy. With a yearbook photo and everything. Which I'm sure the other guy was thrilled about.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:46 PM on September 20, 2018 [15 favorites]


Could the other guy, if he wasn't in on it, sue for defamation?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:47 PM on September 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


Well, goodness. WTF. What's his recourse here? I'm just so over all of this madness.
posted by thebrokedown at 7:48 PM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


Isn't that, uh, slander?
posted by aspersioncast at 7:48 PM on September 20, 2018 [8 favorites]


I mean consider the timeline here:

Monday night - A WSJ editorial says "Mistaken identity is also possible."

Tuesday - Kathleen Parker's doppelganger theory column

Tuesday night - Whelan tweets his promise there will soon be "compelling evidence" that clears Kavanaugh.

Thursday morning - Politico prints an article that weirdly takes Whelan's assertion at face value without, you know, applying any skepticism to the fact that he's promising serious evidence but won't share it. We're told his claim is "the only one being taken seriously by conservatives, including several close to Kavanaugh" and that Whelan is a great serious conservative who is going around telling everyone "that his confidence level in his assertions is 'close to 100 percent.'"

Thursday afternoon - Whelan shows his hand, and it was going on Zillow and randomly accusing another guy of sexual assault.

Thursday night - We're told "Kavanaugh and his allies" have been discussing a plan that involves casting doubt on whether the attacker was Kavanaugh. We're also told Whelan is "close friends with both Kavanaugh and Leonard Leo" and he's spent "several days" working up this theory.

None of this proves Kavanaugh personally knew what was going on, but it's a pretty compelling portrait that there was organization. Whelan wasn't just freelancing; this was a component of a defense campaign that involved a number of other people. Whether all the organizers knew it would involve Whelan making this named accusation today isn't clear, but there clearly was an organized effort built around this. Those people need to be held accountable, and we absolutely need to know what Kavanaugh knew about this plan.

@nycsouthpaw: You can't definitely prove Kavanaugh knew about Alex Kozinski, about Manny Miranda, about Bill Pryor, about Charles Pickering, about torture, about black sites, about warrantless wiretapping, or about Ed Whelan. He's walked between the raindrops all the way to SCOTUS's threshold.

Pardon. These times have turned my brain to absolute mush and I'm a bit lost. Are they saying it wasn't Kavenaugh but another SPECIFIC individual that did this thing? Like named another guy? Or just "some other dude musta done it"?

Yes. Whelan specifically identified someone else by name and (current and historical) photos and said that person looked like Kavanaugh. He then goes on to say that he does not "state, imply or insinuate" that this person committed any sexual assault, but that's really really what he's doing by naming someone and posting his photo and saying he looked like Kavanaugh and could have been there.
posted by zachlipton at 7:50 PM on September 20, 2018 [49 favorites]


And isn't it tacit admission that they don't contest that the events Ford is talking about actually happened?

God to have to defend democracy against these fucking idiots. Good grief. I never used to understand people who said things like this, but I'm sorta glad my grandpa isn't around to see it.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:51 PM on September 20, 2018 [9 favorites]


metafilter: It’s made up bullshit that starts with a conclusion and fills in the gaps with ephemera
posted by standardasparagus at 7:51 PM on September 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


Twitter's favorite First Amendment lawyer Ken White/Popehat calls it "Beach House defamation," meaning the defendant would probably win a defamation case, but only after paying his lawyer enough to afford a summer home.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:54 PM on September 20, 2018 [20 favorites]


To the above timeline, add Wednesday morning - Sen. Hatch's Deputy Chief of Staff Matt Whitlock tells us to watch Whelan's tweets after Whelan launches a "she's got the wrong guy" trial balloon. He'll later delete this.

And remember how Hatch said Ford could be "mixed up?"

The Reddit Boston Marathon Bomber was indeed a "shining moment of online sleuthery." This was a coordinated Republican hit job.
posted by zachlipton at 8:04 PM on September 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


Trump throws a hat. People scream. I Want It That Way plays. "The president has a weird thing for Backstreet Boys or something," the host of the Right Side Broadcasting web stream says. That's right, the Toronto Star's redoubtable Daniel Dale is live-tweeting/fact-checking Trump's Las Vegas rally. Here are some highlights thus far:
—"Except for a lot of the fake news that you see from these people back here" - BOOOO - "this is an incredible time for our country," Trump begins.
—Trump: "Remember the tears from the fake news media when it was obvious we were going to win. And you know what: they're still crying. Look at 'em, they're still crying. They're still crying. And let 'em cry. They don't know what the hell happened."
—Trump implores people not to be "complacent" in the midterms. With more Republicans, he says, "We'll get everything we want so fast."
—Trump on Kavanaugh: "One of the finest human beings you will ever have the privilege of knowing or meeting. A great intellect, a great gentleman, an impeccable reputation. Went to Yale, top student, went to Yale Law School, top student. So we gotta let it play out."
—Trump on Kavanaugh: "We'll let it play out, and I think everything's going to be just fine. This is a high-quality person."
And here's where we get to his WALL:
—This is the part of the rally where Trump, on-script, attacks the local Democratic candidate, providing material for the local Republicans' ads. It is usually followed by him no longer being on script any more.
—Trump says the Democrats' new platform is "radical socialism," vowing, "I won't allow the United States of America to become the next Venezuela." There is a..."build that wall" chant.
—"We started the wall a year ago," Trump lies for the 35th time of the wall he has not started. "We've done a lot."
—Trump lies that Democrats voted for a wall in 2006. They voted for fencing. The law was called the Secure Fence Act.
—Trump mentions Hillary Clinton. There is a very loud "LOCK HER UP" chant, the loudest chant of the night.
These spittle-flecked chants from his audience notwithstanding, Trump is ranting a lot more about "fake news" and the media during this rally, which suggests this week's headlines and chyrons have gotten under his skin. He's also emphasizing a get-out-the-vote message and taking a little more time to praise the local mid-term candidate before congratulating himself again for 2016. Dale reports, "Trump says that Americans voted to reject corrupt globalism: 'Hey, I'm the president of the United States! I'm not. The president. Of the glooobe.'"
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:10 PM on September 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


Huh, I thought conservatives hated innocent men being falsely accused of rape.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 8:20 PM on September 20, 2018 [32 favorites]


Given that Whelan's "doppelganger" is apparently still good friends with Judge, I do wonder if they're planning on persuading him to be the fall guy in order to secure Kavanaugh's confirmation. Isn't that the same scapegoat role RNC funder Elliott Broidy is suspected of playing for Trump? They clearly see such incidents as more like PR problems than criminal liabilities. And it's not like any of these people have any qualms about publicly gaslighting a sexual assault victim.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:21 PM on September 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


Twitter's favorite First Amendment lawyer Ken White/Popehat calls it "Beach House defamation," meaning the defendant would probably win a defamation case, but only after paying his lawyer enough to afford a summer home.

If I were this dude Whelan libelled I'd be tempted to file a defamation suit pro se. Because while I'd even more certainly lose (having a fool for a client) I seriously have nothing better to do all day, every day than make Whelan's life a living nightmare for as long as possible. My goal would be to keep it going long enough that he has to liquidate college funds and such.

But that's me.
posted by Justinian at 8:30 PM on September 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


All the more reason for Mark Judge to testify. He knows who his regular drinking buddy was, as he describes in his book as O'Kavanaugh. He would know if he regularly socialized with this other person people are hypothesizing.
posted by JackFlash at 8:31 PM on September 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


Democrats need to ask Kavanaugh next week whether he knew about or discussed Whelan's plan to blame some other dude ahead of time.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:35 PM on September 20, 2018 [18 favorites]


So… Kavanaugh’s supposed doppelgänger is one of the 65 who signed the letter defending Kavanaugh’s "character".
posted by standardasparagus at 8:35 PM on September 20, 2018 [48 favorites]


This is the dumbest possible timeline.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:39 PM on September 20, 2018 [22 favorites]


Ours, I mean. Not the Kavanaugh coverup one.
See? Dumbest possible timeline.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:40 PM on September 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


I do wonder if they're planning on persuading him to be the fall guy in order to secure Kavanaugh's confirmation

I'm not repeating his name, but the guy reportedly teaches middle school. Short of an incredibly elaborate plot that would be blatantly obvious to set him up for life, I can't see how this would happen. He's just not going to ruin his career by confessing to sexual assault in the most public of ways tomorrow.

I suspect the plan was a FUD campaign to just spread the idea that it could potentially be mistaken identity, which would help setup a future line of questioning challenging Ford's recollection. Hatch went there, the WSJ went there, Kathleen Parker said it even more explicitly. Then Whelan screwed it up by getting on Zillow and posting yearbook photos and naming a specific guy, when he was supposed to just be vague and cast doubt.
posted by zachlipton at 8:41 PM on September 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


So here's the actual Twitter thread where Ed Whelan lays out the doppelganger defense in exhaustive detail.

@EdWhelanEPPC Okay, I’ll begin laying out some information concerning Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Judge Kavanaugh.
posted by scalefree at 8:45 PM on September 20, 2018 [3 favorites]


Then Whelan screwed it up by getting on Zillow and posting yearbook photos and naming a specific guy, when he was supposed to just be vague and cast doubt.

“Hey guys, I found the red herring!!” - Whelan
posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:46 PM on September 20, 2018 [13 favorites]


There is no reason for this urgency with Kavanaugh. It's the same as it was with that damn tax bill. Yet again it all feels so choreographed. Yet again it feels like the republicans are puppets. There is no reason to rush. We have the time to get the right guy to the bench.

We are so far from our norms. We're so off balance from girding constant defenses that we can't even see how weird this all is.
posted by frecklefaerie at 8:47 PM on September 20, 2018 [43 favorites]


scalefree: "@EdWhelanEPPC Okay, I’ll begin laying out some information concerning Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against Judge Kavanaugh."

"It's time for some blame theory."
posted by Rhaomi at 8:51 PM on September 20, 2018 [29 favorites]


So, we're at the point where the party did happen, the attack happened, and Judge was there, only with a dude who only looks like Kavanaugh? That's some junkie logic right there, straight out of Nash Bridges.
posted by rhizome at 8:51 PM on September 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


What's that Mark Felt quote about dumb guys getting in over their heads?
posted by Chrysostom at 8:52 PM on September 20, 2018 [11 favorites]


I also have a feeling that this whole thing is meant to sap attention from Kavanaugh's money questions.
posted by rhizome at 8:53 PM on September 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


So, we're at the point where the party did happen, the attack happened, and Judge was there, only with a dude who only looks like Kavanaugh? That's some junkie logic right there, straight out of Nash Bridges.

Weird fact: you know who else looks like Kavanaugh? Kavanaugh!
posted by scalefree at 8:54 PM on September 20, 2018 [30 favorites]


Harvard Law School students don't want Kavanaugh teaching any more classes until he's investigated: What is HLS Doing About Professor Brett Kavanaugh?
posted by peeedro at 9:12 PM on September 20, 2018 [55 favorites]


it's a been a wild few days for the concept of meritocracy let me tell you
posted by The Whelk at 9:30 PM on September 20, 2018 [57 favorites]


Just to revisit Trump's lie-apalooza tonight in his record-breaking streak of mendacity since June, Dale observes, "He was stunningly dishonest by the standard of any other politician but on quite good behaviour for himself, and especially on-message in pleading for midterm turnout."

This is what amounts to good behaviour on Trump's part as far as telling the truth to his loyal followers:
—"Poverty is plummeting," Trump boasts. Government report last week showed that the poverty rate dropped from 12.7% in 2016 to 12.3% in 2017.
—For at least the 12th time, Trump falsely claims that presidents had failed to pass the Veterans Choice program for decades before him. (This time he says it took "46 years.") The Choice program was created in 2014 under Obama. Trump's law modified the program.
—Trump says he needs help to "make things honest around here."
—Trump slams the media at length, then lies, for the 6th time, that the red lights of their cameras are "starting to go off" because they don't like the criticism. No station has ever turned off its camera during his media criticism.
—For the 12th time, Trump lies that the New York Times apologized to its subscribers after the election. It made a sales pitch, not an apology.
—Trump lies again that his election hurt the sales of the New York Times: "When we won, they suffered." The Times added 276,000 digital subscribers in the three months after the election.
—"We've created more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs," Trump says of the 348,000 manufacturing jobs created during his presidency.
—"We won big: 306. 223. REMEMBER?" Trump falsely claims for the 15th time of Hillary Clinton's 232 electoral votes.
—"Remember when President Obama said you can't have manufacturing jobs anymore," Trump falsely says of Obama's 2016 comments on PBS. Obama said some particular manufacturing jobs were gone, but boasted of how many he'd brought back and how many America still has.
—For the 26th time, Trump falsely says Asian unemployment is at a record low. (It was in May, but jumped back up to a higher level than at the end of the Obama era.) For the 27th time, Trump falsely says women's unemployment is at a 65-year low. (Again, was in May but jumped.)
—"We have the cleanest air now in the world," Trump says of air the Environmental Performance Index ranks as the 10th-best in the world. "We have the cleanest water," Trump says of the U.S.'s 29th-ranked water.
—"Donald Trump and Republicans will protect patients with pre-existing conditions. We're going to do that," Trump says. His administration is arguing in court that Obamacare's pre-existing condition protections are unconstitutional and should be voided.
—Trump: Every time a king, queen, president or prime minister enters the Oval, they say to me, "Congratulations on what you've done with this country.' It's true.'" He then says that he has to amend it to "almost" every time or else fact-checkers will "get" him.
And that last bit winks at his audience, letting them know he's bullshitting them but enlisting them as accomplices in his campaign to own the libtards and the fake news media. (Their conspiratorial bond also covers up his cognitive decline, but that's another issue.)

And tonight, as Trump holes up in the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, marks his 200th day at a Trump property since his inauguration.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:30 PM on September 20, 2018 [26 favorites]


I'm late to this party, but the fact that Kavanaugh's nomination may lead to bad things happening to Amy "Tiger Mom" Chua gives me a feeling of gleeful schadenfreude that has been building for the better part of a decade.
posted by rorgy at 9:33 PM on September 20, 2018 [42 favorites]


I'm curious what if any recourse the middle-school teacher has? It seems inevitable that - at best - they'll be doxxed by pizza-gate/Q-anon fanatics, or - at worst - more extreme elements are going to show up at their house or school looking for angry-mob-justice. I'm sick to the stomach over what's happening to Dr. Ford (we donated in $AUD to her support fund last night), and while I also feel bad that I kind of have less sympathy for the teacher on the back of them having co-signed the letter of support, this cyclone of alt-right madness is something I wouldn't wish on anyone.
posted by MarchHare at 9:34 PM on September 20, 2018 [7 favorites]


“Hey guys, I found the red herring!!” - Whelan

It's like he didn't understand the concept so he went on twitter and fucked an actual rat
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:03 PM on September 20, 2018 [92 favorites]


Annals of bad targeting:

I've been registered as a Democrat since I turned 18 (my wife, too).
I have three separate signs for Democratic candidates on my front lawn.
I'm a member of the county Democratic committee.
I have donated to multiple Democratic candidates this cycle, including the Dem running for PA House 44.

And still, the GOP candidate for PA House 44 canvassed us today.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:05 PM on September 20, 2018 [42 favorites]


Crap.

WSJ, Dion Nissenbaum, Top U.S. Diplomat Backed Continuing Support for Saudi War in Yemen Over Objections of Staff
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo backed continued U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen over the objections of staff members after being warned that a cutoff could jeopardize $2 billion in weapons sales to America’s Gulf allies, according to a classified memo and people familiar with the decision.

The move has fueled rising outrage in Congress, where a bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying to cut off American military aid for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their three-year-old war against Iran-backed fighters in Yemen. More than 16,700 civilians have been killed or injured in Yemen, according to the United Nations, which says the Gulf nation is home to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The U.S. is backing the Gulf allies in Yemen, where the Trump administration is working to contain Iran’s allies and al Qaeda militants.

Mr. Pompeo overruled concerns from most of the State Department specialists involved in the debate who were worried about the rising civilian death toll in Yemen. Those who objected included specialists in the region and in military affairs. He sided with his legislative affairs team after they argued that suspending support could undercut plans to sell more than 120,000 precision-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to a classified State Department memo and people familiar with the debate.
posted by zachlipton at 10:27 PM on September 20, 2018 [17 favorites]


The Onion, Report: Make It Stop
EVERYWHERE—Claiming that they just couldn’t stand this bullshit anymore, Americans across the country confirmed Thursday that someone, anyone needs to please, just make it stop. “Please, please, please, we’re begging you here, just put an end to it immediately,” said sources, noting that it had all gone way, way too far and they would do almost anything for even a few glorious minutes of respite. “We’re on our hands and knees, pleading with you to make it all go away once and for all. What’s it going to take? Jesus Christ, just stop it! Stop it right now!” At press time, sources confirmed that they knew deep down it was never going to stop.
posted by zachlipton at 10:44 PM on September 20, 2018 [77 favorites]


“Hey guys, I found the red herring!!” - Whelan

It's like he didn't understand the concept so he went on twitter and fucked an actual rat
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 10:03 PM on September 20


Ray Walston, Luck Dragon, thank you. That is the first time I have laughed out loud with nobody else around in a long time.
posted by skyscraper at 10:52 PM on September 20, 2018 [14 favorites]


There is no reason for this urgency with Kavanaugh. It's the same as it was with that damn tax bill. Yet again it all feels so choreographed.

I remember being outraged at this same manufactured urgency during GWB's run up to Iraq. We could tell even then that the justifications relied on iffy intelligence, but Bush used that urgency to avoid any attempt to double check or verify any of it. Meanwhile we had perfectly functioning sanctions and inspections of Saddam's facilities and no reason to believe there were any immediately imminent threats.

At least I can see why people fall for the fear-mongering urgency like with Iraq or MS-13, but with the tax bill or Kavanaugh, it is beyond ridiculous, especially when they were willing to wait almost a year to even think about filling Scalia/Garland's seat.
posted by p3t3 at 11:11 PM on September 20, 2018 [10 favorites]


Then Whelan screwed it up by getting on Zillow and posting yearbook photos and naming a specific guy, when he was supposed to just be vague and cast doubt.

Once again, Kavanaugh's defenders absolutely believe he did it and they're just looking for ways to get him off the hook. They say it doesn't matter 'cause it was so long ago, they say it doesn't matter 'cause sexual assault is just lolz teenage boy stuff, they say the FBI can't investigate. All of that is bullshit, but none of it denies he did it. Now they've hatched a whole plan to say "Oh it was a guy who looks like Kavanaugh," except it turns out no, it totally wasn't that guy--because it was Kavanaugh.

They still aren't denying he did it. They're saying they don't care.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:24 PM on September 20, 2018 [32 favorites]


Kavanaugh should release a letter tomorrow in support of the crazy "this random schoolteacher is the rapist" theory signed by 65 reporters from the New York Times.
posted by Justinian at 12:28 AM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


Kavanaugh's defenders absolutely believe he did it

Of course they do. Doesn't anyone know any more that among old dudes "a great gentleman" is code for "one of us" -- in this very particular direction?

I once was treated to half a transatlantic flight full of unsavoury joke-stories about sailors and prostitutes after my neigbor first announced "seeing that you're a gentleman, I can tell you this story". Still don't know what in the WORLD in my behavior made him think that this was even remotely ok apart from the fact that I'm kind of conflict-avoiding in situations like this...
posted by Namlit at 12:28 AM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Guys, they didn’t randomly pick a fall guy. They picked someone who would be fine with it. And they are absolutely arrogant enough to just pay him off. Might take a few months, but someone in their old boy network will make sure he’s taken care of.
posted by schadenfrau at 12:41 AM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


Once again, Kavanaugh's defenders absolutely believe he did it and they're just looking for ways to get him off the hook.

I wonder if all of his defenders have been so clumsy about this because they simply haven't had to do this before. Sure, they can get someone out of trouble when it happened last weekend in Vegas or whatever, but when history has already been written? That might be harder.
posted by rhizome at 1:01 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


I need to see Kavanaugh on the witness stand, under oath, explaining away his yearbook entries like "Devil's triangle" and "have you boofed yet?" It really puts the lie to his rich friends vouching for him as "not like that," since he was saying these things in the most public place a school kid can.
posted by msalt at 1:24 AM on September 21, 2018 [23 favorites]


Thursday night - We're told "Kavanaugh and his allies" have been discussing a plan that involves casting doubt on whether the attacker was Kavanaugh. We're also told Whelan is "close friends with both Kavanaugh and Leonard Leo" and he's spent "several days" working up this theory.

None of this proves Kavanaugh personally knew what was going on, but it's a pretty compelling portrait that there was organization. Whelan wasn't just freelancing; this was a component of a defense campaign that involved a number of other people.


It also can't be stressed enough that this feeble defense concedes the basic truth of Professor Ford's story and is simply trying to create doubt that the individual who assaulted her, though he looked like Kavanaugh, actually wasn't.

Ford had already flatly rejected this nonsense. Shame on any media outlet that takes this conservative talking point seriously; but then again, bad habits can be hard to break.
posted by Gelatin at 3:43 AM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Late last night, Josh Marshall (TPM, paywalled) laid out the entire timeline of the Whalen doppelgänger saga. I don't think there's much more than zachlipton's excellent comment last night, but he ends with this:
But there’s a mix of direct and circumstantial evidence (which I’ve noted above) that strongly suggests that Kavanaugh’s top advisors and Kavanaugh himself were at least aware of this reckless scheme and likely played some part in developing it. Whether they knew Whalen was going to roll it out in the way he did tonight is less clear. But their hands are likely dirty with this. Kavanaugh’s knowledge and involvement is an obvious point to be examined in is his expected testimony on Monday.
posted by pjenks at 4:04 AM on September 21, 2018 [24 favorites]


Yale Daily News: A flag of underwear: Photo from Kavanaugh’s time shows DKE hijinks
In addition to DKE, Kavanaugh also belonged to Truth and Courage, one of Yale’s secret societies for seniors. Among some students, the all-male club, which was popular with athletes, was known by the nickname “Tit and Clit.”

Truth and Courage fizzled out of existence in the early 2010s. But since Kavanaugh’s graduation in 1987, DKE’s reputation for mistreating women at Yale has only grown. Yale banned DKE from campus for five years in 2011 after videos circulated of fraternity recruits chanting “no means yes, yes means anal” in front of the University’s Women’s Center.

And this spring, the University launched an investigation into the fraternity’s sexual climate after reports in the Yale Daily News and Business Insider documented sexual assault allegations against more than half a dozen members, including the fraternity’s former president.

Kavanaugh does not appear to have spoken publicly about his time in DKE. But in a speech to the Yale Law School Federalist Society in 2014, he recounted “falling out of [a] bus onto the front steps of the Yale Law School at about 4:45 a.m.” after a night of bar-hopping in Boston, according to a partial transcript of the speech published in Mother Jones.
posted by scalefree at 4:12 AM on September 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


and said that person looked like Kavanaugh.

No he fucking doesn't. Unless you think all white guys with dark hair look alike. 90% of what similarity there is is because of the shitty pix where both are in dark suits with the same lighting and crappy school pic background in sepia-toned black & white.

And of course as previously posted, Ford shot this lead balloon down quickly and completely.
posted by chris24 at 4:17 AM on September 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


Ds need to ask him under oath next week if he knew anything about it, and say that they will subpoena emails to get to the bottom of this if they take control. No way he wasn't a party to this whole FUD defense.
posted by chris24 at 4:39 AM on September 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


You'll be shocked to know that Orrin Hatch's deputy chief of staff tweeted two days ago saying "Keep an eye on Ed's tweets the next few days." (Which he's now deleted.)

Hatch who earlier this week said maybe it was mistaken identity. Hatch who's been working closely with and talking to Kavanaugh.
posted by chris24 at 4:55 AM on September 21, 2018 [40 favorites]


Willie Nelson is playing a political concert for Beto O'Rourke. Some fans are abandoning him.

Willie's been supporting Democrats for many decades. He's a friend of Jimmy Carter's and campaigned for Jessie Jackson in '88.
posted by octothorpe at 5:13 AM on September 21, 2018 [26 favorites]


Katz : " ...but thus far the nominee has refused to even acknowledge if he knows her or if he went to school with her."

And this is why I'm sure Kavanaugh's in on the doppelganger defense and whatever smear is next. These people traveled in the same social circles; they went to the same John Hughes bacchanales - and you weren't admitted to the party unless you had in-group credentials. They knew each other.
posted by klarck at 5:22 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


The Confirm Kavanaugh twitter account and website, run by Judicial Crisis Network and Carrie Severino, is pushing Whelan's conspiracy.

This means the whole pro-Kavanaugh network was in on this.
posted by chris24 at 5:32 AM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


As tempting as this Evil Riker theory is, I'm still going to believe the victim.
posted by jaduncan at 5:34 AM on September 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Secretary of State Mike Pompeo backed continued U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen over the objections of staff members after being warned that a cutoff could jeopardize $2 billion in weapons sales to America’s Gulf allies, according to a classified memo and people familiar with the decision.

From the In Another Administration, This Would Be a Major Scandal newsdesk. My only hope here is that the Mueller probe, via Flynn and Nader, somehow touches on how this--on how our foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, is being blatantly bought and sold. There's been a parade of New Yorker articles on the subject, and I can only imagine the swamp's even deeper than they've shown.
posted by cudzoo at 5:38 AM on September 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


It was also on Fox & Friends just now, so we're in for an even more batshit day than yesterday.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:40 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


Four days ago.

Yahoo: Kavanaugh tells Hatch accusation may be mistaken identity
In a statement released by Sen. Orrin Hatch's office, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh told Hatch he was not at a party like the one Christine Blasey Ford described and that Dr. Ford 'may be mistaking him for someone else.'
posted by chris24 at 5:41 AM on September 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis, via joshtpm:
NEW: Cook now rates Ted Cruz-Beto O'Rourke a tossup.
4 Dem tossups/4 GOP tossups in ratings
To take control of the Senate, Democrats need to win 6 of those 8 races - and not falter elsewhere.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:47 AM on September 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


Chrysostom: Two MN polls from PPP. Note that these don't have MOE listed...

Roger Moe is coming out of retirement??
posted by wenestvedt at 5:51 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


Remember Kavanaugh is a political operative who cut his teeth going after the Clintons.

This was entirely his own doing. He came up with the evil twin defense and pushed it, clumsily. Like you do in a panic.

He absolutely fucking did it and knows he did it and doesn’t know who or what else is out there.

Honestly at this point the R just stands for rapist.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:52 AM on September 21, 2018 [59 favorites]




It's really hard to take the "accusations could ruin a man's life!" nonsense seriously when you're willing to accuse a random guy on the basis of the fact that most rich white guys have the same haircut.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:03 AM on September 21, 2018 [78 favorites]


Guardian: Revealed: Russia’s secret plan to help Julian Assange escape from UK
Russian diplomats held secret talks in London last year with people close to Julian Assange to assess whether they could help him flee the UK, the Guardian has learned.
A tentative plan was devised that would have seen the WikiLeaks founder smuggled out of Ecuador’s London embassy in a diplomatic vehicle and transported to another country.

posted by PenDevil at 6:04 AM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


Sounds like Trump is making the case for a FBI investigation. Schumer & Co should immediately reply with 'you are right Mr. President that we should know the answers. Let's have the FBI investigate to find the facts.

@realDonaldTrump
Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C.
posted by chris24 at 6:05 AM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


There is no reason for this urgency with Kavanaugh. It's the same as it was with that damn tax bill. Yet again it all feels so choreographed. Yet again it feels like the republicans are puppets. There is no reason to rush. We have the time to get the right guy to the bench.

The Republican strategist (of course) that NPR interviewed this morning said the exact opposite. He said explicitly that the allegations were nothing but a Democratic plot to delay the nomination until after the midterms. (Shame on NPR for not robustly challenging this cynical assertion eliding the point that if Kavanaugh did it -- and boy howdy, his current defense strategy seems to presume that he did -- he is not worthy to sit on SCOTUS.)

He noted that the Democrats hope to take the Senate, and predicted that if the Democrats did take the Senate, they would not confirm any of Trump's nominees.

I hope he's right about the last part, at least.
posted by Gelatin at 6:05 AM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


He noted that the Democrats hope to take the Senate, and predicted that if the Democrats did take the Senate, they would not confirm any of Trump's nominees.

As long as Chuck "we'll let you pack the courts so we can go home a little early" Schumer is in charge, I wouldn't put any money on that.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:08 AM on September 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


For those who might be interested: Justice Ginsburg is at Columbia Law School today (in honor of 25 years as a SCOTUS justice) where she'll "discuss strategic litigation as an approach to policy change with Dean Gillian Lester; Professors Olatunde Johnson and Gillian Metzger ’95; Lee Gelernt ’88, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project deputy director; and Nancy Northup ’88, president & CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights." They'll be streaming it at 3:30pm eastern on Facebook.
posted by melissasaurus at 6:11 AM on September 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


A psychiatrist at Salon warns that Trump is obviously deteriorating, and his mental health has become a clear danger.

If the Democrats get a gavel, and definitely if they get more than one, they have to impeach even though they don’t have the votes. Again and again. They have to hang this entirely on the Republican Party. Make them take a public stance affirming Trump.

And we should start looking for someone to threaten Schumer with a primary run now.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:14 AM on September 21, 2018 [16 favorites]


Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter.

Emphasis added, because Trump's Mirror received extra polishing this morning.

Meanwhile, Axios's hears from unnamed Trumpland sources: Officials in Overdrive to Keep Trump from Attacking Kavanaugh Accuser
A source who has been talking to President Trump throughout the Kavanaugh crisis told Axios that “you have no idea” how hard it has been to keep him from attacking his Supreme Court nominee's accuser.

A White House official said yesterday: “Hopefully he can keep it together until Monday. That’s only, like, another 48 hours right?”

At a rally in Las Vegas last night, Trump praised Kavanaugh and added with rare restraint: "I'm not saying anything about anybody else. ... So we gotta let it play out. ... I think is everything is going to be just fine."
But this morning @realDonaldTrump has been finding it so very, very hard to hold back: "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. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!"
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:18 AM on September 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


Tl;DonaldTrump: the women are always lying.
posted by jaduncan at 6:23 AM on September 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


Call script for Senators (Senate Directory) and for the Senate Judiciary Committee (202-224-5225):
I am calling today to [again] demand a full FBI investigation into Christine Blasey Ford's allegations of rape against Brett Kavanaugh. Charles Grassley's process has been transparently disingenuous from the minute these allegations came to public view. Grassley's process, from the beginning, has been designed to protect an alleged rapist.

It is also imperative to learn whether Kavanaugh knew of his friend Ed Whalen's plan to make possibly libelous claims against a middle school teacher. Given Whalen has been a close advisor to Kavanaugh in these hearings, it seems very likely Kavanaugh himself knew the plan. Any involvement in concocting such a story disqualifies him from both the Supreme Court and his current position.

I have been disgusted by this process during which has shown AGAIN that Republicans Routinely Enable Rapists.
Grassley, McConnell, et al. are counting on apathy allowing them to put another sexual predator on the USSC. Let's make them pay with what remains of their tattered reputations.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 6:23 AM on September 21, 2018 [27 favorites]


One suspects the "loving parents" crack a dogwhistle intended to validate the conservatives' earlier theory that since Dr. Ford's parents were involved in a legal matter in Kavanaugh's mother's (who also was a judge) court, the accusation must be some kind of revenge scheme.
posted by Gelatin at 6:30 AM on September 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


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. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!

Fuck him. There's no statute of limitations on this. I hope she files charges today.
posted by chris24 at 6:31 AM on September 21, 2018 [36 favorites]


if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says

The sheer, white-hot, blinding offensiveness of this construction is the sort of thing that edges me closer to the idea that if we're not actually waging a war on men in politics yet, we absolutely should be.

The stakes are way too fucking high. #metoo has proven again and again that when women trust men in power, women are abused and silenced -- and if not totally silenced, publicly shamed and abused even further.

If the power to make binding decisions about women's bodies and physical safety can't be decisively and permanently separated from government offices, we should never again allow those offices to be occupied by men.
posted by invincible summer at 6:40 AM on September 21, 2018 [87 favorites]


He no more wrote those tweets than he can fly. I’d pity whoever is charged with wrestling the phone away from him if they weren’t an irredeemable monster.
posted by winna at 6:41 AM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Less than $2k away from the goal on CrowdPac to fund Susan Collins' opponent if she greenlights Kavanaugh. $1.5M.

I think this is a fabulous tactic and should be used on all politicians to have them make decisions for the people, not themselves.
posted by yoga at 6:48 AM on September 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


He no more wrote those tweets than he can fly. I’d pity whoever is charged with wrestling the phone away from him if they weren’t an irredeemable monster.

I agree; and I'm quite sure all the leaks about how long Trump can go without attacking Ford can be read as how long until he finds where we hid his phone. But the fact that anybody in a position to write them actually wrote them is enough to make me want to righteously fuck somebody up today.

And thanks to the Senate rolls, I have a little list.
posted by invincible summer at 6:51 AM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Idly wondering... what if Dr. Ford zipped over to Montgomery County PD on her way to Washington and filed a criminal complaint against Kavanaugh. Then Trump would have the charges he seems to think are so important, and the Senate could have vote on a Supreme Court nominee under investigation for a felony sexual assault. Works for me.
(I know, not that simple, and the attacks on her would be infinitely more horrendous. Sigh.)
posted by martin q blank at 6:53 AM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


"We won big: 306. 223. REMEMBER?" Trump falsely claims for the 15th time of Hillary Clinton's 232 electoral votes.

And his own 304 electoral votes. He lost two votes (in Texas!) to faithless electors.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:57 AM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


He no more wrote those tweets than he can fly. I’d pity whoever is charged with wrestling the phone away from him if they weren’t an irredeemable monster.

Trump or Not Bot: "This tweet was sent via Twitter for iPhone. I compute a 78% chance it was written by Trump himself."

This suggests a 22% chance that it was written by new Trump White House comms director Bill Shine, who, after all, was named in at least four lawsuits against Fox News alleging sexual harassment or racial discrimination (CNN) and finally was forced out in disgrace (NYT). This ultra-misogynistic smear campaign is right up his odoriferous alley.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:57 AM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


Third poll in three days showing Kavanaugh under water bigly.
USA Today: "Amid allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh, those surveyed say by 40 percent to 31 percent that the Senate shouldn't vote to approve his nomination, the first time a plurality of Americans have opposed a Supreme Court nominee since polling on the issue began."
posted by chris24 at 7:04 AM on September 21, 2018 [23 favorites]


You guys. There is a protest in DC on Monday in support of Dr. Ford. I wish to Maude I could make it. I looked at flights and cancelling my Sunday class but there's no way I can make it in time with the cost of flights currently. Could someone, anyone, please go in my stead. Please be angry for me in the halls of Senate. Please support Christine Blasey Ford for me. I can send a little cash, but I really hope someone who is closer can go.
posted by Sophie1 at 7:09 AM on September 21, 2018 [62 favorites]


WaPo: 'Senior Senate Democratic aides tell me that in the upcoming Judiciary Committee hearing, Democrats are likely to pose questions along these lines directly to Kavanaugh, when he is under oath."

---

And with the ability to subpoena records/emails if they take a House, it gets interesting.
posted by chris24 at 7:09 AM on September 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


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. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!

You know that report about how Trump's advisors were "stunned" he was showing such restraint? Yeah, that was just a dog whistle to Trump to get on twitter, and it clearly worked. The meta-ness of it all is making my head spin.
posted by bluesky43 at 7:10 AM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


What are the odds a WH press corp journalist will ask SHS what 'level' of sexual assault Trump thinks is required before the victim is allowed to call it a crime and report it?
posted by PenDevil at 7:13 AM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Trump knows women often don't report sexual assault. He bragged about being able to get away with it.

"When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
posted by chris24 at 7:16 AM on September 21, 2018 [44 favorites]


And with the ability to subpoena records/emails if they take a House, it gets interesting.

And being a Supreme Court Justice does not make immune to criminal prosecution for lying to Congress, fraud, money laundering, or, of course, sexual assault. Or from civil suits.

Right? Someone tell me I’m right.

Because at some point Kavanaugh needs to consider whether he wants a giant spotlight on his past deeds.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:22 AM on September 21, 2018 [25 favorites]


Because at some point Kavanaugh needs to consider whether he wants a giant spotlight on his past deeds.

Given the obvious desperation of his half-assed defense, and the possibility if not likelihood that he might expect other women to come forward with similar stories, one wonders if he would not in fact withdraw from consideration.

If so, it just shines a light on how cynical and phony the entire SCOTUS confirmation hearing process is. Though the Democrats had moments of pushback, he very nearly got confirmes -- he still might be confirmed -- despite his phony pretense of respecting precedent on Roe v Wade and the collective blindness to his fishy finances.

The whole process needs reform, though Ford knows how we can get it short of a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate majority (and likely not even then).
posted by Gelatin at 7:27 AM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


I mean, it’s time for a new Constitution entirely.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:30 AM on September 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


Damn the credible rape accusation, full speed ahead!

Dave Weigel (WaPo)
McConnell to social conservatives this morning at #VVS18, on Kavanaugh: “Keep the faith. Don’t get rattled by all of this. We’re gonna plow right through it and do our job.”

EDIT: VVS18 is the Value Voters Summit. You know, rightwing "Christians" who don't give a shit about rape.
posted by chris24 at 7:32 AM on September 21, 2018 [43 favorites]


We’re gonna plow right through it and do our job.

That is their job. Steal control of the Supreme Court for the next 40 years. Not find the best candidate, confirm any Republican. They want to rule America not by democratic consensus, but through judicial junta. The Republican model is Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution of Iran, not the Constitution or 400 years of liberal democratic tradition.

All Republicans hate democracy.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:38 AM on September 21, 2018 [62 favorites]


advise and to hell with consent, i guess
posted by murphy slaw at 7:42 AM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."

Taiwan police arrest American 3D-printed gun maker Cody Wilson

Includes photo of Cody in a police car, trying to hide his nazi pedo face.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:47 AM on September 21, 2018 [70 favorites]


I mean, some of us are dealing with that by gaming out the politics of it. Some people are checking out entirely.

But yeah. I think every woman I know is having trouble.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:47 AM on September 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


Taiwan police arrest American 3D-printed gun maker Cody Wilson

Even better, they revoked his passport, so presumably he no longer has protection from extradition.

In other gun nut news: Russia's 2016 Twitter Campaign Was Strongly Pro-Gun, With Echoes Of The NRA
Russia's influence campaign on Twitter pushed pro-gun and pro-National Rifle Association messages during the 2016 election and beyond — a rare example of consistency in a scheme that mostly sought to play up extremes on the left and right.

On every issue, from race to healthcare, women's rights to police brutality, gay marriage to global warming, accounts associated with the "Internet Research Agency" sought to amplify controversy by playing up conflict.

Except when it came to guns and the NRA.
[...]
The IRA's agitation campaign was run by Russians out of an office in Saint Petersburg, according to court documents. How did they know how to pinpoint their political criticisms about the gun regulations in places such as Tehama County, California?

"When you're talking about that level of granularity ... it would make it so much more accurate and effective if you had someone on the ground in the United States," said Steve Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russian operations.

"If I were a Russian intelligence officer, I would immediately tell my colleagues, 'look, we need to get some Americans who really understand it and advise us, in order to really have an impact.'"
posted by zombieflanders at 7:58 AM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


A good indicator that the orange carbuncle on the behind of humanity likes to go rogue (as if anyone needed more evidence):

New Emails Show Confusion At The Pentagon After Trump’s Transgender Ban Tweets
[...]“Sirs – POTUS just tweeted the below on Transgenders not being able to serve in the military in any capacity. The total message is three different tweets all before 0900,” he said, pasting them in order. He said he would defer all questions to Mattis’ office.

“Everyone was caught flat-footed,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Kyle Kremer, the director of manpower and personnel at the Joint Chiefs, wrote Dunford and Selva a half-hour later. “More to follow.”
[...]
Later that day, press secretary Sarah Sanders insisted that “the president’s national security team was part of this discussion” and “this was a military decision.”

This seems to contradict an email by Dunford, the chairman of the joint chiefs, saying the “announcement was unexpected.”

“When asked, I will state that I was not consulted,” he told the heads of the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, National Guard and Navy the day after Trump’s announcement in an email obtained by BuzzFeed News in February.
[...]
The Justice Department has argued that executive privilege shields the documents and briefly asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on the matter, before withdrawing the request on Tuesday when a lower court put the matter on hold while appeals continue.

“Defendants to date have failed to identify even one general or military expert he consulted, despite having been ordered to do so repeatedly,” a judge in a federal court in Washington wrote in April.

“Indeed, the only evidence concerning the lead-up to his Twitter announcement reveals that military officials were entirely unaware of the ban,” she wrote. “The court is led to conclude that the ban was devised by the president, and the president alone.”
He is such an unredeemable asshole.
posted by PontifexPrimus at 8:08 AM on September 21, 2018 [40 favorites]


In a comment I wrote earlier which I think got deleted as part of a decision to remove a link to which I was responding, I said that the entire female population is angry, and hurting, and dealing with trauma that has often been repressed for decades.

I can't help feeling that we are on the precipice of something huge culturally. Kavanaugh is the avatar of pure white patriarchy. The Republicans are now, and forever will be the party of white supremacist patriarchy. They are the party of rapists and child molesters and wide beaters. They are the party of vote suppression and autonomy removal. They are anti poor, pro aristocrat, petty, vindictive monsters who just be stopped.

If every woman who has been harmed by this Kavanaugh nomination came out to vote against the Rapist Party, we could change the face of the world.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:08 AM on September 21, 2018 [62 favorites]


Ed Whelan Apologizes For Naming Kavanaugh Classmate As Blasey Ford’s Alleged Attacker


Nice of him to apologize for recklessly implicating a guy as a sexual predator.

Notably absent from his apology, any regret expressed to Blasey Ford for implying that her memory of a traumatic assault was faulty.
posted by murphy slaw at 8:09 AM on September 21, 2018 [46 favorites]


You know, I don't know what to make of this, but I really feel like Maggie Haberman has been ... different... lately. She got off Twitter very briefly and when she came back it seemed like she'd changed and was suddenly no fucks to give Maggie, and I feel like she's been much more openly antagonistic of the Trump administration and its allies lately. Anyway, here's what she's tweeting about the evil twin theory:

Sort of surprising that people seem to think Whalen did this by sifting through Google in the dark. The move was incredibly irresponsible to put some citizen’s name out there. But he was clearly working off oppo. Who helped him/knew is a valid question.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 8:10 AM on September 21, 2018 [31 favorites]


but I really feel like Maggie Haberman has been ... different... lately.

She probably got tired of feeling increasingly isolated.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:12 AM on September 21, 2018 [68 favorites]


She got off Twitter very briefly and when she came back it seemed like she'd changed and was suddenly no fucks to give Maggie

She's increasingly isolated.
posted by Etrigan at 8:13 AM on September 21, 2018 [19 favorites]


The looming Fox News government shutdown - Matt Gertz, Media Matters.

Yellow journalism for the 21st century.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:14 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


What gets me is, those prep-schools are all still open. Still packed to the rafters with 17-year-old boys and 15-year-old girls. We still have a summer every single year, and there's been a summer every year since Bret Kavanaugh's 17th summer, when he went to parties at which he got so wasted he didn't know where he was. We had a summer this year and we're going to have another one next year and the year after that and the year after that, and there are going to be American 17-year-old popular boys and American 15-year-old sophomore girls going about the business of growing up during those summers. If we want to continue to prep elite boys for SCOTUS, POTUS, the senate, the house, governorships, and every other living they might wish to seek and we do not want the preparation to include rape and binge drinking, then the grown folk must start behaving as if the kids mattered. The kids now. The ones watching the Kavanaugh circus. What's this prepping them for?

Nothing has changed: the culture now is the exact same fish-in-a-barrel set-up it was then. If anything had changed, they would have sent the FBI to investigate and subpoenaed everybody at the party, not to mention the in-the-room witness. But nothing has changed and we're currently growing the next Bret Kavanaugh and the next Trump, and everybody fomenting to shove Kavanaugh onto the court without examining this knows that perfectly well. The notion that this couldn't have happened because Bret Kavanaugh now doesn't behave like an inebriated adolescent is just insane. That this bullshit happens all the time is well known to every grown human who's ever been to an unsupervised adolescent party, and that's probably nearly every person in congress, the president, everyone on the court, every grown person watching this who grew up in the US. The idea that they never noticed these inequities when they were in school? The idea that they somehow missed the hideous negligence of letting crowds of kids congregate unsupervised and drown in alcohol all summer while their own children were growing up? Not credible. This is how they came up, and they had fun with it. They want this for their own children. They like this, and they want to preserve it.
posted by Don Pepino at 8:15 AM on September 21, 2018 [56 favorites]


Chrysostom: And still, the GOP candidate for PA House 44 canvassed us today.

But that tactic has been working well for Beto, why not try and replicate it? No really, serious question.


Ars Technica round-up: Cody Wilson reportedly trying to rent an apartment in Taiwan, per local media -- USMS: "What is his income? And who may foster him while he’s a fugitive?" (Cyrus Farivar, Sept. 20, 2018)
After skipping his flight back to the US in the wake of accusations of sexual assault against a minor, Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson attempted to rent an apartment in Taipei this week, according to United Daily News (Chinese, Google Translate), a Chinese-language media outlet based in Taiwan.

That article indicates that Wilson appears to have initially passed himself off as an American student living in the city. But after Wilson seemed to have secured an apartment by making an initial down payment, the rental agency reportedly recognized him and called the authorities. UDN writes that area police and Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau are now trying to again locate Wilson.
...
Given that Wilson's current whereabouts remain unconfirmed, his arrest may not necessarily come soon. Earlier today, the United States Marshals Service (USMS) officially distributed a press release along with a wanted poster to American media.

"You have to realize, here in Texas, with our nature being so close to the Republic of Mexico, we have a lot of fugitives," Brandon Filla, an Austin-based spokesman with the USMS, told Ars on Wednesday evening. "The only thing that's different [in Wilson's case] is the geographic location."

A major difference between dealing with cases in Mexico versus Taiwan is that Mexico will extradite Americans who are wanted. Taiwan lacks such an extradition agreement with the US.

Even if extradition isn't a given in this scenario, Wilson could be subject to deportation order under Taiwanese law. According to The Taiwan News, the National Immigration Agency would detain Wilson should he attempt to leave the island. Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau has noted to the press that, since Wilson has not committed any crimes in Taiwan, he cannot be arrested. But he could be ordered to leave the island.

As of Wednesday evening, the USMS had not begun interviewing anyone that it believes may be connected to the case.
FCC angers cities and towns with $2 billion giveaway to wireless carriers -- Cities will get less revenue, and carriers won't face any new requirements. (Jon Brodkin, Sept. 21, 2018)
The Federal Communications Commission's plan for spurring 5G wireless deployment will prevent city and town governments from charging carriers about $2 billion worth of fees.

The FCC proposal, to be voted on at its meeting on September 26, limits the amount that local governments may charge carriers for placing 5G equipment such as small cells on poles, traffic lights, and other government property in public rights-of-way. The proposal, which is supported by the FCC's Republican majority, would also force cities and towns to act on carrier applications within 60 or 90 days.

The FCC says this will spur more deployment of small cells, which "have antennas often no larger than a small backpack." But the commission's proposal doesn't require carriers to build in areas where they wouldn't have done so anyway.

Philadelphia is one of numerous local governments that objects to the FCC plan.

"The City respectfully disagrees with the Commission's interpretation of 'fair and reasonable' compensation," Philadelphia officials told the commission (PDF) this week. "For many cities, public rights-of-way are the most valuable and commonly used public asset."

The FCC plan proposes up-front application fees of $100 for each small cell and annual fees of up to $270 per small cell. The FCC says this is a "reasonable approximation of [localities'] costs for processing applications and for managing deployments in the rights-of-way." Cities that charge more than that would likely face litigation from carriers and would have to prove that the fees are a reasonable approximation of all costs and "non-discriminatory."

But, according to Philadelphia, those proposed fees "are simply de minimis when measured against the costs that the City incurs to approve, support, and maintain the many small cell and distributed antenna system (DAS) installations in its public rights-of-way."
...
Rural governments also cry foul

Localities both large and small object to the FCC plan. A group representing 35 rural California counties told the FCC (PDF) that its "proposed recurring fee structure is an unreasonable overreach that will harm local policy innovation."

The FCC-proposed limit of $270 per small cell site is too low, said the group, which is called the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC).

"That is why many local governments have worked to negotiate fair agreements with wireless providers, which may exceed that number or provide additional benefits to the community," the RCRC wrote. "The FCC's decision to prohibit municipalities' ability to require 'in-kind' conditions on installation agreements is in direct conflict with the FCC's stated intent of this Order and further constrains local governments in deploying wireless services to historically underserved areas."

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti expressed similar concerns (PDF), saying the FCC plan "will insert confusion into the market and sow mistrust between my technology team and the carriers with whom we have already reached agreements."

The full FCC docket is available here.
I reviewed cell tower permits as a land use planner in California, and we had pretty strict regulations that limited visual impacts of cellular facilities. While the antennas that I reviewed were definitely bigger than "a small backpack," attaching a plastic backpack-sized thing to public spaces is definitely under the county's jurisdiction, and review included public hearings, so 60 or 90 days is likely not feasible, because there's also a requirement to give adjacent property owners and renters advance notice of the hearing. And back when I worked on these permits, we charged the cell companies actual hours worked, instead of the flat fees we applied to most project review cases, because cell project review could be quick work or lengthy reviews, sometimes very lengthy if they were also laying new cables to connect the towers to infrastructure.

Because cellular infrastructure isn't just plug-and-go antennas, it's connection to hardwired communications lines, and power, plus generators in case of power outages, which is CRITICAL if people are using mobile phones as their only means of communication, as my current work is doing now, pulling out our landlines and making everyone rely on our cell phones. Oh, and Despite data caps and throttling, industry says mobile can replace home Internet -- Can mobile replace fiber or cable? Carriers say yes as FCC reviews deployment. (Jon Brodkin, Sept. 19, 2018)
AT&T and Verizon are trying to convince the Federal Communications Commission that mobile broadband is good enough for Internet users who don't have access to fiber or cable services.

The carriers made this claim despite the data usage and speed limitations of mobile services. In the mobile market, even "unlimited" plans can be throttled to unusable speeds after a customer uses just 25GB or so a month. Mobile carriers impose even stricter limits on phone hotspots, making it difficult to use mobile services across multiple devices in the home.

The carriers ignored those limits in filings they submitted for the FCC's annual review of broadband deployment.
Yeah, so always-available cell service is critical as cell companies try to be allowed to be the only communications providers.

In short, fuck Republican hacks and Ajit Pai for trying to undermine local authority (what happened to States Rights? Oh right, they're fine as long as they don't unduly burden businesses) and give away public space to private companies.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:18 AM on September 21, 2018 [33 favorites]


Nice of him to apologize for recklessly implicating a guy as a sexual predator.

Apologizing for naming him but not for the insane theory they introduced to muddy the water. Fuck. Them.
posted by chris24 at 8:20 AM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


sorta feel like the Cody Wilson stuff and FCC stuff deserve their own threads? They're sorta getting lost here.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:21 AM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Annals of bad targeting:

They might not be targeting at all. I asked a GOP canvasser just this week how many doors on my street he was supposed to hit, and he said "All of them."
posted by Etrigan at 8:26 AM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


sorta feel like the Cody Wilson stuff and FCC stuff deserve their own threads? They're sorta getting lost here.

Seconded. Flagged filthy light thief's comment as fantastic; it can probably anchor a thread on its own.

posted by ZeusHumms at 8:28 AM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


Buzzfeed: Trump Tower Meeting Planners Moved Millions, Mueller Now Investigating—Documents show suspicious transfers began six days before the controversial meeting.
Documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News show that $3.3 million began moving on June 3 between two of the men who orchestrated the meeting: Aras Agalarov, a billionaire real estate developer close to both Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, and Irakly “Ike” Kaveladze, a longtime Agalarov employee once investigated for money laundering.

That money is on top of the more than $20 million that was flagged as suspicious, BuzzFeed News revealed earlier this month, after the money ricocheted among the planners and participants of the Trump Tower meeting. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, which has been investigating whether any individuals colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, is examining the suspicious transactions, four federal law enforcement officials said. A spokesperson for Mueller’s office declined to comment.

Although the documents do not directly link the $3.3 million to the meeting, they show that officials at three separate banks raised red flags about the funds. Many of the transfers seemed to have no legitimate purpose, bankers noted. Kaveladze quickly moved money to other accounts he controlled, and appeared to use some of it to make payments on Agalarov’s behalf — including more than $700,000 to pay off American Express charges.
This is crazy-sourced—Buzzfeed, not the NYT or the WaPo, is the one with a Deep Throat in Treasury/FINCEN.
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:34 AM on September 21, 2018 [58 favorites]


Don Pepino: This is how they came up, and they had fun with it. They want this for their own children. They like this, and they want to preserve it.

Indeed. Plus, if their children end up committing similar crimes in similar situations they'll be less likely to turn on their parents.
posted by clawsoon at 8:38 AM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Tweeted a half hour ago.

Erick Erickson
This is a sordid business, but Ed Whelan provides a more compelling narrative than Professor Ford. The Most Plausible Theory Has Surfaced About Professor Ford's "Assault"
posted by chris24 at 8:44 AM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


This is crazy-sourced—Buzzfeed, not the NYT or the WaPo, is the one with a Deep Throat in Treasury/FINCEN.

Would you really trust your life to organizations which serve to "leak" information directly from Trump and obscure its source? Maggie would be on the phone for Trump's response in a hot minute.
posted by benzenedream at 8:44 AM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Yale Law Faculty has written an Open Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

It's pretty neutral, as I would expect law professors to be.
posted by Sophie1 at 8:44 AM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


Nice of him to apologize for recklessly implicating a guy as a sexual predator.

$20 says he got a letter from the nice man's lawyer pointing out that accusing someone of a crime or sexual misconduct is a defamation per se (don't need to show damages) case in many jurisdictions. If it's not entirely about damage control before the middle school teacher's lawyer comes down on them like a ton of bricks I'll be very surprised.

I hope Whelan gets sued for every penny he's got.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:45 AM on September 21, 2018 [19 favorites]


Erick Erickson: This is a sordid business, but Ed Whelan provides a more compelling narrative than Professor Ford. The Most Plausible Theory Has Surfaced About Professor Ford's "Assault"

These are the "good" never-Trump Republicans.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:46 AM on September 21, 2018 [41 favorites]


Y'know, I was ruminating on Trump's quote - "When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything"

I went to an all-boys Jesuit prep school. We were constantly told we were stars. Light of the world. Men for others. We're told that we're stars, almost literally.

High-school Kavanaugh was just pre-fulfilling Trump's prophecy, thirty years in advance.
posted by notsnot at 8:48 AM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


The most plausible theory is that he did it and she knows it.

The second most plausible theory is that he did it and the Republicans know it, so they're deploying their alternate-reality media apparatus in a desperate attempt to make this explosive situation go away.
posted by Gelatin at 8:49 AM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Whelan's batshit insanity is so that someone credible can repeat it as a "what if" and their batshit ilk conservative base can plausibly convince themselves that their new SCOTUS justice isn't a sexual criminal.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:51 AM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


In short, fuck Republican hacks and Ajit Pai for trying to undermine local authority (what happened to States Rights? Oh right, they're fine as long as they don't unduly burden businesses) and give away public space to private companies.

The thing to always remember about Republicans is that none of their beliefs are deeply held except that they want power, they want money, and they want the "other" to suffer. Every other stated belief is just a means to an end, always negotiable so long as their real desires are met.
posted by tocts at 8:56 AM on September 21, 2018 [43 favorites]


I went to an all-boys Jesuit prep school. We were constantly told we were stars. Light of the world. Men for others. We're told that we're stars, almost literally.

That’s ... not what Pedro Arrupe meant by training “men for others,” of course, but this is neither the place nor the time to discuss it.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 8:56 AM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Whelan's batshit insanity is so that someone credible can repeat it as a "what if"

Ed Whelan is constantly trotted out as the "someone credible". He's a fixture in the WSJ and conservative legal reviews and conferences. He's constantly quoted everywhere as a respectable Republican offering the party perspective. He's as mainstream Republican operative as it gets, as much as Eric Erickson and Ben Shapiro.

It's the entire Republican structure that's rotten. All of them. There is no "someone credible".
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:57 AM on September 21, 2018 [29 favorites]


Funny... I went looking for "men for others" and Pedro Arrupe, and it led me to what appears to be the speech by Arrupe which caused the biggest stir. In it, he says again and again "men-and-women-for-others".

I wonder how the second part of the phrase got lost.
posted by clawsoon at 9:04 AM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


(Might be my mistake about Arrupe. Not sure which translator is correct.)
posted by clawsoon at 9:05 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


Maryland State Senator Wants State Police to Investigate Kavanaugh Assault Charge

Cheryl Kagan is the State Senator in my district (Rockville/Gaithersburg in Montgomery County). She made news earlier this year when she spoke up about sexual harassment and assault in the Maryland General Assembly, and went public with her story when she was groped (on camera, at an Annapolis restaurant) by a lobbyist this year.

From the post linked above:
The Montgomery County Police told the news website Bethesda Beat earlier this week that they would investigate the allegations only if a criminal complaint is reported to them, which had not been done.
posted by duffell at 9:05 AM on September 21, 2018 [23 favorites]


Ed Whelan is constantly trotted out as the "someone credible"

Whelan is a racist and a homophobe.
posted by chris24 at 9:10 AM on September 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


So are Erickson and Ben Shapiro. It's all of them. Every. One.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:13 AM on September 21, 2018 [17 favorites]




Maybe Kavanaugh should be asked about this. Maybe Whelan should be called to testify.

Jon Favreau
Here’s a question: how did Ed Whelan know the location of Ford’s female friend’s house? He had it on the map. As far as I know, her name hasn’t been made public.
posted by chris24 at 9:17 AM on September 21, 2018 [61 favorites]


Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau:
Here’s a question: how did Ed Whelan know the location of Ford’s female friend’s house? He had it on the map. As far as I know, her name hasn’t been made public.
In the meantime, writers from several publications, including Eliana Johnson at Politico, Ramesh Ponnoru at the National Review, Bethany Mandel at Tablet, and Erick Erickson at Resurgent have all publicly admitted that they knew something was going on and/or were pitched the story directly. I know it's not going to happen, but all of them should be subpoenaed, and directed to hand over all communications related to either Whelan or Kavanagh and Dr Ford.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:20 AM on September 21, 2018 [59 favorites]


I know it's not going to happen

Well let’s make sure it’s on the list for January 3rd then

And let’s make sure they all know we’re not going to let this go. Prisoner’s dilemma by proxy, sort of.
posted by schadenfrau at 9:27 AM on September 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


Follow-up on Favreau's tweet from Brian Beutler:
Whelan, who went to high school in Orange County, CA, has a fake mysterious amount of knowledge about Kavanaugh’s high school circle, including his doppelgänger, and the homes of people who were at a party that Kavanaugh insists he didn’t attend. This seems to establish, at a bare minimum, that people on Team Kavanaugh, if not Kavanaugh himself, remember the party and who was there. The backdrop for all this is that Republicans are refusing to request an FBI background investigation of this incident about which multiple people seem to have ample knowledge.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:29 AM on September 21, 2018 [82 favorites]


Vast Right-wing Conspiracy would seem to sum up the Doppelganger Gambit at this point.
posted by Slackermagee at 9:29 AM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


I know it's not going to happen, but all of them should be subpoenaed, and directed to hand over all communications related to either Whelan or Kavanagh and Dr Ford.

I'm pretty sure there are ways to to get to the bottom of this omnishambles without subpoenas demanding reporters reveal their sources.
posted by Uncle Ira at 9:29 AM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


But they arent their sources because they didnt run the pieces - they are operatives planting made up bullshit and dont deserve any of the protections afforded sources by journalists.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:33 AM on September 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


To build on what Exceptional_Hubris said, these folks were using their personal soapboxes to function as political operatives to discuss unsubstantiated theories that come with a pretty big possibility of legal liability. Unless I'm missing something, tweets that come from personal accounts rather than official publications' accounts are considered personal communication, not news stories. That's part of the reason why so many people put "this account does not reflect the viewpoints or opinions of my employer" in their profiles. That's part of the omnishambles, not a different issue.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:45 AM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


Today would be a great day for Justin Kennedy to be called to the Principal's Special Counsel's office
posted by fluttering hellfire at 9:47 AM on September 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


Ex-Trump Lawyer Tried to Help Pay Legal Fees for Manafort, Gates [Warning: WSJ]

John Dowd has been a naughty boy.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:54 AM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


I'd like to apologize for my terrible mathing skills in the previous comment about Collins' opponent funding. I was missing a '5' in from of the '2' and it should have read "$52k". We regret the error.
posted by yoga at 9:54 AM on September 21, 2018


I'm a little disappointed that the Democrats aren't repeatedly bringing up the point that this close to the election, Kavanaugh's confirmation really should be delayed a few weeks until we can hear the will of the voters. This should be chanted daily to the press, sent out over twitter, shouted from the rooftops…

Unlike last time, you could make an actual argument to that effect.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 9:56 AM on September 21, 2018 [42 favorites]


Whelan's "own goal" creates second scandal.

The tweets from Steven Schmidt detailed in this Vox article are particularly illuminating.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:56 AM on September 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


I'm a little disappointed that the Democrats aren't repeatedly bringing up the point that this close to the election, Kavanaugh's confirmation really should be delayed a few weeks until we can hear the will of the voters.

They are, though. With the exception of some of the centrists*, a lot of them are talking about it at least once a day.


* Except, happily, for Doug Jones, who of course got his reputation from doggedly pursuing justice for victims of decades-old crimes.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:02 AM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


schadenfrau: "NEW: Cook now rates Ted Cruz-Beto O'Rourke a tossup.
4 Dem tossups/4 GOP tossups in ratings
"

Here's the Cook write-up on their rating moves. Duffy's takes is most likely outcome is no net change, then D gain of 1, then D gain of 2 (i.e., control). 538's analysis is pretty similar, they rank it: D+1, no change, D+2.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:02 AM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


King Baby is coming to MO to stump for Hawley this evening.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 10:07 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


I'm a little disappointed that the Democrats aren't repeatedly bringing up the point that this close to the election, Kavanaugh's confirmation really should be delayed a few weeks until we can hear the will of the voters. This should be chanted daily to the press, sent out over twitter, shouted from the rooftops…

I just called Senator Bill Nelson's office and did everything but scream this into his voice mail. I'm so tired of the democrats attempting to play fair as if that has ever worked with the republicans. Merrick Garland should be on the supreme court but the republicans squashed any chance of that happening. It's no wonder Senator Hirono is cursing mad watching all of these men in her own party stand around kicking the dirt like there's nothing they can do. It's also why Nelson is going to lose in November.
posted by photoslob at 10:10 AM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


I'm pretty sure there are ways to to get to the bottom of this omnishambles without subpoenas demanding reporters reveal their sources.

Shield laws are not absolute. If someone calls up a reporter* and says "I'm going to commit an armed robbery at the Bank of America on the corner of Maple and 1st at noon tomorrow, and I want to make sure someone's there to take a picture of me burning out of the parking lot", that person is not considered a protected source when the police ask the reporter why they happened to be on the corner of Maple and 1st with a camera at noon.

* -- Erickson and Mandel et al do not even call themselves reporters, so no one else has to pretend they are either.
posted by Etrigan at 10:11 AM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


Kavanaugh and Trump are part of a larger crisis of elite accountability in America, Matt Yglesias, Vox
No society ever truly lives up to the ideals of social accountability. But there are moments when reality grows closer or more distant from its ideals, and it’s become clear that in recent years, the United States has strayed very far from the path. So much so that the idea of holding a member of the inner circle of the American elite accountable for his actions strikes many as fundamentally unfair — a violation of the settled rules of society in which people (or at least men) who go to the right schools and meet with a degree of professional success get to stay in the club, regardless of what happens. To heal the country, that, fundamentally, is what needs to change.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:13 AM on September 21, 2018 [33 favorites]


Kavanaugh's confirmation really should be delayed a few weeks until we can hear the will of the voters.

I have to think that Kavanaugh is done-for. I see this all as DC-MEN kicking anybody in the head who challenges their plans and desires.

The Whelan idiocy was a last-gasp attempt to distract, if not a lashing out on innocents on the way down, and if Blasey-Ford winds up having her day on the mic (or even scheduling it), his nomination could not survive it. Heck, even Trump gets in some sucker-punches.
posted by rhizome at 10:15 AM on September 21, 2018


@realDonaldTrump: I met with the DOJ concerning the declassification of various UNREDACTED documents. They agreed to release them but stated that so doing may have a perceived negative impact on the Russia probe. Also, key Allies’ called to ask not to release. Therefore, the Inspector General.........has been asked to review these documents on an expedited basis. I believe he will move quickly on this (and hopefully other things which he is looking at). In the end I can always declassify if it proves necessary. Speed is very important to me - and everyone!

BuzzFeed, Geidner, The White House Said Trump "Directed" Declassification Of Key Russia Documents. He Acknowledged Today That He Didn't.
At the end of a week that began with the White House announcing that President Donald Trump "directed" the "immediate declassification" of documents relating to the Russia investigation, Trump acknowledged that there was no directive — tweeting instead that an "expedited" review regarding the release of some of those documents was being sought.

The acknowledgement further clarifies a statement White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders made to BuzzFeed News on the night of Sept. 17. When asked for the directives mentioned in a statement released under her name, Sanders responded, "There isn’t anything else, just the statement."
What are the chances they actually looked at the stuff he ordered declassified and realized it would make them look worse so they had to backpedal?
posted by zachlipton at 10:23 AM on September 21, 2018 [29 favorites]


‘Shoot Them on Sight’: Stacey Abrams’ Campaign Harassed by White Nationalists; Republican Brian Kemp and Georgia Media Say Nothing - Jason Johnson, The Root

Calling out press bias throughout Georgia, as one does, focusing specifically on a campaign event in early September. Concludes with:
All of this one-sided coverage during the campaign would almost lead you to believe that there just might be bias in many news outlets in Georgia. Maybe, despite the polls being tied, news directors and editors in Georgia actually want to elect a Trump worshipping, dog-whistling, child-threatening, vote-suppressing, white nationalist-supported politician who has no loyalty to party, principle or practice unless it’s going to help him get into office.

Either that or they simply don’t want a state party leader, Yale-educated lawyer and author, to get elected because she just so happens to be black. Of course, that would be a massive generalization about the Georgia press, and we know massive generalizations aren’t fair, even if they only seem to apply to black candidates, and even if they’re probably true.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:23 AM on September 21, 2018 [25 favorites]


Trump just walked back his controversial order to declassify Russia investigation information
Four days after issuing a controversial, wide-ranging instruction to the Justice Department to declassify and publicly release a great deal of material related to the Russia investigation without redactions, President Donald Trump said, essentially, never mind.

Trump tweeted Friday that he had heard concerns from both the Justice Department and “key Allies” about his instruction. Therefore, he said, he’d asked the inspector general “to review these documents on an expedited basis.” The exact meaning of his tweets isn’t clear, but they appear to represent a near-total walkback of his earlier announcement.
Ceterum autem censeo Trumpem esse delendam
posted by kirkaracha at 10:23 AM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


But they arent their sources because they didnt run the pieces - they are operatives planting made up bullshit and dont deserve any of the protections afforded sources by journalists.

I agree in principle, but at some point we have to address the fact that being a 'journalist' is sometimes just a figleaf for being a full-on political operative. I don't know how to thread that needle, but add it to the pile of problems.
posted by bcd at 10:25 AM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


@seungminkim: NEW -- Republicans are preparing offer back to Katz's attorneys about hearing: It should be Wednesday, not Thursday, and that Ford has to testify first, not Kavanaugh. Offer not final and not sent, per numerous GOP sources. Discussed on Judiciary R call this morning

@nielslesniewski: As a reminder, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds regularly-scheduled business meetings on Thursdays. I'm guessing this, but a Wednesday hearing would allow a Thursday vote to report.

AP, Collins: Delay vote to let Kavanaugh accuser testify
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says she’s “appalled” by President Donald Trump’s tweet criticizing his Supreme Court nominee’s accuser.

Collins also said Friday in Portland that it’s reasonable for Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote to be delayed to allow Christine Blasey (BLAH’-zee) Ford to testify Wednesday or Thursday. She said it’s important for the Judiciary Committee to “make it as comfortable as possible.”
posted by zachlipton at 10:31 AM on September 21, 2018 [25 favorites]


On an unrelated note, Michael Cohen dropped into Manhattan Federal Court. He said he "came for a visit."

I wasn't going to post this picture because it's basically just the same thing of him leaving, and how many pictures of Michael Cohen do we need to see, but then I noticed it has an ad in the background (in Spanish) about keeping New York clean and free of rats, and it is now the best picture.
posted by zachlipton at 10:33 AM on September 21, 2018 [25 favorites]


I have to think that Kavanaugh is done-for. I see this all as DC-MEN kicking anybody in the head who challenges their plans and desires.

Really? Because just this morning McConnell pledged to "plow right through it". They don't care about optics. They'll put a sexual predator on SCOTUS. They've done it before, they'll do it again. Short of two Republicans growing a conscience in the next week it's a done deal.

It'll be a minor miracle if he isn't confirmed..
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:39 AM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


Journalism is something that happens by degrees. There are a lot of attacks on bloggers doing good journalism that don't work for WaPo or NYT. We don't need some external organ certifying who is and is not a journalist. A journalist is someone who is doing journalism, even if some of it is shoddy at best, and that shoddy journalism is found in the MSM as well as terrible blogs.
posted by M-x shell at 10:40 AM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


She said it’s important for the Judiciary Committee to “make it as comfortable as possible.”

Sounds like Collins is starting to rehedge her bets.
posted by schadenfrau at 10:41 AM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


@seungminkim: NEW -- Republicans are preparing offer back to Katz's attorneys about hearing: It should be Wednesday, not Thursday, and that Ford has to testify first, not Kavanaugh. Offer not final and not sent, per numerous GOP sources. Discussed on Judiciary R call this morning

They're still hoping to save the situation by declaring ford an uncooperative witness, but Kavanaugh testifying first should be non-negotiable. Let him sweat.
posted by Gelatin at 10:42 AM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Sounds like Collins is starting to rehedge her bets.

It's about time. That campaign to fund her opponent is almost at its 1.5 M goal!

Way back, someone mentioned how much her opponent has socked away, but I can't seem to find it.

Note though, that Collins is not backing delay until outside investigation, just letting the kangaroo court slip a few days.
posted by maniabug at 10:48 AM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS. HAPPENING?

NYT, Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt, Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment
The deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, suggested last year that he secretly record President Trump in the White House to expose the chaos consuming the administration, and he discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office for being unfit.

Mr. Rosenstein made these suggestions in the spring of 2017 when Mr. Trump’s firing of James B. Comey as F.B.I. director plunged the White House into turmoil. Over the ensuing days, the president divulged classified intelligence to Russians in the Oval Office, and revelations emerged that Mr. Trump had asked Mr. Comey to pledge loyalty and end an investigation into a senior aide.

Mr. Rosenstein was just two weeks into his job. He had begun overseeing the Russia investigation and played a key role in the president’s dismissal of Mr. Comey by writing a memo critical of his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. But Mr. Rosenstein was caught off guard when Mr. Trump cited the memo in the firing, and he began telling people that he feared he had been used.

Mr. Rosenstein made the remarks about secretly recording Mr. Trump and about the 25th Amendment in meetings and conversations with other Justice Department and F.B.I. officials. Several people described the episodes, insisting on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The people were briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by F.B.I. officials, including Andrew G. McCabe, then the acting bureau director, that documented Mr. Rosenstein’s actions and comments.
...
Mr. Rosenstein disputed this account.

“The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” he said in a statement. “I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

A Justice Department spokeswoman also provided a statement from a person who was present when Mr. Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire. The person, who would not be named, acknowledged the remark but said Mr. Rosenstein made it sarcastically. But according to the others who described his comments, Mr. Rosenstein not only confirmed that he was serious about the idea but also followed up by suggesting that other F.B.I. officials who were interviewing to be the bureau’s director could also secretly record Mr. Trump.
posted by zachlipton at 10:51 AM on September 21, 2018 [33 favorites]


Someone's desperate for a way to fire Rosenstein and then Mueller?
posted by chris24 at 10:55 AM on September 21, 2018 [52 favorites]


WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS. HAPPENING?

NYT, Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt, Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment


This certainly puts Rosenstein back in Trump's crosshairs, if he'd ever left. Which is quite possibly the express intent of the anonymous sources.
posted by cudzoo at 10:57 AM on September 21, 2018 [16 favorites]


I am assured that the president places no credence in anonymously-sourced fake news stories from the failing new york times
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:59 AM on September 21, 2018 [61 favorites]


Also, conservatives are certainly going to read this as a sign of bias and ill intent on Rosenstein's part. So maybe they're providing more giving cover for what Trump's been waiting to do, or what's in the works.
posted by cudzoo at 10:59 AM on September 21, 2018


So does this mean the grand jury is handing down indictments today?
posted by stopgap at 10:59 AM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


Certainly feels like a Rosenstein hit piece to me.
posted by Twain Device at 11:01 AM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


Really? Because just this morning McConnell pledged to "plow right through it". They don't care about optics.

I think they do, and are "plowing through" a lie that they have the votes and that "plowing through it" isn't brinksmanship in itself. The optics as McConnell sees it is that the confirmation is progressing right along, but if it does, in this state of affairs, confidence in the judiciary is going to suffer. For crying out loud, pushing the Doppleganger (who is not actually a doppleganger) Theory is not the sign of a confident clan of supporters. They're reaching for shit.
posted by rhizome at 11:01 AM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


It's after Hurricane Florence, which was the Hannity (?) suggestion about the timing of the big move, so that fits.

You can never leave the Megathread.
posted by notyou at 11:05 AM on September 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Sounds like Collins is starting to rehedge her bets.

Fundraising aside, I would guess the pressure on Collins from folks here in Maine is enormous.

I know they met her with signs at the airport when she flew in yesterday, and there have been huge video installations going on across from her office here in Portland pretty much non-stop for weeks. (Here's one being projected on City Hall, Tweeted out by one of our City Council members.) Her voicemail is constantly full, constituents turn up in all her offices daily, and since King announced he's against, a lot of people have been lobbying King to lobby her to oppose.

I personally know quite a number of people who are typical middle-of-the-road Maine Republicans who have said they've reached out to her asking her to vote no. Insane Governor aside, Maine has a reputation as a State with moderate Republican leadership because there are quite a large number of people here who are, in fact, moderate Republicans. I suspect (but have no data) that she's probably getting a ton of pressure from her actual donors as well as from the progressive/activist citizens here.

It is pretty clear that, barring some huge change of heart for her, she's done. She's been elected for years on the strength of Dem women in Southern Maine liking her enough to vote for her. That's clearly over. She has to realize that. The real question now is how beholden she is to her DC masters.
posted by anastasiav at 11:08 AM on September 21, 2018 [27 favorites]


Out of all the possible pieces to run with anonymous sourcing, this feels...like a really dangerous piece to have run with anonymous sourcing.

Journalism is something that happens by degrees. There are a lot of attacks on bloggers doing good journalism that don't work for WaPo or NYT. We don't need some external organ certifying who is and is not a journalist.


You know, maybe that's exactly what we need.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:09 AM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


My own anonymous source is saying Rosenstein wont make it to the end of the day.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 11:09 AM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


Out of all the possible pieces to run with anonymous sourcing, this feels...like a really dangerous piece to have run with anonymous sourcing. I don't get who would possibly want to leak this except people invested in ousting Rosenstein, and it's definitely more of a hit on Rosenstein than anything that might help us understand Trump.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. It feels like a hit taken out against Rosenstein. NOT a hit taken out by him. My apologies.
posted by Twain Device at 11:11 AM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


We don't need some external organ certifying who is and is not a journalist.

You know, maybe that's exactly what we need.


Imagine if we already had that, and that now it would be run by the Trump administration and Republicans. No thanks.
posted by reductiondesign at 11:14 AM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


1. What in the heck is happening.

The long knives are coming out
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:16 AM on September 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Time to start blasting the Mueller Firing Rapid Response link again I think.

With the reminder of the other conditions that trigger a protest.:


THE RED LINES

1.Firing Mueller
2.Pardons of key witnesses
3.Actions that would prevent the investigation from being conducted freely, such as replacing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Mueller’s current supervisor, or repealing the regulations establishing the office

* The firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions would be one step short of the break glass moment. We would not trigger events, but we would respond by growing the rapid-response list and demanding that any new AG protect the investigation and that Congress pass the Mueller protection legislation. *

posted by Twain Device at 11:19 AM on September 21, 2018 [35 favorites]


The other interesting thing in there is that we learn McCabe continued Comey's practice of writing memos to document events as they happened. McCabe's lawyer put out a statement saying that all his memos were given to Mueller's office, and another copy remained at the FBI. Then people who saw those memos talked to people who talked to the Times.

Comey's memos got rather interesting. I wonder what else is in McCabe's memos.
posted by zachlipton at 11:19 AM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


Several people described the episodes, insisting on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The people were briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by F.B.I. officials, including Andrew G. McCabe, then the acting bureau director, that documented Mr. Rosenstein’s actions and comments.

Sounds like someone was going through DoJ files to find dirt on Rosenstein. Someone like Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who found a spot there "advising" Sessions after he was booted from National Security Council in McMaster's post-Flynn purge. After his fuckery with the Nunes unmasking fiasco, he's been one to keep an eye on.
posted by Doktor Zed at 11:25 AM on September 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


I don't even understand the point of wearing a wire. We don't need tapes. He tweets/speaks/is video-recorded showing that he's utterly insane every day.

I mean, I can't imagine what we're *not* already seeing. He's a habitual liar, and he trusts no one. It's not like he's going to be secretly going 'ha ha we really put one over on the American people with that Russian shit'.

He's a self-evident lunatic. There are a dozen reasons to evoke the 25th off the top of my head. They simply don't want to.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 11:28 AM on September 21, 2018 [23 favorites]


The red lines for what? For people who think of themselves as serious and dignified to make eloquent, empty speeches full of sound and fury and which signify nothing?
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:28 AM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


A Justice Department spokeswoman also provided a statement from a person who was present when Mr. Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire.

Well that seems unnecessary since we've established you can just walk around with a smart phone with a recording app, practically asking people to repeat themselves into the flower on your lapel.
posted by phearlez at 11:28 AM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


Remember when Paul Manafort flipped? That was 6 days ago.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 11:34 AM on September 21, 2018 [100 favorites]


MetaFilter: You can never leave the Megathread.
posted by M-x shell at 11:36 AM on September 21, 2018 [52 favorites]


Paul Krugman: "A thought: the Kavanaugh mess has structural roots. Rs needed someone who was both ideologically reliable and at no risk of developing a conscience when it came to defending Trump against rule of law. So it had to be a bad person, which meant good odds of nasty stuff surfacing"
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:40 AM on September 21, 2018 [79 favorites]


Several people described the episodes, insisting on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The people were briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by F.B.I. officials, including Andrew G. McCabe, then the acting bureau director, that documented Mr. Rosenstein’s actions and comments.

So in other words, no source for the story was actually a party to any of these conversations.
posted by chris24 at 11:44 AM on September 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


@nycsouthpaw
How could NYT’s sources (who, again, only heard about Rosenstein’s remarks second or third hand according to the story) possibly “confirm that he was serious,” rather than sarcastic, in contradiction of someone who was *actually present*?

---

Marcy Wheeler: NYT GIVES TRUMP HIS EXCUSE TO FIRE ROD ROSENSTEIN
posted by chris24 at 11:49 AM on September 21, 2018 [39 favorites]


Remember when Paul Manafort flipped? That was 6 days ago.

I had a bottle of champagne chilling for the day he would get thrown in jail, and that bubbly was sweeeeeet. So, I chilled another for the day if/when Paulie would flip. It wasn't convenient for me to have it that night, so it's still in the fridge, but it feels like I've been cellaring it for years already.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:54 AM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


@nycsouthpaw
How could NYT’s sources (who, again, only heard about Rosenstein’s remarks second or third hand according to the story) possibly “confirm that he was serious,” rather than sarcastic, in contradiction of someone who was *actually present*?

---

Marcy Wheeler: NYT GIVES TRUMP HIS EXCUSE TO FIRE ROD ROSENSTEIN


I’m growing increasingly vice-deflated.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 11:54 AM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


The last line of that Wheeler piece perfectly encapsulates the NYT from circa 2014 - present:
I hope the clicks and access are worth giving third hand sources more weight than actual witnesses.
posted by T.D. Strange at 11:59 AM on September 21, 2018 [43 favorites]


The last line of that Wheeler piece perfectly encapsulates the NYT from circa 2014 - present:
I hope the clicks and access are worth giving third hand sources more weight than actual witnesses.
Uhh, pretty sure that if you all just had some more ~*~*~*~*~ MEDIA LITERACY ~*~*~*~*~ you wouldn't be so quick to criticise the Times.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:03 PM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


@gabrielsherman: Hearing Bill Shine rolling out media plan to build public support for Trump to fire Rosenstein

@ryanjreilly [examples in thread]: I will say this about the idea that Rod Rosenstein was joking: He has a long, well-established record of making bad jokes. Like, really, really, really bad jokes.
posted by zachlipton at 12:09 PM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


@emptywheel:
But look on the bright side, NYT!!!

This is no longer your most irresponsible article on the Russian investigation.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:09 PM on September 21, 2018 [20 favorites]


RoW(tm), and from past 24 hours only :

‘I’m the President of the US, NOT THE GLOBE' - Donald Trump defends protectionism at rally

In Reversal, Trump No Longer Demands Declassification of Russia Documents

Asks The Irish Times Is it acceptable to laugh at Donald Trump’s mushroom?

the WTF is wrong with you people department wants to be heard above the daily squabble


The Trump administration says global slavery and child labor are bad — for American businesses
They give an “unfair advantage” to US competitors, according to the US Labor Department.



For the first time in history, America will find itself consistently isolated on major issues before the Security Council. That's a role more commonly played by the likes of Russia or China. Sure, there were a few cases in the past when it had been in the minority on matters like Israel or Iraq. But, it has never struggled to rally a majority behind most of our diplomatic agenda.
posted by infini at 12:10 PM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


And right on cue, Maggie Haberman is back to her old tricks.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:12 PM on September 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


And right on cue, Maggie Haberman is back to her old tricks.

@HoarseWisperer
Replying to @maggieNYT
You have a remarkable gift for doing things worthy of criticism while being impervious to receiving it.
posted by chris24 at 12:14 PM on September 21, 2018 [26 favorites]


Dan Lavoie (fmr Sr Advisor to NYAG Underwood)
The only source whose general agenda we are allowed to see is a Justice Department spokeswoman -- who is providing a source to make the Deputy Attorney General look bad!

He's her boss!

That's wild...and is just slipped in unremarked upon!
A Justice Department spokeswoman also provided a statement from a person who was present when Mr. Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire. The person, who would not be named, acknowledged the remark but said Mr. Rosenstein made it sarcastically.
posted by chris24 at 12:18 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]




Ben White (Politico)
Amazing when you think about it that this leak of a senior law enforcement official contemplating recording and removing the president is viewed as a PRO-TRUMP leak.
posted by chris24 at 12:22 PM on September 21, 2018 [30 favorites]


@HoarseWisperer
Replying to @maggieNYT
You have a remarkable gift for doing things worthy of criticism while being impervious to receiving it.


Note that Haberman is not on the byline for this story. It will be instructive to count how many times she is mentioned versus the number of times the actual reporters on the story (Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt) are.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 12:23 PM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


I spent a small part of the morning being gaslit by my state house representative. I emailed Shane Sandridge after reading this article to say I was disappointed in his making light of sexual assault. He first asked where I got my information and then his response was that they were joking around BEFORE the allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh came out and that the article was making jabs about the process of investigating Kavanaugh's background, including "schoolage behavior, which is protected" according to Sandridge. Except. The date stamps of the "jokes" are 9/15. The story about the letter detailing the assault broke on the 14th. But he's adamant they were joking before and are being discredited by the left. I gave up arguing with him. Given all the other ways this week has been wretched for me as an assault survivor, I didn't really need this today, but I tried. This district is red like a fire truck and his Dem opponent is entirely nominal, not even yard signs, so I expect Sandridge will get elected by a double digit margin--he was appointed to the seat in '17 when his predecessor was chosen by DJT to chair some small business thing in DC. It was an unpleasant exchange, but I'm sure it was meant to be. I hope he is eaten by a grue.
posted by danielleh at 12:24 PM on September 21, 2018 [35 favorites]


People are replying to Maggie because she is shitting on anyone who questions the NYTimes for just practically running a Whitehouse press release.
posted by sideshow at 12:25 PM on September 21, 2018 [24 favorites]


Note that Habermann is not on the byline for this story. It will be instructive to count how many times she is mentioned versus the number of times the actual reporters on the story (Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt) are.

She jumped in to prop the reporters. She is acting as their advocate and defending them. It is logical for people to address her more because she is effectively acting as their PR specialist and snarking at people who dare criticize them.
posted by bootlegpop at 12:26 PM on September 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


Note that Habermann is not on the byline for this story. It will be instructive to count how many times she is mentioned versus the number of times the actual reporters on the story (Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt) are.

Note that Haberman jumped into this by retweeting and commenting on David Simon's tweet about the story that didn't reference or tag her but did criticize the male actual writer. And that action is what people are criticizing.
posted by chris24 at 12:26 PM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Note that Habermann is not on the byline for this story. It will be instructive to count how many times she is mentioned versus the number of times the actual reporters on the story (Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt) are.

No one "mentioned" Haberman until she started tweeting about how her colleagues were being slandered for farting out a story that's patently a pro-Trump hit piece.
posted by Etrigan at 12:26 PM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


Note that Habermann is not on the byline for this story. It will be instructive to count how many times she is mentioned versus the number of times the actual reporters on the story (Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt) are.

Note that this was in response to Haberman reflexively defending her co-workers for what appears to be either insanely irresponsible reporting or complicity in a political hatchet job, including removing extremely vital context that at least two other major outlets so far (NBC and WaPo) have managed to provide.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:26 PM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


So either some people shopped this story about to both the NYT and ABC News, or two totally separate sets of people had access to the memos and talked to the press on the same day. It's possible that ABC reached out to someone to confirm, but.

NBC's Ken Dilanian adds to ABC and the NYT: "NBC News has now been told by a source who was in the room that Rosenstein did indeed discussing wearing a wire on the president, but he did so sarcastically. Former FBI director Andrew McCabe appears to have a different recollection."

Someone in the Trump administration is definitely shopping around some ratfuckery on Rosenstein. “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”—Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

You can never leave the Megathread.

MSNBC's Kyle Griffin: "My god I put my phone down for 15 minutes and the news just refuses to end please make it end."
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:26 PM on September 21, 2018 [25 favorites]


The Post's version is rather different, McCabe memos say Rosenstein considered secretly recording Trump
While McCabe’s memos assert both the recording and 25th amendment conversations occurred at a meeting within days of Comey’s firing, another person at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, insisted the recording comment was said in a moment of sarcasm, and that the 25th amendment was not discussed.

That person said the wire comment came in response to McCabe’s own pushing for the Justice Department to open an investigation into the president. To that, Rosenstein responded with what this person described as a sarcastic comment along the lines of, “What do you want to do, Andy, wire the president?”

That person insisted the statement was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president.

Another official at the meeting, then-FBI lawyer Lisa Page, wrote her own memo of the discussion which does not mention any talk of the 25th amendment, according to a second person who was familiar with her account.

A third person familiar with the discussions said McCabe had privately asserted previously that Rosenstein suggested invoking the 25th amendment and the idea of a senior law enforcement officials wearing a wire while talking to Trump.
posted by zachlipton at 12:27 PM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


My fav thing about the Rosenstein article is how Rosenstein allegedly said they should use the 25th amendment to remove Trump, because Trump is crazy, but then suddenly it’s Rosenstein who’s actually the crazy one, because he decided there needed to be a special counsel! What a crazy guy!

Trump’s not crazy, you’re crazy!
posted by gucci mane at 12:27 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


It would be super cool if that "source who was in the room" would give the full context of that discussion. Was Rosenstein saying "it would be nice if we could, but what do you think would happen?" or "that's insane -- what do you want to do next, wiretap the president? Invoke the 25th? GTFO."
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 12:28 PM on September 21, 2018


MSNBC's Kyle Griffin: "My god I put my phone down for 15 minutes and the news just refuses to end please make it end."

Then take a break and let Brad Jaffy drive.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:29 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


In a pre-Trump presidency world, even joking about bugging the president would and should have made it into official memos like McCabe seems to have done because covering your ass used to mean something back then lo those many years ago.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:30 PM on September 21, 2018


that's insane -- what do you want to do next, wiretap the president?

FWIW, this is exactly what NBC and WaPo are reporting, and what neither the NYT nor ABC bothered to do.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:30 PM on September 21, 2018 [15 favorites]


This seems an awful lot like that thing where Alt-right fuckers troll through old tweets looking for out of context shit to get people fired.
posted by Artw at 12:33 PM on September 21, 2018 [19 favorites]


REMINDER amidst the chaos: The first debate between O'Rourke and Cruz is tonight at 6 PM Central time. You can stream it live on nbcdfw.com and dallasnews.com
posted by Rhaomi at 12:37 PM on September 21, 2018 [42 favorites]


There's something missing here. This sounds like a rather important meeting. We're now told is was so significant that both McCabe and Page wrote memos to memorialize it. They were apparently discussing opening an investigation into the President, based on context that's presumably pertaining to his motives for firing Comey. Setting aside the wire and 25th amendment, I suspect the content of that meeting is likely to be extremely unflattering to Trump.
posted by zachlipton at 12:37 PM on September 21, 2018 [33 favorites]


So two middle-aged white men have bad senses of humor and the Times has shitty pander-to-power judgement. And that combo may end democracy. Anything I'm missing?
posted by chris24 at 12:42 PM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


Could the Rosenstein hit piece be related to the recently announced-then-reversed declassification of documents? (Which IIRC were supposedly about the Carter Page FISA application and some kind of Bruce Ohr emails and who knows what else?) They wanted to release some things they think make the investigation look somehow corrupt, that plan got canceled (maybe because the full documents make them look bad, maybe there was enough pushback because it would compromise sources and methods or something), and so now they're trying selectively leak, sans context or accountability, the parts they want to get out?
posted by kprincehouse at 12:50 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


I remember a fair amount of public doubt on that one too. People are terrible.
posted by Artw at 12:50 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


Stolen: Maybe the 65 friends who vouched for Kavanaugh's good character were mistaking him for the other guy.
posted by clawsoon at 12:50 PM on September 21, 2018 [90 favorites]


@PreetBharara
I dunno if Rosenstein seriously considered taping POTUS or was being sarcastic, as many outlets report. I know Rod a long time, he’s a sarcastic guy & jokes about wiring people up are as common with prosecutors as knock-knock jokes in grade school.


@Popehat
Also plausible, based on my experience: FBI agent understands sarcasm, but uses Law Enforcement Speak in memorializing conversation, with the sarcasm (and most other normal human elements) lost in the I-Exited-My-Official-Vehicle-To-Converse-With-The-Individual malarkey.
posted by chris24 at 12:51 PM on September 21, 2018 [24 favorites]


Kavanaugh buddy Mark Judge was among those casting doubt, in fact. I think the viral FB item about it was linked above, but in essence he initially said accusers of his old priest/prof were lying and then years later copped to it being true but saying liberalism was at fault. So if it's not lying victims then it must be liberals.
posted by phearlez at 12:54 PM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Light - Camera - here comes The Mooch, the movie....
posted by growabrain at 12:57 PM on September 21, 2018


I keep forgetting Rosenstein is a Trump appointee, not a deep state holdover.
posted by notyou at 12:57 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


@Jim_Jordan Rosenstein denies the NYT story.

Mr. Rosenstein, give Congress the McCabe memos that we asked for in July and all the other documents we’ve requested so we can all judge for ourselves.


So...a few hours after Trump retracts the order to release a bunch of documents on the Russia investigation, a story is planted with anonymous secondhand sourcing and seemingly willful misinterpretation of a clearly sarcastic statement. That is then immediately used to re-demand that the documents be released. Must be a coincidence.

@emptywheel Remember, the sourcing on this story was: "people [who] were briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by F.B.I. officials."

That is, people (like Jordan) who don't have the memos.

posted by parallellines at 12:58 PM on September 21, 2018 [20 favorites]


Depending on if the memo in question was classified, watch Trump pull some fuckery with McCabe's lack of security clearance (which he yanked out of pettiness even though apparently, according to McCabe, it was already deactivated) to not even let him see his own memo to refresh his memory before answering questions on it.
posted by jason_steakums at 1:04 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


watch Trump pull some fuckery with McCabe's lack of security clearance (which he yanked out of pettiness even though apparently, according to McCabe, it was already deactivated) to not even let him see his own memo to refresh his memory before answering questions on it.

I'm not sure how that would be a problem for McCabe - who doenst appear either dumb or (extra) evil. the whole point of the contemporaneous memo is that memory is imperfect - if he remembers what he wrote he says so, if he isnt 100% sure he says he isnt positive but he trusts what he wrote at the time.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:09 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


This sounds like a rather important meeting. We're now told is was so significant that both McCabe and Page wrote memos to memorialize it.

The NYT's story describes the meeting as taking place "one week" after Comey's firing "in part to explain his role in the situation"—but there may of course be more that the NYT or their sources aren't telling us.

If this dating is precise, this meeting would take place the day after the WaPo's bombshell that Trump had revealed codeword–classified top secret information to the visiting Russian delegation in the Oval office.

So, yes, it's entirely likely the FBI/DoJ might call an important meeting then to assess Trump's competence as president at about this time.
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:09 PM on September 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


Pope Guilty: The red lines for what? For people who think of themselves as serious and dignified to make eloquent, empty speeches full of sound and fury and which signify nothing?

It seems to me that for a lot of people in my life whom I consider pretty moderate and reasonable, this would be the "General Lamarque is dead" moment. I don't know that they have specific plans other than to go to the protests at the specified locations, but there's something grave in the way that they seem like they're trying not to think about it too hard.

I know that so much outrageous stuff happens in a day now that it's impossible to keep up with and it just starts to feel like this depressing and shitty normalized blur, but if you take the time to add it all up in your head, it's truly staggering. I'm really not trying to be a doomsayer, but since I've studied world history my whole life, I hope the mods will indulge me as I say that I'm really starting to seriously wonder- where is the tipping point here? I'm NOT saying the collapse of American society is just around the corner, but I can't help but note that, historically, big changes have kicked off and not-so-nice things have happened to people and governments for A LOT less in other places around the world.
posted by Krazor at 1:14 PM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


emptywheel's take is a much more thoughtful version of what I was trying get to above:
These are “significant memos” and went right to Mueller when he was appointed. The kind of memos that might back investigative decisions, such as whether to open an investigation into the President.

So what the NYT spin of the story is about is suggesting that at the moment when DOJ opened an investigation into the President, the guy who opened it was “acting erratically.” Presumably based off the third-hand opinions of people like Jim Jordan, who knows a bit about acting erratically. It’s also about whether a discussion of removing the President took place at the same meeting where a discussion of investigating him did.

Likely, the messages are muddled, because they always are when getting laundered through Jim Jordan’s feverish little mind.
These memos memorialize what sounds like a key meeting in the post-Comey-firing decision-making to open an investigation into the President. The aim of Republicans all along has been to insist that the investigation has an improper basis and therefore has to end. That was the point of the Nunes memo, all the FISA stuff. Every argument has been centered around the premise that the people who started the investigation were bad for one reason or another, so the whole thing has to stop now. This story fits that campaign perfectly. They'll argue that Mueller has to be fired because the investigation was predicated on Rosenstein's mention of the 25th Amendment.
posted by zachlipton at 1:18 PM on September 21, 2018 [16 favorites]


The red lines for what? For people who think of themselves as serious and dignified to make eloquent, empty speeches full of sound and fury and which signify nothing?

PopeGuilty - The trigger events are pretty simple - these are events that would signify beyond doubt that the Russia investigation is over, and not even the vaguest of handwaves toward justice will be tolerated henceforth. Are you saying protesting those things is pointless?

I think there comes a point where, if the only action that is left to you is to stand up, be counted, and make noise - that's exactly what you have to do.
posted by invincible summer at 1:20 PM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


I'm not sure how that would be a problem for McCabe - who doenst appear either dumb or (extra) evil. the whole point of the contemporaneous memo is that memory is imperfect - if he remembers what he wrote he says so, if he isnt 100% sure he says he isnt positive but he trusts what he wrote at the time.

^ THIS is why cops do paperwork! So that in a year or three, when they have to testify to the facts, their recollections are put down fresh when they occurred and they can provide accurate testimony. *

* Excludes "Testilying"
posted by mikelieman at 1:29 PM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


MPR, Briana Bierschbach, Minnesota state Rep. Jim Knoblach drops re-election bid, citing MPR News investigation
Republican state Rep. Jim Knoblach of St. Cloud abruptly ended his re-election campaign Friday as MPR News prepared to publish detailed accusations from his adult daughter of what she described as his inappropriate behavior toward her since childhood.
...
After exhausting other means to hold her father accountable, Laura Knoblach made the allegations to MPR News on the record and supplied extensive documentation about her attempts to get help.
My god.
posted by zachlipton at 1:29 PM on September 21, 2018 [85 favorites]


They'll argue that Mueller has to be fired because the investigation was predicated on Rosenstein's mention of the 25th Amendment.

I've been trying to figure out why this latest Impending Doom doesn't freak me out as much as other Dooms Impending have, and I think this is it.

That is a convoluted argument. Good luck explaining it in a soundbite. At this point the Mueller investigation has already resulted in several convictions, and there is a pervasive narrative of corruption. People already believe Russia intervened. They already believe there's some "there" there. You can't put that toothpaste back in the tube.

My feeling is that the Russia investigation has already reached critical mass of ...validity? in the public perception, and now has its own inertia. They can make whatever arguments they want about the genesis of the investigation, but the investigation has already turned up dirt. That dirt exists on its own.

There's nothing they can do about that.
posted by schadenfrau at 1:30 PM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


Oh, right, Jim Jordan. That reminds me that, come Jan 3 of next year, all but one elected leader of the GOP and a third of their SCOTUS judges will have been credibly accused of either being a sexual predator or directly complicit in covering up for one.

This is America.
posted by zombieflanders at 1:32 PM on September 21, 2018 [33 favorites]


My feeling is that the Russia investigation has already reached critical mass of ...validity? in the public perception, and now has its own inertia. They can make whatever arguments they want about the genesis of the investigation, but the investigation has already turned up dirt. That dirt exists on its own.


additionally, mueller has turned up so much dirt in his investigation that some of it he deemed outside of the scope of his own investigation and referred to other groups at the justice department. it's a hydra now. trump can cut off the biggest head but it doesn't fundamentally change his situation.
posted by murphy slaw at 1:35 PM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


My feeling is that the Russia investigation has already reached critical mass of ...validity? in the public perception, and now has its own inertia. They can make whatever arguments they want about the genesis of the investigation, but the investigation has already turned up dirt. That dirt exists on its own.

Calm down everybody. If you've been following the filings, the key ones haven't been by Mueller, but rather another US Attorney working on the case. Fire Rosenstein. Fire Mueller. The cases in process continue, since they were filed by neither.

At this point, I have no doubts that Mueller's got drafts of indictments against the other two in the illegal meeting with Russian criminals in Trump tower already filed under seal. So, whatever happens, the info that Manafort has confirmed as part of his cooperation against the other two stooges will be moving forward under the filings by US Attorney You've-Never-Heard-Of.... ( 20 years experience in criminal trials... )
posted by mikelieman at 1:39 PM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


Rep Jim Knoblach, the Minnesota state rep who wont seek reelection is the chairman on the ways and means committee these people literally make the fucking rules.

Ronald Reagan's daughter writes about being sexually assaulted and not remembering the details. (WaPo)
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:39 PM on September 21, 2018 [34 favorites]


One saving grace of this entire shitshow is that it seems like the Dems have made enough progress in state legislatures that the chance of another Constitutional Convention being called will be at least a little bit further away. Whether or not that'll be sufficient if they go full Reichstag fire or whatever is still left to be seen.
posted by zombieflanders at 1:43 PM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


MPR, Briana Bierschbach, Minnesota state Rep. Jim Knoblach drops re-election bid, citing MPR News investigation

Political lens: I don't think he can be replaced on the ballot, Minnesota has already begun early voting. MN House is currently 77-56-1 GOP.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:46 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


It's absurd that the Patti Davis (Reagan's daughter) editorial isn't even above the fold on WaPo's site.
posted by schmod at 1:47 PM on September 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


Honestly shocked at this callback to an earlier world where Republicans would show Shane about this shit. Why not just front it out?
posted by Artw at 1:48 PM on September 21, 2018


He won two very narrow victories the last two times out, probably figures he'd lose ugly.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:53 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


Somebody clever thinks it's Mattis.

Well, somebodies clever have pointed to a dozen people, which makes me think the actual author (not necessarily the originator) was a speechwriter who could insert various "tells" into the op-ed.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 1:59 PM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Beto raised more than $9M in August, likely the most raised in a quarter in Senate history.
posted by Chrysostom at 2:01 PM on September 21, 2018 [33 favorites]


To that, Rosenstein responded with what this person described as a sarcastic comment along the lines of, “What do you want to do, Andy, wire the president?”

VOA News's Steve Herman (@W7VOA) corroborates the WaPo version: “My colleague @masoodfarivar relays from source who was in room (with DAG when he made the comment): 'I remember this meeting and remember the wire comment. The statement was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president.'”

And Politico's Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein): “A former DOJ official says any reference by Rosenstein to 25th Amendment would've been a joke because he knows the law and that 25th is harder to invoke than impeachment”

Al-Monitor's Laura Rozen (@lrozen) picks up the pattern in the DoJ memos fuelling the Rosenstein ratfucking: “Lisa Page memos, Mccabe memos, ...sounds like the stuff the House GOP Hannity Lou Dobbs wing have been trying to get declassified?”

They'll argue that Mueller has to be fired because the investigation was predicated on Rosenstein's mention of the 25th Amendment.

Daniel Dale spots Trump favorite Fox News analyst Gregg Jarrett making just such an argument: "Driven by vengeance, Rosenstein sought to secretly record the President. He must be fired immediately! Since a clearly biased Rosenstein has been in charge of the Mueller investigation, it must be terminated. This illegitimate probe has been tainted by corruption from the start."

And Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) addresses Trump directly: “Rod Rosenstein must be fired today. @realDonaldTrump”

Also, the repugnant Mike Huckabee (whom @realDonaldTrump follows in addition to Ingraham) ups the ante: “Because source is NY Slimes not sure this is true but if so, Jeff Sessions needs to fire Rosenstein and if he won’t ⁦⁦⁦⁦⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩ needs to fire both of them since Rosenstein doesn’t seem to have the integrity to resign.”
posted by Doktor Zed at 2:02 PM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]




@brieshea
In the past 3 years, Jim Knoblach has co-sponsored at least 12 anti-choice bills and one anti-transgender bathroom bill.
posted by Artw at 2:06 PM on September 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


So who paid the PR firm? The story says they do work for the Federalist Society and Judicial Crisis Network. Did they pay a PR firm to prep Whelan's libelous accusations?
posted by zachlipton at 2:06 PM on September 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


So who paid the PR firm? The story says they do work for the Federalist Society and Judicial Crisis Network. Did they pay a PR firm to prep Whelan's libelous accusations?
Those are some deep pockets. Even if the libeled party is otherwise a friend of Kavanaugh, that's got to raise the level of temptation to file suit.
posted by Tabitha Someday at 2:09 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


So who paid the PR firm? The story says they do work for the Federalist Society and Judicial Crisis Network. Did they pay a PR firm to prep Whelan's libelous accusations?

Remember that this story started with Hatch's 'mixed up' comment. The government is behind this smear* campaign.

*Was middle school teacher Zillow guy in on it?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 2:10 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


Beto raised more than $9M in August, likely the most raised in a quarter in Senate history.

I know that I'm yelling into the wind but gosh dangit we are worse off if we flip Texas but lose Florida and North Dakota. One inspiring Senator's vote is worth half as much as two boring Senator's votes. Please share some of this love with the Senators who need it!

Particularly North Dakota in my opinion. Both Texas and Florida are very large and quite expensive. North Dakota is dirt cheap. The marginal value of your dollar is hugely higher in ND!

I know, I know, but really.
posted by Justinian at 2:13 PM on September 21, 2018 [60 favorites]


I would rank the marginal value of your donated dollar as something like:

1) Heitkamp - ND.
2) Heitkamp - ND.
3) Heitkamp - ND.
4) Rosen - NV.
5) McCaskill - MO.
6) Bresden - TN.
7) Tester - MT.

Heitkamp gets there 3 times because every dollar is so valuable in that state and it's so close. I didn't include Manchin because I feel like he's gonna win, but an argument could be made he belongs in there somewhere too since WV is also very cheap.

Note Beto is not on the list anywhere. Texas is goddamn expensive. Send your valuable dollars to CHEAP states with close races! Also, Beto is not on this list.
posted by Justinian at 2:18 PM on September 21, 2018 [35 favorites]


"Swift Boat" PR firm helped Whelan stoke half-baked Kavanaugh alibi.

Jumanji_WHAT_YEAR_IS_IT.gif
posted by zombieflanders at 2:23 PM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


Beto could get a head start on building influence by directing some of his lucre into his own leadership PAC and sending $$$ along to those cheap state races.

Or maybe that’s getting the cart before the horse.
posted by notyou at 2:23 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


Also from that Swift Boaters article:
[Whelan] was in communication with at least one Republican member of the committee this week, and that member told associates he was aware Whelan’s theory involved the home of a Kavanaugh classmate near the Chevy Chase Country Club.
NO COLLUSION!
posted by zombieflanders at 2:33 PM on September 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


New Yorker, Jonathan Blizer, Why Did Mike Pompeo Slash the Number of Refugees Allowed in the United States?
On August 22nd, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, travelled to the White House for a meeting about refugee policy. Every summer, officials from the State Department and the National Security Council lead a series of discussions to determine the annual “cap” on the number of refugees that the country can admit over the following year, and, eventually, a figure is presented to the President. Pompeo’s attendance signified that the process was nearing its conclusion. That afternoon, he was to join the other principals, including Kirstjen Nielsen, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and John Bolton, the national-security adviser, to finalize the decision. But, even at that late stage, according to three sources with knowledge of the talks, there was uncertainty. Pompeo wanted the number to be consistent with where it was for the current year, after the Trump Administration set it at forty-five thousand—the lowest level since the refugee program began, nearly forty years ago.

He was at odds with an influential figure at the White House, however: President Trump’s senior policy adviser, Stephen Miller. White House officials orchestrated an informal meeting of the principals earlier in the day to gauge where everyone stood. When it became clear that Pompeo supported forty-five thousand, two former State Department officials with knowledge of the situation told me, Miller arranged to have the official meeting cancelled. It was finally held last Friday, after nearly a month of delays, and, on Monday, the Trump Administration announced its plan—it will reduce the annual refugee cap to thirty thousand. It was Pompeo who made the announcement, at a press conference in the State Department Treaty Room, but “Miller’s takeover of the State Department is now complete,” one of the former officials told me.
...
But the United States is also changing the complexion of those it chooses to resettle here. The admittance of Muslim refugees has declined by ninety per cent under the Trump Administration; the percentage of refugees from Europe has tripled over the past two years. According to a recent report in Reuters, the Administration has resettled three times as many Moldovans as it has Syrians, even as the current number of refugees from Syria—thirteen million—is larger than the entire population of Moldova. Each version of the President’s travel ban, even after court challenges, has blocked travellers trying to enter the country from Syria, and has restricted refugee admissions from four other Muslim countries. (The latest one also applies to North Korea and Venezuela.) Unchecked by the Supreme Court, the Administration continues to claim national security as grounds for a complete overhaul of vetting procedures, but there is no evidence of either a new security threat or problems with previous practice. Nevertheless, many refugees who have already been vetted and are awaiting resettlement are being re-screened, which can take years; others, who’ve been awaiting screening, face longer delays. As a current Administration official told me, this spring, “They’re doing this to make a point: ‘Don’t come here. We don’t want you.’ ”
posted by zachlipton at 2:37 PM on September 21, 2018 [15 favorites]


“They’re doing this to make a point: ‘Don’t come here. We don’t want you.’ ”

I hope in the next major quagmire that we fuckstumble our way into that the local populace refuse to help us at all because we just fucked every Iraqi that was brave enough to assist us.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 2:42 PM on September 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Beto could get a head start on building influence by directing some of his lucre into his own leadership PAC and sending $$$ along to those cheap state races.

Was saving this for later, but here's another "even in defeat, Beto may have significant positive effects downballot for Dems" articles.

Send your valuable dollars to CHEAP states with close races!


Per Justinian, Beto doesn't need your money. Heitkamp and Donnelly do.

(also)
posted by Chrysostom at 2:42 PM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


The FCC plan proposes up-front application fees of $100 for each small cell and annual fees of up to $270 per small cell. The FCC says this is a "reasonable approximation of [localities'] costs for processing applications and for managing deployments in the rights-of-way." Cities that charge more than that would likely face litigation from carriers and would have to prove that the fees are a reasonable approximation of all costs and "non-discriminatory."

My replacement green card for the one I somehow lost cost me $540. Can I sue the federal government for unreasonable and discriminatory fees? Or is that just concern for fairness just for corporations?
posted by srboisvert at 2:58 PM on September 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


I would rank the marginal value of your donated dollar as something like:

1) Heitkamp - ND.
2) Heitkamp - ND.
3) Heitkamp - ND.
4) Rosen - NV.
5) McCaskill - MO.
6) Bresden - TN.
7) Tester - MT.


So does that mean Heitkamp is at reasonable risk of losing her seat?
posted by duoshao at 3:11 PM on September 21, 2018


Somehow I had missed that Judge Neil Gorsuch attended the same Georgetown Prep school at the same time as Kavanaugh, two years behind.

Boy, that's going to be some reunion party on the Supreme Court bench, catered by Kavanaugh, no doubt, as treasurer of the "100 Kegs Club" at prep school.
posted by JackFlash at 3:14 PM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


Speaking of ND, Heitkamp's opponent says the Kavanaugh assault was no big deal because it didn't progress to forced intercourse
posted by contraption at 3:15 PM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


So does that mean Heitkamp is at reasonable risk of losing her seat?

The RCP average is Cramer +1.6 and none of the major pollsters have it as better than tossup, a couple have lean Republican. At this point she's expected to lose.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:15 PM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Is Heitkamp still a fence-sitter?
posted by Artw at 3:16 PM on September 21, 2018




Should be noted that polling in that race has been *very* scanty (I believe ND is challenging to poll both due to state law and lack of voter registration). There's only been one poll in the last month.

Ratings:

Byler: 1 in 3
Cook: Tossup
Sabato: Tossup
538:
- Lite: 3 in 8
- Classic: 4 in 7
- Deluxe: 5 in 9
posted by Chrysostom at 3:25 PM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


So what the NYT spin of the story is about is suggesting that at the moment when DOJ opened an investigation into the President, the guy who opened it was “acting erratically.” Presumably based off the third-hand opinions of people like Jim Jordan, who knows a bit about acting erratically.

Sure, enough Jordan (whom @realDonaldTrump follows) tweeted:
Rosenstein denies the NYT story.

Mr. Rosenstein, give Congress the McCabe memos that we asked for in July and all the other documents we’ve requested so we can all judge for ourselves.
And Laura Ingraham opines again: "The DOJ/Russia docs should be declassified. The last FISA application that Rosenstein signed will reveal just how bad this thing is—stinks to high heaven."

Meanwhile, although it's obvious to everyone following news closely that this story is an anti-Rosenstein ratfucking operation, the NYT's Michael Schmidt is doubling down with his anonymous sources—"UPDATE: We’ve learned that on a second occasion, Rosenstein discussed wearing a wire. This was in addition to the earlier instance of him raising the idea of either him or FBI officials wearing recording devices for when they see Trump"—and is amending the article: "Mr. Rosenstein also mentioned the possibility of wearing a wire on at least one other occasion, the people said, though they did not provide details." (emphasis added, because Schmidt's sources must have determined he was born yesterday).
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:30 PM on September 21, 2018 [15 favorites]


Good News Dept: The sheriff of Bergen County, NJ (state's most populous) was caught on tape making appallingly racist statements. He just resigned.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:34 PM on September 21, 2018 [32 favorites]


wow that MN Republican story. That is some fucked up bullshit right there.

Like, they can't govern for shit but they sure spend a lot of time fucking people over. What a brand.
posted by petebest at 3:35 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


Trade? Fox News accepts that Rosenstein was joking about wearing a wire, and we'll accept that Trump was joking when he said he wanted to be president for life.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 3:38 PM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


@seungminkim: News from @ChuckGrassley, who says in statement: "I’m providing a notice of a vote to occur Monday in the event that Dr. Ford’s attorneys don’t respond (by 10 p.m. tonight) or Dr. Ford decides not to testify."
posted by zachlipton at 3:39 PM on September 21, 2018


So here's a hell of an ad against Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04), (just go watch it before reading the next text if you want the unspoiled reveal) featuring six of Gosar's nine siblings endorsing his opponent, David Brill.
posted by zachlipton at 3:40 PM on September 21, 2018 [85 favorites]


That's gonna be an interesting Thanksgiving dinner.
posted by gwint at 3:46 PM on September 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


So the Republican counter is as noted

1) Testify on Wednesday not Thursday.
2) Ford testifies first rather than second, though without K in the room as requested.
3) Questioning by outside counsel rather than Senators.

To me the point that Ford should and will hold absolutely firm on is point 3. This is not a court of law. It is the freakin' job of Senators to do this. If they can't do their job they should resign and let someone else have their seat. Giving on point 1 is a no-brainer unless there is some information that isn't public as to why she can't testify on Wednesday. Point 2 is the question mark. I understand why Ford wants to go second but I also understand why she should probably go first.

So bottom line I would think that Ford's attorney would counter by offer to move on points 1&2 so long as questioning is done by Senators. I think that's a good offer and I think it's the right thing to do. The pressure to accept that on the R senators would be very, very high.
posted by Justinian at 3:48 PM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


I really want "deliberate cruelty" to be a remove-from-office offense, for legislators and judges, as in, "if it can be proven in court that the official used their official status, rights, powers, or perquisites for the purpose of causing harm, with no identifiable benefit to any human being, they shall be removed from office."

Not an impeachment offense - not something where first they argue "did this happen" and then they argue "well, was that bad enough to kick them out?" Just a single argument of, did they do this thing, and can we identify any value in it?
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 3:48 PM on September 21, 2018 [12 favorites]


1) Testify on Wednesday not Thursday.
2) Ford testifies first rather than second, though without K in the room as requested.
3) Questioning by outside counsel rather than Senators.


So, basically "no" to all of her terms.
posted by rhizome at 3:50 PM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


My replacement green card for the one I somehow lost cost me $540. Can I sue the federal government for unreasonable and discriminatory fees? Or is that just concern for fairness just for corporations?

Immigration is all user pays so we're just paying extortionate fees to be treated like shit.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:52 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


So bottom line I would think that Ford's attorney would counter by offer to move on points 1&2 so long as questioning is done by Senators. I think that's a good offer and I think it's the right thing to do. The pressure to accept that on the R senators would be very, very high.

I think the outside counsel was a Ford demand because the R Senators were telegraphing they were going to be utter fuckstains.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 3:55 PM on September 21, 2018


[we need a new fuckity-fuck thread, but this computer only has one of those keyboard nubs for a mouse and am and much too fuckful to manage anything but couchbourboning,]
posted by wires at 3:56 PM on September 21, 2018 [16 favorites]


I think the outside counsel was a Ford demand

That is very much not my understanding.
posted by Justinian at 3:56 PM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


Debra Katz, Ford’s lawyer, specifically objected to outside counsel, according to the Washington Post’s sources:
Katz raised concerns about the potential of an outside counsel coming in to question Ford, arguing that the scenario would be too much like a trial, according to the aide.
posted by mbrubeck at 4:02 PM on September 21, 2018 [21 favorites]


My bad.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:05 PM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]




Well, I'll be. Benjamin Wittes says Dr. Ford's accusation is credible and deserves to be taken seriously. Given that as recently as last week Wittes was all-in for Kavanaugh as a man of good moral character, that's kind of surprising.
posted by suelac at 4:08 PM on September 21, 2018 [19 favorites]


New Fucking Fuck venting thread.
posted by yoga at 4:08 PM on September 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


SFGATE: Palo Alto moms link arms in front of Christine Ford's home, chant "Protect Christine"

I'm not crying you're crying shut up
posted by sunset in snow country at 4:09 PM on September 21, 2018 [67 favorites]


That's gonna be an interesting Thanksgiving dinner.

I suspect they're used to it at this point.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:11 PM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


Questioning by outside counsel rather than Senators

All of the Republicans on the Judicial Committee are a bunch of old white dudes who don't want to look like a bunch of old white dudes ganging up on a women while they're ganging up on a woman.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:12 PM on September 21, 2018 [7 favorites]


Yup! Which is why Ford can't and shouldn't budge on that point even if she agrees to everything else. If they are going to attack and blame the victim they need to have the stomach to do it themselves instead of farming it out to a hit squad of paid attorneys.
posted by Justinian at 4:14 PM on September 21, 2018 [10 favorites]


Here's a good summary:

@seungminkim:
The lengthy letter from Grassley's staff to Ford's lawyers also gets on record which of her requests the GOP are accepting and which they are demanding ...

Ford requests accepted by GOP:
-No Kavanaugh during her testimony
-One camera, limit press access
-Equal ?s time for all senators
-Adequate breaks during testimony
-Adequate security

Ford requests denied by GOP:
-Kavanaugh testify first
-Hearing be Thursday (offering Wed)
-Only senators do Qs (Rs want option of female staff lawyers for questioners)
-Subpoena Mark Judge
-Call more witnesses requested by Ford
Grassley has basically issued an ultimatum by scheduling the vote on Monday, because what this process really needs is a man issuing ultimatums.

The speculation I've seen is that they want the hearing on Wednesday so they could vote for confirmation on Thursday at their next scheduled meeting. And they certainly will never call witnesses or do anything that would actually result in a real hearing. They just want to say she was "heard" and then go vote yes.
posted by zachlipton at 4:16 PM on September 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


Flooding: Dam breach at Duke plant; coal ash could spill

The War on Coal ended with coal scoring a fatality on Gaia.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 4:17 PM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


CNBC, Christina Wilkie, Trump HUD Secretary Ben Carson claims Kavanaugh allegations are part of a centuries old socialist plot. In which the Fabian Society is, for some reason, invoked.
posted by zachlipton at 4:18 PM on September 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


Bailout checks begin arriving for farmers, as Trump’s trade war escalates (WaPo). The first $25.8 million out of a planned $4.7 billion has been sent to 7,851 approved applicants. Farmers can apply for a bailout after harvest so these numbers will grow quickly, with soybean farmers expected to receive the bulk it. Because of "privacy concerns" the USDA is not revealing the identity of the recipients.
posted by peeedro at 4:20 PM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


So, does this mean almost $600,000 per soy bean farmer applicant? Yikes! There ought to be another way for these farmers to obtain that money in a manner consistent with their business model.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 4:29 PM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


WaPo, Kavanaugh ally says he did not communicate with White House or Supreme Court nominee about theory of another attacker. Scroll down...
On Sunday, Ford noticed that — even before her name became public — Whelan appeared to be seeking information about her.

That morning, Ford alerted an associate via email that Whelan had looked at her LinkedIn page, according to the email, which was reviewed by The Post. LinkedIn allows some subscribers to see who views their pages. Ford sent the email about 90 minutes after The Post shared her name with a White House spokesman and hours before her identity was revealed in a story posted on its website.

A White House spokesman said Friday that neither Kavanaugh nor anyone in the White House gave Ford’s name to Whelan before it was disclosed by The Post. Whelan did not respond to a request for comment on how he first learned of Ford’s identity.
posted by zachlipton at 4:31 PM on September 21, 2018 [53 favorites]


Taylor Gourmet sandwich chain declares bankruptcy and closes all 17 stores over owner’s ties to Trump
posted by growabrain at 4:36 PM on September 21, 2018 [20 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

** 2018 House:
-- Some more PPP polling at the behest of a progressive healthcare group. As noted yesterday the survey design is a little questionable:
-- FL-18: GOP incumbent Mast up 46-43 on Dem Baer. [Trump 53-44 | Cook: Likely R]
-- FL-25: GOP incumbent Diaz-Balart up 41-36 on Dem Barzee Flores. [Trump 50-48 | Cook: Likely R]
-- FL-26: Dem Mucarsel-Powell up 46-45 on GOP incumbent Curbelo. [Clinton 57-40 | Cook: Lean R]
-- WV-03: DCCC poll has Dem Ojeda up 48-44 on GOPer Miller [MOE: +/- 4.2%]. This is DCCC in-house polling. [Trump 73-23 | Cook: Lean R]

-- CA-16: Survey USA poll has Dem incumbent Costa up 51-40 on GOPer Heng [MOE: +/- 5.2%]. Costa actually won very narrowly in 2016 and 2014, so this is a bit of a relief. [Clinton: 58-36 | Cook: Likely D]

-- CA-45: GSG poll has Dem Porter up 46-43 on GOP incumbent Walters [MOE: +/- 4.4%]. Poll was commissioned by the Porter campaign. [Clinton 50-44 | Cook: Tossup]

-- FL-19: Change Research poll has GOP incumbent Rooney up 47-46 on Dem Holden [MOE: +/- 4.0%]. Poll was commissioned by the Holden campaign. [Trump 60-38 | Cook: Solid R]

-- PA-17: GOP incumbent Rothfus has been on everyone's triage list for a while, and it looks like the NRCC agrees, cancelling all of their remaining ad buy. [Trump 49-47 | Cook: Lean D]

-- Two Elliott Morris pieces: Centrists did well in primaries, but party is still drifting left. Women candidates did outstandingly well, in all kinds of districts.
** 2018 Senate:
-- PA: Muhlenberg https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4917010/Morning-Call-Muhlenberg-College-Poll-of.pdf">poll has Dem incumbent Casey up 53-35 on GOPer Barletta [MOE: +/- 5.5%].

-- Triton poll has Dem incumbent Brown up 53-42 on GOPer Renacci [MOE: +/- 3.1%]. Triton is not rated by 538, however this result is consistent with other polling.

-- TX: Dem O'Rourke raising staggering amounts of money. | Beto may have significant downballot effects for Dems, win or lose.
** Odds & ends:
-- PA gov: Same Muhlenberg poll has Dem incumbent Wolf up 55-36 on GOPer Wagner.

-- OH gov: Same Triton poll has GOPer DeWine up 49-44 on Dem Cordray. | Downballot: AG: GOPer Yost up 44-42 on Dem Dettelbach. SOS: Dem Clyde up 43-40 on GOPer La Rose. Auditor: Dem Space up 39-38 on GOPer Faber. Treasurer Genera: Dem Richardson up 42-39 on GOPer Sprague.

-- Reuters/Ipsos poll has Dem enthusiasm high. 2018 vs 2014 "certain to vote": Dems +9; GOP -3.

-- Early voting has begun in several states.

-- Dems need to pick up ten seats to take control of the Iowa House; there are eight competitive GOP-held seats in IA-01 alone, where GOP incumbent Rod Blum seems to tanking badly.

-- MO non-partisan legislative redistricting initiative is back on the ballot, after a court reversed an earlier ruling.

-- Court rules MO violated motor-voter law, directs them to contact 40k voters to update their registrations.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:47 PM on September 21, 2018 [28 favorites]


Senate panel chairman threatens Kavanaugh vote on Monday if accuser does not respond by 10 p.m.
BREAKING: In a statement Friday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) told the lawyers for accuser Christine Blasey Ford that the panel “has been extremely accommodating to your client” and wants to hear Ford’s testimony. [...]

The Senate Judiciary Committee sent their counterproposal to her attorneys on Friday afternoon, asking them to respond by 5 p.m. That deadline was later extended to 10 p.m. as negotiations continued, according to two people familiar with the nomination.
These pricks are trying to come up with any excuse to sweep this under the rug.
posted by tonycpsu at 4:48 PM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


ACLU:
A federal court has ordered Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to answer questions under oath in a deposition regarding his decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued to stop this effort by the Trump administration to intimidate immigrant communities, drive down their census participation, and deprive them of critical resources and political representation. Ross previously gave false testimony to Congress that the decision to include a citizenship question was “initiated” by the Department of Justice to facilitate enforcement of the federal Voting Rights Act.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:52 PM on September 21, 2018 [20 favorites]


T.D. Strange: Speaking of Cramer: Top GOP Senate Nominee: Kavanaugh Accusations ‘Absurd’ Because ‘They Were Teenagers,’ Assault ‘Never Went Anywhere’
Yeah, that's really something. If I were in charge of writing the headline for that piece it would have been something like "GOP Senate challenger basically admits: "If we rule out everyone who ever attempted forcible rape who will we be left with?" which is maybe why I'm not in charge of writing headlines.

Anyway, you have all convinced me and I'm in for $100 for Heitkamp. I might not be thrilled by her and I know better than to count on her when the going gets tough, but if he's the alternative then my money's on Heitkamp.
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:55 PM on September 21, 2018 [35 favorites]


So, does this mean almost $600,000 per soy bean farmer applicant?

No, the article notes that there are almost 40,000 applicants already, only 7,851 have been approved for payouts so far. The number of applications is also going to rise considerably as farmers must wait until after harvest to apply for compensation, most of the soybean crop is harvested in October.
posted by peeedro at 5:02 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


Trump HUD Secretary Ben Carson claims Kavanaugh allegations are part of a centuries old socialist plot.

Dear MetaFilter: Can the 25th Amendment only be used on the president? Asking for a concerned citizenry.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:12 PM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]


Farm Aid is tomorrow. Headlined by Willie Nelson.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 5:13 PM on September 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


Trump on Kavanaugh: "We have to fight for him, not worry about the other side, and by the way, women are for that more than anybody will understand"

He also says there's a "lingering stench" in the Justice Department and "we’re going to get rid of that too."

Trump also went into a weird rant about Antifa, discussing how they live in their parents' basements and describing the size of their biceps. "I would never suggest this, but, oh, they're so lucky that we're peaceful"

In other news, Ted Cruz is classy as always, @JohnJHarwood:
debate moderator asked candidates to say something nice about each other

O’Rourke praised Cruz’ sacrifice for his beliefs/goals for country at expense of family life

Cruz praised O’Rourke for sincerely fighting for socialism, bigger government, higher taxes like Bernie Sanders
"True to form," as Beto said.
posted by zachlipton at 5:14 PM on September 21, 2018 [52 favorites]


If anyone's interested, Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz just finished up their debate. You can catch it here, if you're so inclined.
posted by rp at 5:17 PM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Trump also went into a weird rant about Antifa, discussing how they live in their parents' basements and describing the size of their biceps.

Death to fascists
posted by octobersurprise at 5:31 PM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


An article yesterday in the local paper said there were 7000 families in Southern Puerto Rico in homes without roofs. A house 3 doors down sold for 70% its 2001 price. With so many having moved out of Puerto Rico the home values are crashing.
On the bright side, if you want to come to Puerto Rico to retire, you can find a decent house for under $100,000.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:45 PM on September 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


If anyone's interested, Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz just finished up their debate. You can catch it here , if you're so inclined.

Beto's doing OK at challenging Rafael on his BS, but when Cruz claimed Republicans love civil rights because the Dixiecrats were Democrats he let it slide.

Yeah, the Dixiecrats started out at Democrats, then they left the Democratic Party in 1948 after Truman integrated the armed forces. Then they were welcomed with open arms by the Republicans.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:23 PM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


Reality check: Do McCabe and Rosenstein hate each other or is that just how part of this is being pushed?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:25 PM on September 21, 2018


And when Cruz said school shootings happen because we removed God from the public square is when I was done.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:26 PM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


He also says there's a "lingering stench" in the Justice Department and "we’re going to get rid of that too."

Evidently feeling the heat, Rosenstein has issued another statement (per CNN's Laura Jarrett): “I never pursued or authorized recording the President and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the President is absolutely false.”

In Special Counsel news, ABC reports: Another Roger Stone Associate Meets with Mueller Grand Jury
Another associate of political operative Roger Stone met Friday with a federal grand jury convened to hear testimony in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling, appearing at the U.S. District Court House in Washington, D.C., a source with direct knowledge tells ABC News.[...]

Jerome Corsi, who until recently served as the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for the controversial far-right news outlet Infowars, is one of at least 11 individuals associated with Stone who have been contacted by the special counsel.[...]

Corsi's name surfaced earlier this year after investigators with Mueller's team spent almost an hour interviewing Theodore Roosevelt "Ted" Malloch, 65, an American academic and conservative London-based author, discussing his ties to Stone, Corsi, and WikiLeaks, according to a post-script for Malloch's latest book.
And CNN's Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) has breaking news: Montgomery MD PD Chief Tom Manger confirms will investigate sexual allegations against Brett Kavanaugh if a complaint is filed. ("We are prepared to investigate if the victim wants to report to us, and we can determine it occurred in the County.")
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:29 PM on September 21, 2018 [27 favorites]


Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act were both voted for by Texas's Democratic Senator and against by Texas's Republican Senator. It's too bad Beto didn't have that at his fingertips.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:34 PM on September 21, 2018 [11 favorites]


"I would never suggest this, but, oh, they're so lucky that we're peaceful"

To be clear: the president is literally, actually calling himself a fascist.
posted by Rust Moranis at 6:34 PM on September 21, 2018 [62 favorites]


@Phil_Mattingly [full letter behind link]: Christine Blasey Ford’s attorney responds to Senate Judiciary Chair Grassley’s deadline: “Our modest request is that she be given an additional day to make her decision.”

Her lawyer also writes: "The 10:00 p.m. deadline is arbitrary. Its sole purpose is to bully Dr. Ford and deprive her of the ability to make a considered decision that has life-altering implications."

Earlier tonight, @jiveDurkey [full statement behind link]: "Feinstein slams GOP Judiciary colleagues in blistering Friday night statement: "Bullying a survivor of attempted rape in order to confirm a nominee—particularly at a time when she’s receiving death threats—is an extreme abuse of power.""
posted by zachlipton at 6:39 PM on September 21, 2018 [68 favorites]


okay seriously WHAT is going on with ted cruz

i clicked the #txsenatedebate tag on twitter looking for some highlights from the debate. the first video i clicked on ended up being Beto talking about how fucked up it was that a black man got shot in his own home by a police officer, and then the focus gets turned to a tiny amount of marijuana in his apartment? people are cheering. it's awesome. then i realize TED CRUZ tweeted this video.

with the hashtag #txsenatedebate. also, it's not from the debate, did he like . . . post this to his twitter BEFORE the debate? how could any of this seem like a good idea? i swear i think ted must be turning on the republicans. he's really been showing the fuck up for Beto lately. is he trying to lose so he can escape the hellish void?

also twitter alerted me to the fact that Beto is dropping Clash quotes so I'm going to go watch it now and feel better about this timeline
posted by robotdevil at 6:40 PM on September 21, 2018 [27 favorites]


To be very clear, because I got unreasonably agitated in this direction: the LinkedIn thing is not a smoking gun that the path of information must have traveled to Whalen by some means other than Ford's accusation (e.g, seperate rumors/knowledge, Kavanaugh confiding in somebody, etc).

The key time window for this page visit is: 90 minutes after the Post told the White House her name and requested comment, and several hours before her name became public knowledge. So it's a smoking gun for an immediate coordinated counterattack on her (that ultimately turned into the defamation of that middle school teacher) -- which is still an enormous damn deal.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 6:59 PM on September 21, 2018 [22 favorites]


I just heard this story on the Daily Show, but here it is on CBS.

"I felt humiliated": Black candidate [Shelia Stubbs] campaigning door to door gets police called on her

For the terrible crime of existing while black. This has a happy ending though, she has a message for the racist snitch that called the cops:

As for Stubbs, she never spoke to the anonymous man who called the police on her. But if they're listening, she said she wants them "to see that I made it."

"I am now your representative," she added.

posted by adept256 at 7:02 PM on September 21, 2018 [89 favorites]


Anyway, you have all convinced me and I'm in for $100 for Heitkamp. I might not be thrilled by her and I know better than to count on her when the going gets tough, but if he's the alternative then my money's on Heitkamp.

I encourage people to hop on over to VoteView to see a visualization of how each Senator scores according to how they've voted in the past. Heitkamp is the third most conservative Democratic Senator. The other Senator from North Dakota is John Hoeven, the fifth most liberal Republican. Even though they sound like they must not be that far removed because they are both among the most centrist of their parties, the sheer amount of polarization has left a big gap between the parties. Just look at the chart; it's immediately obvious.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 7:19 PM on September 21, 2018 [13 favorites]






Daniel Dale: "So that’s Pirro, Ingraham, Jarrett telling Trump to fire Rosenstein immediately, Hannity telling him absolutely not to fire Rosenstein."

We're in Crazytown.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:36 PM on September 21, 2018 [45 favorites]


Mod note: Please stop screaming into the void, the void. is. full. And the thread is long!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:36 PM on September 21, 2018 [49 favorites]


Daniel Dale: "So that’s Pirro, Ingraham, Jarrett telling Trump to fire Rosenstein immediately, Hannity telling him absolutely not to fire Rosenstein."

Hannity's the biggest name and he's the closest to Trump personally. My bet is that Fox corporate knows that economic collapse from legit civil disorder would be unprofitable for them and the channel is using Hannity as their mouthpiece. "Don't do that incredibly horrible thing that you desperately want to do, it's all a setup to try to make you do it!" is an interesting tactic on their part that might actually be effective.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:42 PM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


"I have a message for the president tonight."

Most people would feel concerned if the TV started talking directly to them, warning of a conspiracy and giving them commands.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:46 PM on September 21, 2018 [65 favorites]


My bet is that Fox corporate knows that economic collapse from legit civil disorder will be unprofitable for them and the channel is using Hannity as their mouthpiece.

It seemed like various Senators were laying the groundwork for firing Sessions after the midterms. Maybe this is just a reminder to Trump to follow the original plan and not jump the gun.
posted by duoshao at 7:47 PM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


Daniel Dale
Tucker Carlson is also on team caution: he argued that Trump's enemies might have planted the Rosenstein story to lay a "trap" to bait Trump into a rash decision they could use as grounds for impeachment.
VIDEO
posted by chris24 at 7:47 PM on September 21, 2018


When even Brit Hume and Fox get the sarcasm but NYT doesn't.

Brit Hume
Retweeted NYT Politics
Participants who were in the room have now told Fox News it was a sarcastic crack in the midst of an argument, along the lines of “what do you want me to do, wear a wire?”
@nytpolitics: The deputy attorney general's interest in secretly recording the president shows the extraordinary measures officials considered taking after President Trump fired the FBI director James Comey
posted by chris24 at 7:51 PM on September 21, 2018 [6 favorites]


A Justice Department spokeswoman also provided a statement from a person who was present when Mr. Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire. The person, who would not be named...

I find it an interesting side development that the Anonymous US Official isn't even bothering with the pretense of "leaking" anymore.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 7:52 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]


WaPo, FEMA administrator will reimburse government, won’t face charges from internal probe, in which Trump likes Long, so he'll pay the government back for whatever unathorized use of government vehicles he's responsible for and get to keep his job.
posted by zachlipton at 7:59 PM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


What if Trump is terrified of looking weak for not firing Rosenstein, but his staff has made it clear he's absolutely forbidden from kicking off a Saturday Night Massacre just before the midterms? Hannity going all Do Not Seek The Treasure with his "it is all a setup" warning would be a way to give him a justification for inaction and allow this to be nursed as a long-term grievance rather than one requiring immediate action.

That would be utterly moronic, but it is 2018.

@dellcam: With Hannity, both sides now claiming the NYT Rosenstein story is a set up. One side is saying it’s a trick to get Trump to fire him & the other saying it’s a triiiiiick to get Trump to fire him.
posted by zachlipton at 8:08 PM on September 21, 2018 [3 favorites]


To be clear: the president is literally, actually calling himself a fascist.

No way dude, he clearly said he would never say the thing he then said
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:12 PM on September 21, 2018 [14 favorites]


Not sure if this has been posted yet, but if who know someone that likes 8-bit video games and/or anime but aren't sure if they're going to vote this November: ✊🏽voterhero.com
posted by gwint at 8:32 PM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


And Grassley seemingly caves. And kinda begs her to let them move on.

@ChuckGrassley
Five times now we hv granted extension for Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w her desire stated one wk ago that she wants to tell senate her story Dr Ford if u changed ur mind say so so we can move on I want to hear ur testimony. Come to us or we to u
posted by chris24 at 8:40 PM on September 21, 2018 [2 favorites]


And just now, Grassley again, granting an extension:

@ChuckGrassley
Judge Kavanaugh I just granted another extension to Dr Ford to decide if she wants to proceed w the statement she made last week to testify to the senate She shld decide so we can move on I want to hear her. I hope u understand. It’s not my normal approach to b indecisive
posted by postagepaid at 8:47 PM on September 21, 2018 [4 favorites]


But why on earth is that communication happening over Twitter? I guess there may be something to be said for [the illusion of] transparency, but since when does communication between senators and Supreme Court nominees take place over social media?
posted by Daughter of Time at 8:51 PM on September 21, 2018 [48 favorites]


Metafilter: the thread is long, and full of terrors
posted by uosuaq at 8:57 PM on September 21, 2018 [66 favorites]


And now the comedic stylings of Pantsburn "Legwound" Grassley

@ChuckGrassley
With all the extensions we give Dr Ford to decide if she still wants to testify to the Senate I feel like I’m playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra and Schumer is the conductor
posted by Rust Moranis at 9:07 PM on September 21, 2018 [8 favorites]


So NavelWarfare went and dumped all of the circumstantial evidence between CRC, Ventry, and Grassley.

Couldn't be more fucking damning if they tried. Getting through that thread was just utterly infuriating by how orchestrated and calculated every piece of ratfucking on this has been.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:23 PM on September 21, 2018 [44 favorites]


NavelWarfare went and dumped all of the circumstantial evidence between CRC, Ventry, and Grassley.

This is as damning evidence of astroturf possible. Grassley is directing the character assassination campaign against Ford while still pretending to chair the nominations committee. And who paid for all this? A US Senator's office directly paying a public relations firm would be publicly discoverable, there's someone else footing the bill besides Grassley.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:40 PM on September 21, 2018 [17 favorites]


So the new strategy is to make Ford look like she's dragging her feet while feigning accommodation.
posted by Slackermagee at 9:49 PM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


You know who's gonna feel sympathetic when he sees Grassley on Twitter whining and venting about being forced to show some basic humanity to a woman seeking some small measure of justice after being abused?

I'll give you one guess.
Honestly, my only question is whether that's exactly why Grassley is showing his ass like this, or if it really does come from straight from his cold, dead heart.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:40 PM on September 21, 2018 [5 favorites]


"I felt humiliated": Black candidate [Shelia Stubbs] campaigning door to door gets police called on her

I just spent the last 3 hours flaming the shit out of my neighborhood FB group because several people called the cops on a “suspicious” van where a group of people, some POC and some not, were walking around knocking on doors and distributing something that nobody could seemingly confirm.

I live in Michelle Bachmann’s former district so I suppose I shouldn’t have expected better, but Christ. Left that group.
posted by Autumnheart at 10:44 PM on September 21, 2018 [18 favorites]


Some observers have suggested that Senator Grassley may think he is texting.

Sure, it’s possible, after all this is the week Dr Ford figured out the White House had leaked her name to someone named Ed Whelan because she checked her LinkedIn account and saw he’d visited.
posted by notyou at 11:15 PM on September 21, 2018 [9 favorites]


'Speak now or forever hold your peace', says the priest. This is a formality, usually. But usually no-one brings a shotgun to a wedding. This time, someone does speak.

The people on one side of the aisle, who always felt uneasy about the match, now await for their deepest misgivings being confirmed. The truth won't make them happy, but it will avert this travesty.

On the other side of the aisle, dark mutterings. The ceremony was going so well, how dare this intruder upset their plans? Surely they can just be dismissed and hustled away before they spoil everything. The quicker the better. Let's just get on with it, fuck the truth. It won't make them happy either, because this travesty is all they wish for.
posted by adept256 at 12:01 AM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


Grassley's twitter habits are, er, eccentric. It's possible he thought he was communicating privately, but given his usual style on twitter, and adjusted for him being up well past his 9pm bedtime, I think it's just what he does.
posted by zachlipton at 12:07 AM on September 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


A few late stories of fairly large significance.

WaPo, China cancels trade talks with U.S. as new Trump tariffs loom
China has scrapped trade talks with the United States days before President Trump is set to escalate the commercial battle with a new round of tariffs, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

Chinese officials canceled the planned negotiations after Trump announced he would impose new levies of up to 10 percent on another $200 billion in Chinese imports, effective Monday. Beijing vowed to strike back, slapping duties of up to 10 percent on an additional $60 billion in American products.
...
Chinese President Xi Jinping has refused to bend to the White House’s demands amid escalating threats from Trump. The U.S. president has pledged to place tariffs on virtually everything the United States buys from China if Beijing responds with the new duties.

China’s next round of tariffs, slated to take effect Monday at noon, target more than 5,200 kinds of American imports, including industrial parts, chemicals and medical instruments.
Bloomberg, White House Drafts Order To Look Into Google, Facebook Practices
The White House has drafted an executive order for President Donald Trump’s signature that would instruct federal antitrust and law enforcement agencies to open investigations into the business practices of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Facebook Inc. and other social media companies.

The order is in its preliminary stages and hasn’t yet been run past other government agencies, according to a White House official. Bloomberg News obtained a draft of the order.

The document instructs U.S. antitrust authorities to “thoroughly investigate whether any online platform has acted in violation of the antitrust laws.” It instructs other government agencies to recommend within a month after it’s signed actions that could potentially “protect competition among online platforms and address online platform bias.”
...
“Because of their critical role in American society, it is essential that American citizens are protected from anticompetitive acts by dominant online platforms," the order says. It adds that consumer harm -- a key measure in antitrust investigations-- could come “through the exercise of bias.”
...
The possibility of an executive order emerged as Attorney General Jeff Sessions prepares for a Sept. 25 briefing by state attorneys general who are already investigating the tech firms’ practices.

The meeting, which will include a representative of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, is intended to help Sessions decide if there’s a federal case to be made against the companies, two people familiar with the matter have said. At least one of the attorneys general participating in the meeting has indicated he seeks to break up the companies.
posted by zachlipton at 12:12 AM on September 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


Some people here must know a little SQL, which is a language you can use to search through data. Can you imagine the kind of SQL query you would have to write that would incorporate political bias?

That's what they allege google is doing. The less conspiratorial explanation is that search results show results that are unfavourable to you, because most of the data is unfavourable to you.
posted by adept256 at 12:39 AM on September 22, 2018 [11 favorites]


Jpfed, thanks for that link. It is striking to me how much that wide margin of separation is governed by the economic dimension.
posted by eirias at 3:48 AM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


The analogy to SQL is a bit facile. Even in the first iterations of Google search, there was more going on in what they choose to show you than just checking to see if each webpage had your search term on it. The algorithm has changed a lot since those early, publicly explicable days and there's a lot of secret sauce there now including (among other things) continual tuning and feedback via a consideration of which links users actually follow. I honestly doubt any one person actually understands the whole system by now, and that level of complexity and self-correction is a recipe for emergent behavior that takes us by surprise.

To be clear: I absolutely don't think that there it's deliberate, human-constructed code in Google's search algorithms to silence certain viewpoints. But I would be unsurprised if their algorithm nonetheless silenced viewpoints based on quantitative properties of the pages which express those viewpoints. That doesn't seem legally actionable to me. The ethics of the matter are a bit murkier --- can we in good faith allow a system we don't understand to tell us what is worthy of consideration? --- but that's really a much wider question than would be covered by the allegations of deliberate bias here.
posted by jackbishop at 5:11 AM on September 22, 2018 [31 favorites]


how is it that the conservatives are always complaining about the biases of search engines, the media, social media, etc etc etc, when their allies and backers have a lot more money to roll their own if they wanted to, compared to the relatively broke liberals?

this is getting more and more puzzling
posted by pyramid termite at 5:36 AM on September 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


I'll second jackbishop's assessment above. A better analogy than politically-biased SQL queries would be racist AI algorithms. We have repeatedly seen face recognition deployed that was trained more on white male faces and hence is much less accurate on anything else.

James Mickens recently gave a keynote at the Usenix Security Symposium addressing this, and broader, related problems.

The administration's allegations are clearly bullshit, but there is a real underlying problem. Trump's Mirror just distorts it.
posted by bcd at 5:45 AM on September 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


this [Twitter vid] is the best Cruz self-own yet

An inscrutable self-own from our perspective, but it'll help Cruz among his supporters. "Look at how angry these black people are (at being murdered by cops in their homes with impunity), and look how Beto's riling up the angryblacks" is a shot of adrenaline right in the heart of his base.
posted by Rust Moranis at 5:55 AM on September 22, 2018 [16 favorites]


how is it that the conservatives are always complaining about the biases of search engines, the media, social media, etc etc etc, when their allies and backers have a lot more money to roll their own

I think we all recognize that the administration’s threatened action here is more of the “nice business you have there, shame if something should happen to it” variety than it is any legitimate concern for the public square.

Still, it’s fun to think about Govt lawyers trying to convince a judge that platform “bias” constitutes “consumer harm,” especially after conservatives have spent decades narrowing the reach of anti-trust, and the definition of consumer harm.
posted by notyou at 6:40 AM on September 22, 2018 [7 favorites]


For crying out loud, pushing the Doppleganger (who is not actually a doppleganger) Theory is not the sign of a confident clan of supporters. They're reaching for shit.

Conservative We're Never Responsible Strategy #7878923984727

Blame the Dominion! The Founders are liberal changelings!
posted by juiceCake at 7:10 AM on September 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


To be clear: I absolutely don't think that there it's deliberate, human-constructed code in Google's search algorithms to silence certain viewpoints. But I would be unsurprised if their algorithm nonetheless silenced viewpoints based on quantitative properties of the pages which express those viewpoints. That doesn't seem legally actionable to me.

In other words, "reality has a well known liberal bias" -- Stephen Colbert 2006
posted by mikelieman at 7:11 AM on September 22, 2018 [10 favorites]


A new profile of Christine Blasey Ford from the Washington Post. After high school and the assault, she went to college at UNC Chapel Hill, 5 hours away from DC:
She joined a sorority, but the lifestyle was too much like the place from which she’d come. Despite the talent for math she had shown in high school, one college classmate recalled Ford failing a statistics class. She made a close friend in Catherine Ricks Piwowarski, who would become her roommate and matron of honor. But the two spent much of their time inside, watching MTV videos of Bon Jovi and Motley Crue.

“In what was a very boisterous university atmosphere, we were not particularly involved in the social life,” Piwowarski said. “Our apartment for both of us was kind of a safe place. ...But we were a bit isolated.”

It was during Ford’s junior year when [another friend,] Goldstein, who now works as an English teacher in Japan, gave her the advice that would change the course of her life.

“He said, You’re really smart, and you’re just like totally [messed] up,” Ford recalled. She remembers him saying, “What are you doing?...Everbody’s getting it together but you’re like not.’ It was kind of a harsh talk.”

If she was going to graduate on time, he said, she ought to major in psychology. The major didn’t require students to take classes in a specific order, so Ford could take them all at once.

That was how Christine Blasey Ford came to spend her life researching trauma and if it is possible to get past it.
posted by pjenks at 7:12 AM on September 22, 2018 [85 favorites]


Cryptic new tweet from Seung Min Kim (WaPost), who has been on point on the Senate Judiciary Committee beat:
@seungminkim: Can a story get weirder? Yes.
posted by pjenks at 7:16 AM on September 22, 2018 [22 favorites]


The WaPo also has a profile of Mark Judge; his bullying, homophobia, and behavioral problems go beyond his self-reported history of problems with alcohol.
posted by peeedro at 7:17 AM on September 22, 2018 [38 favorites]


Ugh, that Mark Judge profile is awful. Contains this gem:
Judge has written about his Prep years as a time of drunken debauchery. Beach Week, a summertime excursion with classmates, was a nonstop roller coaster of drinking, sexual encounters with girls from other prep schools, blackouts and more drinking. “It was impossible to stop until I was completely annihilated,” he wrote.

Such experiences filled weekends during the school year as well, and on Monday mornings during senior year, the boys would tell their Marriage and Sex teacher, Bernie Ward, about their excesses.

“The drinking was unbelievable,” said Ward, who later spent two decades as a radio talk-show host in San Francisco and served six years in federal prison for distributing child pornography. “It was part of the culture. A parent even bought the keg and threw one of the parties for the kids.”
posted by pjenks at 7:23 AM on September 22, 2018 [19 favorites]


It was impossible to stop until I was completely annihilated

Beats E Pluribus Unum
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:27 AM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]




Former White House official revises statement to special counsel about Flynn’s calls with Russian ambassador (WaPost).
K.T. McFarland, who briefly served as [Michael] Flynn’s deputy, has now said that he may have been referring to sanctions when they spoke in late December 2016 after Flynn’s calls with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, these people said.

When FBI agents first visited her at her Long Island home in the summer of 2017, McFarland denied ever talking to Flynn about any discussion of sanctions between him and the ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, in December 2016 during the presidential transition.

For a time, investigators saw her answers as “inconsistent,” putting her in legal peril as the FBI tried to determine if she had lied to them.
This pull-quote doesn't do the article justice, however. While they report that McFarland and her lawyers have convinced Mueller that she didn't lie to the FBI and was just mis-remembering her discussions with Flynn, the article's authors present abundant evidence, from their own on-the-record interviews with her, that she was very clear at the time. It is unclear if McFarland is cooperating with Mueller's team, or has provided any information regarding the knowledge of others on the Trump team about Flynn's conversations with Kislyak. [summary twitter thread from Shane Harris]
posted by pjenks at 7:39 AM on September 22, 2018 [18 favorites]


Spokesman for GOP on Kavanaugh nomination resigns; has been accused of harassment in the past

So Ventry was employed by both Grassley and CRC? Someone appears to have removed the revolving part of the door.
posted by Roger_Mexico at 7:56 AM on September 22, 2018 [22 favorites]


So Ventry was employed by both Grassley and CRC? Someone appears to have removed the revolving part of the door.

He was hand picked by the Federalist Society and their PR firm to go help Grassley bury Kavanaugh's past. This like the reverse revolving door, the Federalist Society acting as the shadow government placing people in congress to do their bidding.

PR firm helped Whelan stoke half-baked Kavanaugh alibi
A former CRC employee, Garrett Ventry, had been working for Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) until Saturday, when he resigned after news surfaced that he had faced accusations of sexual harassment in the past. NBC News first reported the resignation.

A source said Ventry had joined the Committee after the Federalist Society requested that CRC send somebody over to the Hill to help with the Kavanaugh nomination.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:31 AM on September 22, 2018 [28 favorites]


Such experiences filled weekends during the school year as well, and on Monday mornings during senior year, the boys would tell their Marriage and Sex teacher, Bernie Ward, about their excesses.

“The drinking was unbelievable,” said Ward, who later spent two decades as a radio talk-show host in San Francisco and served six years in federal prison for distributing child pornography.


These people are from a completely different planet than me
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:36 AM on September 22, 2018 [43 favorites]


Ray Walston... These people are from a completely different planet than me

Turns out that us nerds going nowhere and doing nothing ended up better than those who were doing things and going places...

I regret nothing.
posted by mikelieman at 8:39 AM on September 22, 2018 [26 favorites]


Thursday he was running interference on getting Grassley out of the firing line:
Garrett Ventry @GarrettVentry
To reporters asking: The Senate Judiciary Committee had no knowledge or involvement.
4:39 PM - 20 Sep 2018
I'm not sure why they even bother. Even if Grassley was the one who gave the order to bury Ford, nobody will care in 2022 when the electorate will finally be able to hold him to account.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:40 AM on September 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


But I would be unsurprised if their algorithm nonetheless silenced viewpoints based on quantitative properties of the pages which express those viewpoints. That doesn't seem legally actionable to me.

For what it's worth, in banking we call this "disparate impact". Bank regulators don't need to bother with the organization's intent. If some process, practice, business model or what have you is biased against a protected class, action is taken to correct it.

That said, I have no idea if the concept is applied to anti-trust regulations and I don't think political affiliation/beliefs are a protected class. So it's possible it's perfectly legal for Google, Facebook, etc. to have whatever political bias they damn well please built into their platform.
posted by VTX at 8:44 AM on September 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


So NavelWarfare went and dumped all of the circumstantial evidence between CRC, Ventry, and Grassley.

Couldn't be more fucking damning if they tried. Getting through that thread was just utterly infuriating by how orchestrated and calculated every piece of ratfucking on this has been.


Agreed. I ran the link through Thread reader for easier reading. Thread reader link to NavelWarfare thread.
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:46 AM on September 22, 2018 [26 favorites]


@seungminkim: Can a story get weirder? Yes.

Spokesman for GOP on Kavanaugh nomination resigns; has been accused of harassment in the past NBC

He was hand picked by the Federalist Society and their PR firm to go help Grassley bury Kavanaugh's past.


I swear to Christ if these assholes orchestrated the harassment of Ford to get her to drop everything, I...

I won’t actually be surprised. I will be surprised they got caught, and I don’t think I can be angrier than I already am.

I think I would be...relieved. To have it all out in the open, uncovered and, for once, undeniable. I mean this is what it is every time, isn’t it? People banding together to protect the status quo and powerful in an unknowing and unaware primitive instinct to preserve social order, even if that order is horrible.

But to see it spelled out so clearly is really something. Even if, in the end, the Republican hydra didn’t deliberately orchestrate the harassment of Blasey Ford — and as I write that, I’m taken aback in disbelief, because it seems insane, and yet somehow also very probable — even if it was the usual stochastic terrorism, the narrative is the same. The story is essentially the same.

And to see it play so true to form on the national stage is fucking nerve wracking.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:52 AM on September 22, 2018 [28 favorites]


Even if Grassley was the one who gave the order to bury Ford, nobody will care in 2022 when the electorate will finally be able to hold him to account.
I actually think that Grassley has done a lot of damage to his image, and my guess would be that he won't run again in 2022. (He's 85 now. He'll be 89 then.) We'll probably get someone just as bad, but I think this is his last term. Good job trashing your legacy, Chuck!
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:53 AM on September 22, 2018 [5 favorites]


It's the stakes. If Kavanaugh makes it to the bench Grassley will go down in history as one of the greatest conservatives that navigated a difficult situation to ensure minority government for a generation if not more.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 8:55 AM on September 22, 2018 [9 favorites]


Would only doubt that they coordinated the main harassment campaign because one happening is automatic and self organizing at this point.

The doppleganger shit though, would constitute an attempt to stoke it further which they definitely organized.
posted by Artw at 8:56 AM on September 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


I have no idea if the concept is applied to anti-trust regulations and I don't think political affiliation/beliefs are a protected class.

That's not the threat - the implication is that if Google and Facebook don't do what Trump wants, they'll be attacked with antitrust charges unrelated to protected class. Which while it might not actually be a bad thing, when done with corrupt intent, is.
posted by Candleman at 9:01 AM on September 22, 2018 [10 favorites]


Given that a harassment campaign emerges every single time a woman has the temerity to say that rape is a bad thing in public, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that this one's politically coordinated without evidence specifically suggesting that.

As for the "mistaken identity" bullshit, that does look like it involved close coordination between parties who really should be investigated further.
posted by jackbishop at 9:09 AM on September 22, 2018 [6 favorites]


so I guess when the whoever crazy said re: Ford's allegations "Every man should be afraid" they meant every man who was in Kavanaugh's yearbook and had the same haircut.

I mean, I'm not really joking. Every other dude in that yearbook must have really had a weird week after the doppelganger theory came out.
posted by angrycat at 9:18 AM on September 22, 2018 [8 favorites]


Take selfie of me - I send it to Trump... In last night's New Rule, Bill Maher says we should call Trump's malignant narcissism what it is: a serious and dangerous mental illness
posted by growabrain at 9:20 AM on September 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


NYT: Billionaire Backer of Maria Butina Had Russian Security Ties
An oligarch who helped finance a Russian gun rights activist accused of infiltrating American conservative circles has been a discreet source of funds for business ventures useful to the Russian military and security services, according to documents and interviews.

The oligarch, Konstantin Nikolaev, emerged in July as the enigmatic backer of Maria Butina, the activist charged with conspiring to use the National Rifle Association to cultivate Republicans in the United States. Mr. Nikolaev has acknowledged underwriting her gun rights advocacy in the past, but denies any involvement in a Russian influence operation and says his only dealings with his government are limited to routine business needs.

Though his public persona is that of a billionaire in the prosaic industries of ports and railways, a cache of 9,000 hacked emails — from the account of Alexey Beseda, whose father is a general in Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor to the K.G.B. — reveals another side to his business activities.[...]

Mr. Nikolaev once served on a government-sponsored council for public-private partnerships in the military-industrial sector, along with influential oligarchs like Oleg V. Deripaska, a longtime associate of the Trump campaign’s convicted former chairman, Paul J. Manafort. And his business entanglements stretch into areas that share a theme of military and security applications, which generally require trusted relations with the authorities.[...]

The emails also shed light on another of Mr. Nikolaev’s ventures, one that intersected with Ms. Butina’s efforts to cultivate the N.R.A. In December 2015, she accompanied an N.R.A. delegation that included its former president, David Keene, on a visit to Orsis, a Russian gun maker that sells sniper rifles to the Russian National Guard. [Picture, captioned "Maria Butina, far right, accompanied N.R.A. delegates on a 2015 visit to Orsis, a Russian gun maker run by Mr. Nikolaev’s wife."]
The web of business investments and relationships is tangled and complicated, but one—helping to finance "a Kremlin-backed project to develop night-vision technology that the military sought after Western sanctions made it difficult to obtain"—stands out in particular for Nikolaev’s channeling funds through shell companies registered in Cyprus and the Seychelles, the same banking routes Mueller and the FBI are examining in their separate Russia investigations.

And on the homefront NPR: Russia's Pro-Gun Influence Accounts Copied The NRA — And Sometimes, Vice Versa "Russian social media agitators who pushed pro-gun messages in the United States sometimes copied the language of the National Rifle Association. And sometimes, the NRA copied them.[...] Russians followed so closely behind the American gun rights group that it duplicated its content word for word.[...] The National Rifle Association, on at least 90 occasions, promoted Twitter content similar to that of the Internet Research Agency, in some cases after that group had gone first."

If you wanted to destablilize a nation, ensuring that firearms were plentiful and unregulated would be a starred action item on your checklist.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:28 AM on September 22, 2018 [36 favorites]


These people are from a completely different planet than me
Actually, they are right next to us and among us all, at every economic level and in the city and in the country. Money can increase the grandiosity around the behavior, but that behavior is everywhere. Mostly targeted against girls and women, but also targeted towards boys and men that can be bullied/dominated and abused. The dominant and wanna be dominant boys and men provide a unified front that protects them and is respected (and FEARED) in our culture -- is that what toxic masculinity is? I was a gay boy in rural America, first abused around the age of 4, unintentionally (I have to hope) trained to be prey for predators. The actual abuse did not stop until I was 15 and able to finally quit going to boyscouts (my parents kept insisting I go, but around the age of 15 I found the power to stop going) as "they never had those opportunities growing up". I had been teased/abused/made fun of/dominated by a couple of fellow scouts the entire time, even one of the fathers of a fellow scout was publicly verbally abusive to me, and the scoutmasters and other fathers were intimidated by him, and remained silent (as did my fellow scouts that were not abusive). THAT gave license to the dominant boys to continue the cruel and abusive behavior, which led to me being raped in a tent on a camp out when I was 13 or 14? I don't remember what year it was, or even what campground we were at, but I do remember being frozen and terrified and unable to speak or to move. I was able to survive into adulthood (thank god for blackout drinking) and find help to not only get sober, but to begin to heal, but it has been a long, long road where I have had to spend my finite energy on healing rather than career, family, etc, and the healing is a lifelong process, it will never, ever be completed.

I am adjacent to the #MeToo movement and I find great hope in its struggles and its successes. And to the light it is shining on the dark morbid corners of toxic masculinity. This is how we change the balance of power. This is how "with Liberty and Justice for all" comes closer to being reality.
posted by W Grant at 9:33 AM on September 22, 2018 [111 favorites]


Mod note: A few comments deleted. Let's not wander off into predictions about war, who's going to betray us all, doom, hopelessness, "what really scares me about all this" etc please; we've all been around the loop many times on all these topics and at this point it's just depressing noise. If nothing's actually happening, just read something else rather than kind of idly shooting the breeze in here. Thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:40 AM on September 22, 2018 [11 favorites]


On Wednesday, Donald Trump Chairs A UN Security Council Meeting. Here's What Could Go Wrong.
Originally, the Trump administration said the topic of the meeting — held while Trump is in New York for the opening of the annual UN General Assembly's general debate — would be Iran. But that's since changed to non-proliferation more broadly — not because of any outcry from Iran, but rather to avoid giving Iran the right to respond, according to David Bosco, an associate professor at Indiana University who studies global governance at the United Nations Security Council and International Criminal Court.

“Council rules provide that a state shall be invited to participate in a meeting relating to a dispute to which it is party,” Bosco said. “If Trump’s comments end up being focused exclusively on Iran, some other council members — and Bolivia would be the most likely — may argue that Iran should be given the right to respond.”

On Friday, Trump, as if unaware of the official change in subject, tweeted, “I will Chair the United Nations Security Council meeting on Iran next week!”
This should go well.
posted by pjenks at 9:42 AM on September 22, 2018 [20 favorites]




(staffer in question is Jason Miller, the one that looks like someone drew a goatee on a butt)
posted by Artw at 9:46 AM on September 22, 2018 [24 favorites]


How did he even get an abortion pill, without having to wait 24 hours, watch an hour worth of videos about fetuses, and be subjected to a trans-vaginal ultrasound?
posted by Autumnheart at 10:03 AM on September 22, 2018 [79 favorites]


Cruz tweets an ad saying "Debate was on #CRUZCONTROL"
Retweets a promo for the debate where a photo O'Rourke has been darkened, OJ-style
His campaign logo looks like Texas is on fire
posted by kirkaracha at 10:38 AM on September 22, 2018 [3 favorites]


@seungminkim: "What a century this week has been."

Indeed. I may have picked the wrong week to start reading the news again. Bleurgh.
posted by homunculus at 10:54 AM on September 22, 2018 [12 favorites]


Did we already talk about how Texas Republicans Are Getting Slammed For Comparing Hindu Deity Ganesha To The Republican Mascot? The ad, placed in time for the Hindu festival Ganesh Chaturthi (which this year began on Sept. 13), depicted the god Ganesha, an elephant-headed deity. Likening the god to the Republican Party’s elephant symbol, the ad read, “Would you worship a donkey or an elephant? The choice is yours.”

Oh, Texas.
posted by TwoStride at 10:55 AM on September 22, 2018 [23 favorites]


The bottom of that ad also says "better lead by Red."

Whatever happened to "better dead than Red"? Are Republicans really just embracing their "puppets of Russia" identity?
posted by explosion at 11:05 AM on September 22, 2018 [13 favorites]


Cruz tweets an ad saying "Debate was on #CRUZCONTROL"

Beto was rocking out to The Who in a Whataburger drive-thru.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 11:19 AM on September 22, 2018 [48 favorites]


After Grassley "granted another extension" to Christine Blasey Ford, 2:30pm today, to decide whether to testify before the Senate Judiciary, her attorneys responded by stating that "Dr. Ford accepts the Commitee's request to provide her first-hand knowledge of Brett Kavanaugh's sexual misconduct next week", with details to be arranged (see text of letter).
posted by pjenks at 11:49 AM on September 22, 2018 [10 favorites]


Sen. Chuck Grassley held a town hall back in February 2017. He started by calling on people for questions and comments. But he kept calling on men only. After 10 minutes the crowd began to agitate and demanded he let a woman ask a question or voice a concern. Grassley's reaction was one of obliviousness. He asks the crowd if he had really just called on men, the crowd yelled back "YES!". Grassley tried to laugh it off by sort of blaming the women for not enough raising of hands, then went with a woman ... and after that straight back to a man.

It was a tiny moment, but highly, highly telling. (YouTube video linked to start at 10min50sec for the exchange, which lasts a few seconds (the entire video is an hour long and CSPAN has a better copy, but Grassley's ability to just disregard all women was the only major thing that stuck with me from the event ... and something that pops into mind frequently ... lately)).



Lighter note;
In his interview with The Post (from linked article about 700 comments back), Long said: "I took the Metro to work. I ride an electric scooter to work. I walked to work. I've been bitten by a dog walking to work."

They're good dogs Brock.

posted by phoque at 12:03 PM on September 22, 2018 [38 favorites]


I used to live in Iowa, and I've been on Grassley's e-mail list for a while. The subject line for his newsletter today was "The Scoop: Trade, Medical Bills, Judge Kavanaugh."

It included content about trade issues and medical billing practices, but nothing about Kavanaugh. It looks like whatever story his staff had ready to go about Kavanaugh got pulled, but they forgot to edit the subject line.
posted by compartment at 12:17 PM on September 22, 2018 [19 favorites]


@DrPaulGosar:
You can’t pick your family. We all have crazy aunts and relatives etc and my family is no different. I hope they find peace in their hearts and let go all the hate.

To the six angry Democrat Gosars—see you at Mom and Dad’s house! #AZ04 #MAGA2018

My siblings who chose to film ads against me are all liberal Democrats who hate President Trump. These disgruntled Hillary suppporters are related by blood to me but like leftists everywhere, they put political ideology before family. Stalin would be proud. #Az04 #MAGA2018
This guy seems a little bit mad or something. There's an upcoming ad in which his sister says "It would be difficult to see my brother as anything but a racist."
posted by zachlipton at 12:38 PM on September 22, 2018 [64 favorites]


Gosar Family Thanksgiving 2018: “U mad, bro?”
posted by Daughter of Time at 12:42 PM on September 22, 2018 [25 favorites]


Meanwhile at the NYT: are you a Democratic Socialist?
posted by The Whelk at 12:52 PM on September 22, 2018 [13 favorites]


Politico, Annie Karni and Eliana Johnson, Trumpworld divided on Rosenstein — not whether to fire him, but when
The varied reactions to the story illustrate the president’s dilemma: The West Wing and Trump’s top outside allies may be united in the belief that the president should fire his deputy attorney general, but they are deeply divided about the timing of the action and what the president’s stated cause for the firing should ultimately be.
...
Hannity, according to a source familiar with his thinking, does believe that Trump should fire Rosenstein -- eventually. But like other Trump allies, he is pressuring the president that a better strategy than a reaction to a new story is to order him to release all materials related to the Hill investigation that prove there is a deep state opposition to him. Those allies said they expect that Rosenstein would refuse to do so, and that would be a better predicate for his firing than reacting to a news story in what Trump likes to call the “failing New York Times.”

It was also not immediately clear what motivated Hannity’s direct-to-camera plea on Friday night. One close Trump ally noted that Hannity sometimes uses his broadcast to speak directly to the president after the two men, who consult each other often, have had a disagreement on an issue.
On a related note, Ingraham deleted her "Rod Rosenstein must be fired today" tweet.

This is one of those stories where the conventions of political journalism do a great disservice to the truth. The most significant question here is not "what did Rosenstein say in a meeting shortly after Comey was fired?" It's "who dug up these memos and for what purpose are they seeking to disseminate this now?" I think it's safe to say that understanding why and who is trying to kick off a Saturday Night Massacre is a bigger issue than whether Rosenstein was being sarcastic or not last year. But the norms of journalism, in which reporting must always be seen to be outside the story and the motives of sources must never be questioned, means this question goes largely avoided.
posted by zachlipton at 1:23 PM on September 22, 2018 [38 favorites]


Walmart says Trump's new tariffs could raise prices between 10 and 25 percent

His base is about to get 10 to 25% more racist.
posted by Rust Moranis at 1:47 PM on September 22, 2018 [40 favorites]


@bennyjohnson
CNN asked women if they believe Judge Kavanaugh.

This was not the response they were expecting.

Wow.


@martindvassolo
Um. Two of these “Republican voters” literally just ran in South Florida GOP primaries for State House and Congress. I spy ... Rhonda Rebman-Lopez on the left (Won 28% of vote for SD115) and Gina Sosa second from right (Lost bid for US Congress D27 by a landslide).
posted by Artw at 2:07 PM on September 22, 2018 [47 favorites]


I read more about the Knoblach story, expecting his daughter to be in her 40s or so and finally feeling like she could tell the truth.

She's fucking 23. I cannot imagine her courage.
posted by nakedmolerats at 2:07 PM on September 22, 2018 [56 favorites]


Two of these “Republican voters” literally just ran in South Florida GOP primarie

More...
@realshawnbrandt: Lourdes Castillo de la Peña, in the white sweater, is a Republican operative who worked on Ted Cruz's campaign and hosted a $1000/plate luncheon as a fundraiser.
and
Irina Villarino, sitting in the middle, is a Trump supporter pictured sitting immediately to his left in the two pictures in this article (which is about a roundtable he held about the tax cuts with small business owners in Florida):
posted by pjenks at 2:20 PM on September 22, 2018 [30 favorites]


FBI says man threatened congressional members

Investigators cite four disturbing voicemails. According to a complaint on August 21, 2018, a member of the United States Congress received a two-minute voicemail from an individual threatening to kill him or her. The complaint identifies the member by initials only, as "MW."

The reporting being from a Fox affiliate, they of course did not mention that the suspect recently posted Maxine Waters hate content on social media.
posted by Rust Moranis at 2:31 PM on September 22, 2018 [13 favorites]


Ted Cruz is Working for the Clampdown (YouTube)
posted by Artw at 2:48 PM on September 22, 2018 [15 favorites]


New Washington Post story on Kavanaugh's preparation for a potential hearing ("I'm not going to answer that") includes this detail on his own self-promotion:
But instead of making the final rounds with senators and locking down pivotal swing votes last week, Kavanaugh was instead calling Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and other key allies, urging them to publicly support him and determining what questions he would face in a hearing that inevitably draws comparisons to the 1991 proceedings with Anita Hill, who had accused now-Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

In one key call, Kavanaugh told Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) that Ford had the wrong guy in mind, saying he had not attended a party like the one she described to The Washington Post. He and his allies also privately discussed a defense that would raise doubts that the attacker was Kavanaugh, rather than try to dispute that an incident involving Ford had happened.
posted by pjenks at 3:10 PM on September 22, 2018 [22 favorites]


I think it's safe to say that understanding why and who is trying to kick off a Saturday Night Massacre is a bigger issue than whether Rosenstein was being sarcastic or not last year. But the norms of journalism, in which reporting must always be seen to be outside the story and the motives of sources must never be questioned, means this question goes largely avoided.

For what it's worth, Slate's contrarian instincts lead it to ask, who tattled on Rod Rosenstein to the New York Times? It doesn't take a Pulitzer to have noticed those of Trump's Capitol Hill allies who have been loudly demanding for months that the DoJ turn over exactly the kinds of memos that the NYT's sources leaked to Schmidt and Goldman. The mainstream media's reluctance to call out Reps. Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, and Devin Nunes as the ridiculously obvious suspects feels like some kind of gentlemen's agreement, observed purely to maintain access, that isn't taught in journalism school.

Meanwhile, the NYT has been extremely defensive about their reporting and refused to give an inch to criticism. Their reporter went to Slate to defend himself: The New York Times Stands By Its Rod Rosenstein Scoop—Reporter Michael Schmidt talks about his sources—and says that if Rosenstein were joking about recording Trump, reporting it wouldn’t have been so tough. Notably, Schmidt confirms May 15 as the date of the Rosenstein-McCabe meeting, although he still doesn't mention that's the very same day that the WaPo broke the story of Trump's leaking top secret info to the Russians (at this point, this omission looks like either deliberate negligence or professional jealousy). But when Slate's interviewer brings up the infamous NYT's "Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia" story, he promptly draws the discussion to a close.

On the Twitter front, deputy NYT editor Matt Purdy chided fault-finders, "Just because you don't like the facts, don't comfort yourself by dismissing the story as fake or credulous reporting." Nat sec NYT writer Matthew Rosenberg snapped last night, "Enough already: @adamgoldmanNYT & @nytmike broke an important story that advances our understanding of a crucial moment. It’s no plot by pro-Trump forces. It’s good reporting." Maggie Haberman told off David Simon on Twitter, "If you want to question a story without your own information, but based on your emotions, and slander a tremendous current NYT reporter in the process, that’s your right." and snarked at John Leguizamo, "Your right as a reader to believe whatever you want!"

But sensing reader discontent, @NYPolitics just tweeted a link to their webform Questions on How We Report Sensitive Stories? Ask Our Journalists—which is a bit at odds with the Gray Lady's unofficial policy that "our followers on social media and our readers across the Internet have come together to collectively serve as a modern watchdog, more vigilant and forceful than one person could ever be" when the paper's public editor position was eliminated.

P.S. The Onion is brutal: ‘New York Times’ Announces Appointment of Anonymous Source as Editor-In-Chief
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:28 PM on September 22, 2018 [58 favorites]


Trump administration seeks to limit access to visas or residency for immigrants who use or are likely to use public assistance (WaPo)
The Trump administration will make it much more difficult for immigrants to come to the United States or remain in the country if they use or are likely to use housing vouchers, food subsidies and other “non-cash” forms of public assistance, under a proposal announced Saturday by the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. immigration laws have long contained provisions limiting foreigners who are likely to be dependent on financial aid and therefore a “public charge.” But the proposed changes amount to a broad expansion of the government’s ability to deny visas or residency to immigrants if they or members of their household benefit from programs such as Medicaid Part D, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Section 8 housing vouchers.
posted by Barack Spinoza at 3:32 PM on September 22, 2018 [10 favorites]


Here is some good news for a change:
Miami Dade College students on Thursday night secured early voting on campus after county commissioners and the mayor agreed to reverse earlier decisions and bring two polling places to the community college.

“We have students from all walks of life — mothers, veterans, employees, and many first-generation students,” MDC student leader Rebecca Diaz said during the evening’s budget hearing, nine fellow students in matching college shirts behind her. “We take public transportation — sometimes two or three buses — just to get to campus ... It is these students, more than any other, who need ready and easy access to voting.”

The Democratic majority on the nonpartisan County Commission pushed for MDC to get the same kind of early-voting site that Mayor Carlos Gimenez awarded Florida International University the day before. Gimenez and fellow Republicans on the 13-member board resisted giving MDC an early-voting site, arguing it wasn’t needed for the commuter school.


In other Onion news: Trump Asks Why Kavanaugh Accuser Didn't Just Immediately Request Hush Money
posted by Bella Donna at 3:43 PM on September 22, 2018 [37 favorites]


That CNN clip is appalling for a number of reasons. First and foremost, by omitting crucial context information about the women being interviewed (calling them simply "Republican voters" and not disclosing that they're party fundraisers, candidates for office, etc..) and inviting them to spew talking points with very little pushback, CNN has produced a very deceptive and unbalanced piece.

But those women -- my god, what awful, horrific things they're saying. I got enraged enough on the first pass through that I turned off the clip. I forced myself to play it a second time and watch through to the end and the minimization, distortion, accusation that Dr. Blasey-Ford is a vengeful shrew bent on ruining a virtuous man are just mind-boggling. And yet it's all so very, very, disgustingly familiar. One of the women even has the gall to suggest that maybe Christine Blasey-Ford liked Kavanaugh back in those days and that he didn't like her in the same way and she's waited 30-some years for her revenge. I don't know how you could say such things without choking on the words in your mouth.

Finally: do we only get to call people "Crisis Actors" if they're being paid by George Soros? Because as far as I am concerned, these are a much better example of partisan shills masquerading as ordinary citizens than anything I've seen from the left.
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:47 PM on September 22, 2018 [94 favorites]


On the Twitter front, deputy NYT editor Matt Purdy chided fault-finders

It's really not just Haberman, no one at the NYT, not one single person, is capable of hearing any sort of criticism whatsoever. Not one of them has acknowledged their own role in electing Trump. None of them have walked back any part of the "No links to Russia" story. They're the perfect arbiters of (anonymously sourced) truth, and if you disagree in any way, fuck you.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:52 PM on September 22, 2018 [33 favorites]




-Subpoena Mark Judge

This demand should be non-negotiable. He is an eye-witness and needs to be deposed.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:53 PM on September 22, 2018 [36 favorites]


The WSJ, in their reporting on the Rosenstein story drops this odd interpretation of the DAG's frame of mind: "One former administration official said Mr. Rosenstein might have been in a state of “shock and disbelief” during his early exposure to Mr. Trump. This person said that it was evident from Mr. Rosenstein’s demeanor that he was bewildered by the tumultuous start to the new administration, and might have told Justice Department colleagues about his concerns."

The anonymous source doesn't give any indication what might have caused such "shock and disbelief", but the events of May offer several obvious possibilities in addition to Comey's firing and the Lavrov leak (early May 2017 really was a #batshitinsane period in the Trump administration, I'm reminded).
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:22 PM on September 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


New palace intrigue story on Trump's reaction to the Rosenstein story from the Washington Post. Here's all you need to know:
"he’s staying cool, for now."

Well, phew.
posted by pjenks at 4:49 PM on September 22, 2018 [2 favorites]


A lot of the journalists in my Twitter feed are reading the Kavanaugh prep story as a sign the nomination is collapsing and an attempt to blame him personally for the loss. I hope so!
posted by gerryblog at 5:56 PM on September 22, 2018 [13 favorites]


I'm seeing some rumblings that the blame game around Kavanaugh has started among Republican circles. For the first time I think that this nomination maybe actually be in jeopardy. As opposed to the optics being bad but K being rammed through anyway.
posted by Justinian at 5:57 PM on September 22, 2018 [11 favorites]


Gerryblog's link is one of the things I was referring to. Thanks for that!
posted by Justinian at 5:58 PM on September 22, 2018 [1 favorite]


They're the perfect arbiters of (anonymously sourced) truth, and if you disagree in any way, fuck you.

Everybody makes mistakes. The key is to be able to admit them, learn from them and not make them again. The Times can't, actually won't do any of those. The institutional defensiveness and the doubling down refusal to admit error echoes the person they helped put in power.

So fuck them.
posted by chris24 at 6:23 PM on September 22, 2018 [16 favorites]


Daniel Dale: "So that’s Pirro, Ingraham, Jarrett telling Trump to fire Rosenstein immediately, Hannity telling him absolutely not to fire Rosenstein."

From the WaPo piece on the Rosenstein palace intrigue linked above:
Trump has paid close attention to the conservative media’s reaction to the story but has not been persuaded by the outraged calls by his sometime confidants, such as Fox News’s Jeanine Pirro, to fire Rosenstein — and he has nodded along agreeably as another Fox News anchor, Sean Hannity, waved him off the idea, according to three advisers to the president who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Emphasis added, because we're in Crazytown.

Also, Freedom Caucus'er Mark Meadows isn't letting go: ‘“I think Rod needs to come before Congress this week and explain under oath what exactly he said and what exactly he didn’t say. I think it’s time,” Meadows said Saturday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington.’
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:00 PM on September 22, 2018 [4 favorites]


Pence possibly saying the quiet part too loud on Kavanaugh’s expected positions. Though, let’s face it, nobody has any doubt as to what this guy is going to do when he gets installed.
posted by Artw at 7:07 PM on September 22, 2018 [3 favorites]




Since the mistaken identity defense went particularly poorly, it seems like they're going to go with "it didn't happen."

@senorrinhatch: These official letters from the 4 named by Dr Ford—denying any knowledge of what Dr Ford has alleged— serve the same purpose as sworn testimony. We remain hopeful we’ll hear sworn testimony from the 5th, Dr. Ford herself

The White House released a statement with similar language to the above.

CNN, Senate Judiciary Committee contacts Ford's friend about party:
In addition, Patrick J. Smyth issued a statement. "I understand that I have been identified by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as the person she remembers as 'PJ' who supposedly was present at the party she described in her statements to the Washington Post," Smyth said in his statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I am issuing this statement today to make it clear to all involved that I have no knowledge of the party in question; nor do I have any knowledge of the allegations of improper conduct she has leveled against Brett Kavanaugh."

"Personally speaking, I have known Brett Kavanaugh since high school and I know him to be a person of great integrity, a great friend, and I have never witnessed any improper conduct by Brett Kavanaugh towards women. To safeguard my own privacy and anonymity, I respectfully request that the Committee accept this statement in response to any inquiry the Committee may have."
WaPo, Lawyers for Christine Blasey Ford say she has accepted Senate Judiciary Committee’s request to testify against Kavanaugh:
As negotiations continued, Leland Keyser, a woman Ford told The Washington Post was present at the party where she alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her, came forward to say she had “no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present,” according to an email her lawyer sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, obtained by The Post. In a brief interview at her home in Silver Spring, Keyser said she was close friends with Ford and that she believes Ford’s allegation.

Before her name became public, Ford told The Post she did not think Keyser would remember the party because nothing remarkable had happened there, as far as Keyser was aware. Ford has said she did not tell anyone about the alleged assault until 2012.

“It’s not surprising that Ms Keyser has no recollection of the evening as they did not discuss it,” Katz said in a statement. “It’s also unremarkable that Ms. Keyser does not remember attending a specific gathering 30 years ago at which nothing of consequence happened to her. Dr. Ford of course will never forget this gathering because of what happened to her there.”
This is going to get a lot uglier this week.
posted by zachlipton at 8:33 PM on September 22, 2018 [32 favorites]


Katz is absolutely right. It's ridiculous to think sworn testimony saying that Keyser doesn't recall the party means anything at all. Why would anyone remember a specific day 30+ years ago on which nothing of consequence happened to you? I don't remember most days I was in college, including get togethers, because I wasn't assaulted at them.
posted by Justinian at 8:54 PM on September 22, 2018 [37 favorites]


Of course. This is also why such an investigation is better conducted by the FBI, which is extremely used to interviewing lots of potential witnesses who don't remember anything and then preparing a summary of all of their findings at the end, than by Senate Republicans, who treat every investigative step as an opportunity to declare the case closed and vote to confirm.
posted by zachlipton at 9:07 PM on September 22, 2018 [40 favorites]


Beto was rocking out to The Who in a Whataburger drive-thru.

And quoting the Clash during the debate. Can't fault his taste in music.

[video] [real!] @fritzaraya Beto O’Rourke just said Ted Cruz is “working for the clampdown” #Beto #BetoORourke
posted by scalefree at 9:11 PM on September 22, 2018 [11 favorites]


@WhitfordBradley For a guy who’s a judge, Brett Kavanaugh seems to really hate the idea of going through a fair, methodical process where information is gathered and opposing points of view are expressed so that we can find out the truth.
posted by adept256 at 9:18 PM on September 22, 2018 [100 favorites]


@WhitfordBradley For a guy who’s a judge, Brett Kavanaugh seems to really hate the idea of going through a fair, methodical process where information is gathered and opposing points of view are expressed so that we can find out the truth.

The question first in my mind is, "Why is Brett Kavanaugh afraid of speaking with the FBI, when the worst that can happen is -- if you lie -- you go to prison for violating 18 USC 1001."
posted by mikelieman at 9:20 PM on September 22, 2018 [14 favorites]


Here's a good thought: there are seven Rust Belt/Midwest states electing governors this year (IA/IL/MI/MN/OH/PA/WI). In all of them, the governor plays a role in approving congressional maps, so Democratic control would block any serious gerrymander.

Democrats lead in six of these races.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:30 PM on September 22, 2018 [53 favorites]


Current member of the Mississippi state senate, and declared candidate in the November special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Thad Cochran for the remainder of the term, Chris McDaniel stakes out a bold position on sexual assault allegations:
"These allegations, 99 percent of the time, are just absolutely fabricated."
And with that I am all out of evens.
posted by Nerd of the North at 10:05 PM on September 22, 2018 [22 favorites]


I've heard it posited that Dr. Ford is the floating butterfly to the bee-sting of revisiting Kavanaugh's debt and gambling issues - I'm referring to Mohamed Ali's boxing tactics, where he would keep an opponent busy defending against a flurry of precision left-handed jabs, to the point where they forgot to defend against his show-stopper right hook. If they tried to shrug off the jabs to defend against the hay-maker, they'd go down, as the champ's jabs had serious weight and precision.

Re-opening the hearings means perjury and gambling and who paid off his debts is all on the table, as well as the rape he may well be criminally accountable for, one that is being actively investigated by the cops in his hometown, as there is no statute of limitations on that crime in Maryland.

Kavenaugh is a criminal. He has a repeated pattern of criminality, up to right this year where he accepted money to pay off his debts for political favors and perjured himself to the American People by way of their Senatorial representatives in congress.

Let me repeat, and this is a stone simple talking point anyone can understand - Brett Kavenaugh is an unpunished criminal with a history of criminality. He should be in jail to pay for his crimes, not on the Supreme Court.
posted by Slap*Happy at 1:05 AM on September 23, 2018 [42 favorites]


When Republicans say that they want "an outside lawyer" (ie a woman) to ask questions instead of themselves, how does that work? Does she just read questions they hand her? [Politicians must be desperate to yield camera time.]

What about Democrats? Can they ask their own questions, or will Republicans force them to hand queries to these women lawyers, too? If so, I'd love to see questions to Prof. Ford like this:

"As you know, Republicans Senators voted to force me to read these typed-out questions instead of saying their own words out loud. Do you think that was because they're ashamed of how they are attacking you? Or are they just too cowardly to take responsibility for their own words?"
posted by msalt at 1:23 AM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


Just watched The Rachael Maddow Show from the 19th/Wednesday night... she stated that after Dr. Ford sent the message that ended up with Feinstein, Feinstein inquired as to whether an outside counsel could investigate the allegations. Feinstein was told it was possible but the complicated and involved procedure laid out as required to bring in an outside counsel didn't appear to be compatible with Ford's request to remain anonymous at that point.

So if that's true, perhaps the Republicans are running into the consequences of their own stonewalling now in pursuit of getting a female outside counsel to ask questions in their stead.
posted by XMLicious at 1:45 AM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


256 women won House and Senate primaries, a huge new record

A total of 256 women have qualified for the November ballot in House or Senate races so far -- 197 Democrats and 59 Republican candidates, according to an analysis of election results


Emphasis mine, 197 to 59. Women are getting involved and they know which party is taking them seriously.
posted by adept256 at 1:50 AM on September 23, 2018 [35 favorites]


Re-opening the hearings means perjury and gambling and who paid off his debts is all on the table

I dunno. All that stuff was on the table and could have been asked about in the last round of hearings and nobody bothered. If they didn't ask about his debts last time why would they do it now? It apparently wasn't important.
posted by Justinian at 2:06 AM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


Emphasis mine, 197 to 59. Women are getting involved and they know which party is taking them seriously.

And those are candidates, many of whom on the Republican side will not be elected. The numbers I've seen indicate in the next Congress nearly half of Democratic Reps will be women, while fewer than 10% of Republicans will be. The Republican party is increasingly solely the party of old white men.
posted by Justinian at 2:12 AM on September 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


I've been trying to think of why real-world adults would've floated the doppelganger theory, and I am repeatedly flummoxed by it. There are just so many strategic problems with it. Why did any person think it would work? And it was a whole evil PR firm, not just some random wacked-out dude. I don't get it. Large amounts of cocaine is my only theory.
posted by angrycat at 2:37 AM on September 23, 2018 [21 favorites]


They’re scared that attacking the victim would further alienate college-educated white women, which is a demographic with which they’re losing ground. The doppelgänger theory is a dumb, inept attempt to exonerate Kavanaugh without seeming to deny or minimize what happened to Blasey Ford. They don’t listen to enough women to understand why it’s a form of gaslighting that is also going to enrage us.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 3:24 AM on September 23, 2018 [48 favorites]


> I've been trying to think of why real-world adults would've floated the doppelganger theory ..."

You're not the target.

The target is people who are happy to swallow the first lie that comes along, so they don't have to feel uncomfortable about their choices. It doesn't have to be plausible, it just has to exist. As far as I can tell, the only remarkable thing about this one is that a couple of the usual bullshit-pedlars found it so ridiculous that they didn't peddle it.

It probably still worked on most of the people it was intended to work on anyway.
posted by kyrademon at 3:25 AM on September 23, 2018 [45 favorites]


government: you must have health insurance. if it is not offered through your employer, you must buy it from healthcare.gov

immigrants: okay, will do, i want to follow the rules

healthcare.gov: if your income is below this level, you must go apply for medicaid instead. in fact we'll just automatically send them your info.

immigrants: okay, will do, i want to follow the rules

government: okay so now we're gonna deport you for doing what we told you to do a couple years ago because we've retroactively decided that wasn't okay

immigrants: ...da fuq?

conservatives and sociopaths masquerading as "libertarians": YES GOOD WATCHING PEOPLE SUFFER AS THEIR FAMILIES ARE ARBITRARILY RIPPED APART ON A WHIM IS THE ONLY WAY I CAN STILL GET AN ERECTION
posted by Jacqueline at 5:18 AM on September 23, 2018 [85 favorites]


Finally: do we only get to call people "Crisis Actors" if they're being paid by George Soros? Because as far as I am concerned, these are a much better example of partisan shills masquerading as ordinary citizens than anything I've seen from the left.

Can we call it the Brooks Mothers Conspiracy?
posted by srboisvert at 5:37 AM on September 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


Yeah, if I were a Republican strategist trying to handle this situation, and somehow "Just withdraw Kavanaugh" weren't an option, I'd go with evil-twin as the least bad choice, except not with the incredibly stupid step of actually accusing a specific innocent random man of being the real perpetrator. (This is from the standpoint of strategy. From the standpoint of morality, of course, I'd just publicly say I believe her every day until I was fired, if that ever happened.)
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:52 AM on September 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


The GOP Rush to Confirm Kavanaugh Could Wind Up In His Impeachment
And this is where a hasty Kavanaugh confirmation could seriously hurt Republicans down the road. If Kavanaugh is confirmed on a near party-line vote without a serious investigation into his accuser’s claims, and then those claims are corroborated by subsequent investigations launched by a Democratic congress, Democrats and the liberal base will have a powerful argument that an alleged sexual assailant should be impeached rather than serve on the Court and preside over cases central women’s rights.

If Republicans refuse to vote to impeach and convict Kavanaugh at that point, Democrats will then have a powerful argument that adding more justices to the court is the only way to rectify the injustice.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:09 AM on September 23, 2018 [41 favorites]


And if that works, precedent that Clarence Thomas should go as well.
posted by rikschell at 6:14 AM on September 23, 2018 [35 favorites]


If Kavanaugh is confirmed on a near party-line vote without a serious investigation into his accuser’s claims, and then those claims are corroborated by subsequent investigations launched by a Democratic congress, Democrats and the liberal base will have a powerful argument that an alleged sexual assailant should be impeached rather than serve on the Court and preside over cases central women’s rights.

Can't hide the truth forever. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Kavanaugh gets added to The List of Things to Hold Hearings About.
posted by scalefree at 6:39 AM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


Fourth poll in the last week showing Kavanaugh bigly under water.

Fox News Poll: Record number of voters oppose Kavanaugh nomination
40 percent of voters would confirm Kavanaugh, while 50 percent oppose him, according to a Fox News poll. Last month, views split 45-46 percent (August 19-21).
---

And in other poll news:

WSJ: More Voters Want Democrats to Control Congress, New Poll Shows
52% of registered voters said they would prefer Democrats to control Congress, while 40% preferred Republican control. That 12-point lead expanded from an 8-point Democratic edge in August. [...]

The Democratic lead on voter preference for control of Congress is the largest in Journal/NBC polling since Mr. Trump took office. It reflects gains for the party among white, working-class women, as well as among suburban voters and other groups that had been more favorable to the GOP in the past. [...]

The poll found that Democrats are benefiting from a strong showing of support among women. By 3 percentage points, men want Republicans rather than Democrats to control Congress, 47% to 44%. Women, by contrast, favor Democratic control by 25 percentage points—58% to 33%.
And this D+25 with women is before the whole Kavanaugh thing plays out.

RCP Generic average is D+8. 538 is D+9. Nothing is certain. We won VA by +7 and didn't take their House. Keep fighting. Keep working. Crush these fuckers.
posted by chris24 at 6:51 AM on September 23, 2018 [40 favorites]


We won VA by +7 and didn't take their House.

Because Virginia is gerrymandered all to hell in the GOP's favor. Like it's so grossly obvious that the courts have forced us to redistrict TWICE since our original post-census redistricting. Which let me tell you is really fucking annoying for anyone trying to coordinate a ballot access drive because a lot of the standard district mapping tools and resources did not get updated.

There's also a bunch of other nasty shit rigging our elections in the GOP's favor. Like I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations recently and we're missing ~200,000 Democratic voters due to felon disenfranchisement and racial disparities in how our laws are enforced. For example, an ounce of weed is a misdemeanor if it's for personal use but a felony if it's possession with intent to distribute. When the cops and courts activate their mind-reading powers to decide what someone's intent was, guess who gets the felony and who gets the misdemeanor.

There was also a kerfluffle earlier this year over Republicans forging ballot access signatures for an independent they hoped would spoil the Democrat. The way it played out gives me good reason to suspect that this was not their first foray into forgery and that many other past and present Republican candidates may not have made the ballot legitimately.

TL;DR: The Virginia GOP are cheating cheaters who cheat.
posted by Jacqueline at 7:28 AM on September 23, 2018 [31 favorites]


TL;DR: The Virginia GOP are cheating cheaters who cheat.

Yep, and the national GOP are too. So let's beat them by too much for suppression, disenfranchisement, gerrymandering and fuckery to work.
posted by chris24 at 7:33 AM on September 23, 2018 [13 favorites]


We Are Not the Resistance
Donald Trump is the one who is pushing back against the new nation that’s struggling to be born.


If you’re revolted by Trump’s tweets and feel terrified by his access to the nuclear codes, you too can join the resistance.

*hears a thundering herd of 6 billion people followed the pitter patter of 1.5 billion more tiny feet*
posted by infini at 7:43 AM on September 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


The Jim Knoblach thing enrages me more and more. I'm not going to give details here, but basically, the stuff his daughter said he did for years is completely inappropriate and gross and sexual, and every reasonable adult and person would recognize it as inappropriate, gross, and sexual. And yet there are lots of people in the world who do those behaviors and then say "Oh it was just a joke, you're the one who's taking it as a sex thing." And unfortunately there are people who enable them by saying "Oh it's a joke, we don't have to take this seriously."

Ms. Knoblach has emails and phone transcripts and documentation from YEARS of seeking help from her family members, from youth pastors (who went to CPS on her behalf), and from the police themselves. The police transcripts are so enraging because they don't say that they don't believe her, or that they don't think the abuse is happening. They say they have taken it up the chain of command, and unfortunately the things that her dad was doing to her did not legally count as molestation in MN because they did not involve certain specific actions. They encourage her to get therapy. (Apparently there's no record of them contacting her dad.)

Her maternal grandmother also encourages her not to come forward because there won't be any more evenings where her dad raises $36K for the United Way! Think of the United Way!
posted by Hypatia at 8:02 AM on September 23, 2018 [54 favorites]


Any woman who has ever dealt with police after an attack knows that she will be dismissed and humiliated by dealing with the front lineline cops, which is why the bleats of the right wing about Why didnt she go to the police, is such utter and absolute bullshit. The cops would have done nothing, there is no justice if you're a teenage girl who had a beer and was attacked by a rich man's son.

I am so angry for Dr. Ford. I am worried for her, and her family, and her continued safety. I want rains of fire to fall upon the republicans who knew about this and other problems and have gone so far as to hire PR firms to attack Dr. Ford. I can feel the call of my Mongol ancestors, as I want nothing more than to drive them before me, and hear the lamentations of their newscasters.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 8:16 AM on September 23, 2018 [58 favorites]


And yet there are lots of people in the world who do those behaviors and then say "Oh it was just a joke, you're the one who's taking it as a sex thing." And unfortunately there are people who enable them by saying "Oh it's a joke, we don't have to take this seriously."

It's their culture.

From Knoblack to Kavenaugh to Trump.

Doing sickening shit out in the open and expecting others to cover for it or accept it as a joke or wave it away.

Its their disgusting, sickening culture. Fucking vile.
posted by Artw at 8:17 AM on September 23, 2018 [29 favorites]


The only thing they value is power and dominance over others, and the only way they know they have that power is if they can abuse it with impunity.

The more I’ve read, here and there, and usually linked from these threads or others on MF, about white evangelical christianity, the southern baptists, and an entire theological worldview designed around justifying the complete and utter subjugation of human beings, the more it seems a literal religion to me.

Christianity is not their religion. Abuse is their religion, and the monstrosities that flow from that — white patriarchal supremacy — the tenets of their belief.

It’s a fucking cancer, and we’ve let it metastasize unchecked for too long.
posted by schadenfrau at 8:34 AM on September 23, 2018 [69 favorites]


Doing sickening shit out in the open and expecting others to cover for it or accept it as a joke or wave it away.

That's the thing that gets me. It's their audacity, that they can do these horrific things and then seek the limelight & gravitas of public service.
posted by scalefree at 8:36 AM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


It's their culture.

From Knoblack to Kavenaugh to Trump.


The culture isn't limited to office-holders: unpunishable violent sexual dominance is part of the Republican bargain for all white men.

Just this week in Anchorage, a white guy who strangled a native american woman to unconsciousness and sexually assaulted her in a gas station parking lot was given probation and an explicit free pass.

I would like the gentleman to be on notice that that is his one pass — it’s not really a pass — but given the conduct, one might consider that it is,” assistant district attorney Andrew Grannik said. “This can never happen again,” Judge Michael Corey said, when accepting Schneider’s plea offer.

KTVA reported that not once in his plea statement did Schneider apologize for what he did to the Native American woman. “I would just like to emphasize how grateful I am for this process,” Schneider said in the hearing. “It has given me a year to really work on myself and become a better person, and a better husband, and a better father, and I’m very eager to continue that journey.”


This is the bargain.
posted by Rust Moranis at 8:39 AM on September 23, 2018 [75 favorites]


Women, by contrast, favor Democratic control by 25 percentage points—58% to 33%.

I need to buy a bunch more “I’m With Her” t-shirts and just wear those every day.
posted by Brak at 8:45 AM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


sociopaths masquerading as "libertarians"

I'm sorry, but show me one who isn't? Libertarianism is precisely and by definition a sociopathic ideology. It is one of utter unconcern for anyone else's life outcomes, and necessitates therefore an inability to mobilize one's affect on anyone else's behalf.

It is, more than any other single factor not excluding America's endemic cultural racism and misogyny, the pseudointellectual contempt for any notion of a commonweal peddled by lo-rent Randians like Grover Norquist that's seen us to the lip of the abyss we now teeter on. Forgive me, therefore, if I see no real virtue in trying to apply some kind of taxonomy to the broad mass of grannystarvers in an attempt to recuperate the two or three of them sincerely interested in maximizing liberty for all.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:45 AM on September 23, 2018 [68 favorites]


The culture isn't limited to office-holders: unpunishable violent sexual dominance is part of the Republican bargain for all white men patriarchy.

No really, it's bigger than assholes, it's bigger than the GOP, it's bigger than religion. What you are smelling is patriarchy. And what you are seeing is why it has to come down.
posted by Miko at 8:52 AM on September 23, 2018 [35 favorites]


Fun detail about the PR-firm run doppelgänger smear:

@cherijacobus
that PR firm is the one that "bought" Kellyanne's polling firm when she went to the White House. $1 million. Except without her there is no polling firm. So what did they get in return?
posted by Artw at 9:00 AM on September 23, 2018 [32 favorites]


It's not limited to Republicans or Christians of course.

Patriarchy is rotten to the core.

[It's hard to believe Schneiderman resigned less than 5 months ago. It feels like so so much longer.]
posted by 6thsense at 9:01 AM on September 23, 2018 [11 favorites]


@CNN:
CNN’s Jake Tapper: “Doesn’t Kavanaugh have the same presumption of innocence as anyone else in America?”

Sen. Mazie Hirono: “I put his denial in the context of everything that I know about him in terms of how he approaches his cases” #CNNSOTU
Full interview here.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:12 AM on September 23, 2018 [22 favorites]


When an institution or group becomes so corrupt that they have betrayed all their stated ideals, the only tenet left is Cover The Ass Of Your InGroup. That's why these groups fight so hard for what seems to be losing battles, because without the mutual CYA there is nothing left of the tribalism and the knives will turn inwards.
posted by benzenedream at 9:22 AM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


the last two years have made me feel like a prize idiot for ever thinking that lindsey graham was one of the slightly less evil republicans

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday laid out his conditions for Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony regarding her allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

But Graham, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was blunt in an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace: “I’m just being honest. Unless there’s something more, no, I’m not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh’s life over this.


it would be a real shame to ruin a man's life over ruining a woman's life
posted by murphy slaw at 9:26 AM on September 23, 2018 [83 favorites]


You want presumption of innocence? Then let's go ahead and charge him as a defendant.

Sheesh, it's like we don't want to hold our fucking SUPREME COURT JUSTICES to a higher standard than we do common criminals.
posted by notsnot at 9:28 AM on September 23, 2018 [67 favorites]


I think Amanda Hannity from Bojack Horseman put it best:
“When we know what we know about a monster like that and we still put him on TV every week, we’re teaching a generation of young boys and girls that a man’s reputation is more important than the lives of the women he’s ruined.”
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 9:33 AM on September 23, 2018 [54 favorites]


Doesn’t Kavanaugh have the same presumption of innocence as anyone else in America

It's not a trial. It's a job interview -- for a lifetime appointment. There is no "presumption of innocence in a job interview.
posted by JackFlash at 9:35 AM on September 23, 2018 [108 favorites]


“I’m just being honest. Unless there’s something more, no, I’m not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh’s life over this.”

Please. Because if they drop his nomination he'll have to live the rest of his life in the destitution and ignomy of an appointed federal judgeship?
posted by duoshao at 9:50 AM on September 23, 2018 [29 favorites]


“I’m just being honest. Unless there’s something more, no, I’m not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh’s life over this.”

I was unaware that we execute or imprison failed Supreme Court nominations.
posted by srboisvert at 9:53 AM on September 23, 2018 [40 favorites]


This has been bugging me about Pod Save America and the rest of the commentariat.

"I'm not going to ruin Kavanaugh's life over this." == I don't think this matters. I don't think attempted rape should have any consequences.

"Everyone has something like this in their past." == Everyone I know has attempted to rape someone.

It's not just a partisan thing. If it was a partisan thing, they could accept that Kavanaugh was just a bad candidate, and throw up Amy Coney Barrett instead - that would solve a lot of optics problems for them right now. Republicans aren't doing that because they're resisting the very idea that attempted rape is a bad thing. Withdrawing Kavanaugh would be conceding that point, and nominating Barrett would be admitting that women are sometimes people.

While I'm at it, Ford was worried about threats to her PHYSICAL SAFETY, not just attacks on her character, and she decided to come forward in part because those threats to her PHYSICAL SAFETY we're already happening.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:56 AM on September 23, 2018 [63 favorites]


"Everyone has something like this in their past." == Everyone I know has attempted to rape someone.

The amount of women I've seen on my FB feed bravely sharing their experience with sexual assault standing alongside Dr Ford, it sometimes feels like it.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 10:00 AM on September 23, 2018 [12 favorites]


I'm so tired of this implication that we owe Kavanaugh this SCOTUS seat or anything else for that matter.

I guarantee you if there were 25 well qualified* candidates competing for my lowly position and there was even the flimsiest unsubstantiated rumor that one of those candidates had a history of sexual assault that would exclude them from the running. Gotta narrow the field somehow.

* Trump's 25 SCOTUS candidates are well qualified by the standards of the fuckers making the selection, not mine of course.
posted by duoshao at 10:01 AM on September 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


I’m not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh’s life over this

So everyone in America excepting the 9 people on the Supreme Court have ruined lives?
posted by Miko at 10:10 AM on September 23, 2018 [15 favorites]


You want to ask these people, look, suppose you were hiring a new member of your congressional staff, and there were three major qualified candidates, and then someone confides in you that they were once assaulted by Candidate B. Surely this information bumps B down a bit, and you start comparing A and C, right?

The problem with that thought experiment is that as far at these creeps are concerned, that assault survivor has just provided a goddamn recommendation because owning the libs is paramount. Or perhaps you're not trollish per se, but you are an abuser yourself, and learning this about the candidate makes him more appealing "fit" the same way that learning he enjoys the same music and sports teams that you do.

Of course, they still don't feel comfortable putting it that way out loud. Optics is a major strategic advantage for the forces of good, here.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 10:16 AM on September 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


Because if they drop his nomination he'll have to live the rest of his life in the destitution and ignomy of an appointed federal judgeship?

No, it's the ignomy of not having been able to block impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Devastating, that would be.
posted by Stoneshop at 10:18 AM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


Worse than that, it means conceding that the libs are right.
posted by jaduncan at 10:47 AM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday laid out his conditions for Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony regarding her allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

“I want to listen to her, but I’m being honest with you and everybody else. What do you expect me to do? You can’t bring it in a criminal court. You would never sue civilly. You couldn’t even get a warrant. What am I supposed to do? Go ahead and ruin this guy’s life based on an accusation—I don’t know when it happened, I don’t know where it happened, and everybody named in regard to being there said it didn’t happen. I’m just being honest. Unless there’s something more, no I’m not going to ruin Judge Kavanaugh’s life over this.” [REAL]

"Personally, the bar of proof would have to be pretty high," Graham added. "Like, even alleged blackmail material produced by Russian hackers and endorsed by the President, you'd have to take that with a grain of salt, right? RIGHT? RIGHT?" [FAKE]
posted by Doktor Zed at 10:52 AM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


@JenniferJJacobs:
CHINA sends a message to Trump and Ambassador Branstad by taking over 4 pages of Des Moines Register.

Advertising supplement has “news” on:
—China buying soybeans from South America due to “trade row”
—Xi Jinping’s “fun days in Iowa”
—“Beijing can set an example for the world.”
This is weird, right?
posted by zachlipton at 10:53 AM on September 23, 2018 [36 favorites]


With the Republicans (and god knows this logic isn't limited to the Republicans) the issue isn't that most men have raped someone. As we know, a minority of men repeatedly carry out carefully planned sexual assaults on women they've targeted. If someone has committed one rape, odds are that he's done more.

The issue is that taking rape seriously would break up the Republican coalition. This isn't even people defending themselves over things they've actually done. It's people defending their power block because they'd rather reign in hell than serve in heaven. And if they actually had to come out and say, "I believe that important politicians have raped women and sexually abused family members, but I don't care because they advance our agenda", that would threaten group unity. We're already seeing that if you remind even conservative women strongly enough that women get raped, some of those conservative women peel off from the coalition and start thinking of themselves as women first and GOP second.

This is the same logic that powers white supremacy - if we actually say, "the police murder innocent Black people fairly regularly, but we don't care because the police also protect the property of wealthy white people", the coalition starts to fray because the that's an uncomfortable thing to sign onto. So people take very, very good care that it never gets articulated. They know it's true, just like they know that important GOPers are rapists and abusers, but they are very, very careful to preserve emotional deniability.
posted by Frowner at 10:57 AM on September 23, 2018 [110 favorites]


Why Kavanaugh advocates would rather defend malfeasance than deny it - Men Are More Afraid Than Ever
posted by growabrain at 11:44 AM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


The issue is that taking rape seriously would break up the Republican coalition. This isn't even people defending themselves over things they've actually done. It's people defending their power block because they'd rather reign in hell than serve in heaven. And if they actually had to come out and say, "I believe that important politicians have raped women and sexually abused family members, but I don't care because they advance our agenda", that would threaten group unity.

The Catholic Church has started taking this seriously but only after many years denying & stifling it. It may be too late for them. Republicans need to learn from their failure lest they share it.
posted by scalefree at 11:47 AM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


Fox News just published their new mid-term polling results, which are too ugly to spin:
There is a deluge of bad news for Republicans in the latest Fox News poll.

Most voters are unhappy with the direction the country is taking. Majorities disagree with President Trump on the border wall, and extra tax-cut cash is nowhere to be seen. And, by a wide margin, Democrats are considered the party that would better handle health care -- at a time when most prioritize health care in deciding their vote for Congress.

With only 44 days until Election Day, maybe the thing that passes for good news for the GOP is that Democrats lead by only seven points in the generic congressional ballot among likely voters. That suggests the battle for control of the House of Representatives could still go either way.[...]

Voters also disagree with the president on building a U.S.-Mexico border wall (more oppose by 12 points) and increasing tariffs (more say they will hurt than help the economy by 6 points).

Currently, 55 percent of voters are unhappy with how things are going in the country. That’s a bit of a backslide from 53 percent who felt that way at Trump’s 100-day mark (April 2017). [...]

Campaign appearances from the president may not help Republicans, as 26 percent say they would be more likely to support a candidate if Trump campaigns for them, but 43 percent would be less likely to do so. That’s a spread of negative 17 points. Vice President Mike Pence does just a bit better than his boss, at negative 13.[...]

Former President Barack Obama receives a positive response (+11 points): 42 percent more likely vs. 31 percent less likely.
Incidentally, does anyone know how Fox is commemorating the anniversary of Obama's infamous latte salute?
posted by Doktor Zed at 12:08 PM on September 23, 2018 [18 favorites]


CHINA sends a message to Trump and Ambassador Branstad by taking over 4 pages of Des Moines Register...
This is weird, right?


Puts me in mind of Khrushchev's visit to Roswell Garst's Iowa farm.
posted by clawsoon at 12:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


(And apparently in was an editorial in the Des Moines Register which triggered the Khrushchev visit to Iowa in the first place. Huh.)
posted by clawsoon at 12:22 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


WSJ: More Voters Want Democrats to Control Congress, New Poll Shows: 52% of registered voters said they would prefer Democrats to control Congress, while 40% preferred Republican control.

The article is paywalled for me but both RCP and 538 have the poll in their aggregators not as a 12 pt (52-40) lead but as an 8 pt (51-43) lead. Are those likely voter as opposed to registered voter numbers? Surely somebody can see the crosstabs.
posted by Justinian at 12:28 PM on September 23, 2018


You have to wonder what kind of specific leverage the Trump crew has over Lindsey Graham
posted by growabrain at 12:30 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


From Vox:

Alyssa Milano: I was sexually assaulted as a teen. Here’s why I didn’t report.
It took me 30 years to tell anyone. And I’m far from alone.


The bravery of the people coming forward to support Dr. Ford is inspiring. Here's just one example.
posted by bluesky43 at 12:30 PM on September 23, 2018 [52 favorites]


Actually this seems to be the data and I don't see any reason for the poll to be viewed as +8 rather than +12. So no idea why both aggregators are using +8.
posted by Justinian at 12:31 PM on September 23, 2018


Jennifer Weiner, op-ed from the NYT:
The Patriarchy Will Always Have Its Revenge
I want to burn the frat house of America to the ground.


As a woman, as a loving parent myself, I am angry. I’m beyond angry. As the spectacle of Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination unfolds, I find myself caught in the undertow of bad memories, stuck in a simmer of rage. My hands furl into fists. My jaw clenches. My teeth grind in the night. I send my daughters out into the world each day, with a wave and a smile, and then I come inside and want to cry out of fury and frustration, because the world has not changed fast enough. It’s one thing to say #MeToo, but if I find out it’s them, too, I can picture myself hunting down the man who hurt them and dismembering him with my fingernails and burning the whole world down.


Honestly, I have not felt such rage since I don't know when. That the Republican senators on the Judiciary committee are worried about the "optics" of all men asking questions to Dr. Ford is totally and completely underestimating the effect this is having on women.
posted by bluesky43 at 12:38 PM on September 23, 2018 [58 favorites]


Statement from EPPC’s Board of Directors
The board of the Ethics and Public Policy Center convened a special telephonic meeting on Friday, September 21, 2018. After the meeting, Edward Whelan, who has led EPPC with integrity and excellence for many years, offered his resignation in light of what he described as an “appalling and inexcusable” error in posting online a series of comments that he has now deleted and for which he promptly publicly apologized. After deliberation, the board declined to accept Mr. Whelan’s resignation, but determined that he will take a leave of absence from the organization during which time Yuval Levin, EPPC’s Vice President and Hertog Fellow, will be in charge. The board will meet in a month to review the situation.
*does the zoom-enhance thing on the word "ethics"*

Somewhere in this country, there's inevitably a fast food worker getting their hours cut to 0 right now because they missed work when their kid was sick or tried to stand up to harassment, but the head of an ethics center isn't even allowed to quit after working with a PR firm to launch a coordinated campaign accusing a person of attempted rape on the basis that his childhood home had stairs and bedrooms.
posted by zachlipton at 12:48 PM on September 23, 2018 [64 favorites]


Ethics in Blame Churnalism.
posted by Artw at 12:53 PM on September 23, 2018 [13 favorites]


@peterbakernyt: Kavanaugh has calendars from summer 1982 that he plans to give the Senate that don't show a party that matches Blasey Ford's description, according to someone working for his confirmation. Calendars can't prove it didn't happen but his team will argue there is no corroboration. The calendars show he was out of town much of the summer at the beach or with his parents and they detail basketball games, movie outings, football workouts and so forth. A few parties are mentioned but include names of people other than those identified by Blasey Ford

@MikeIsaac: ah, high school — that time period where i definitely wrote “attend alcohol party” on my calendar at week’s end

In fairness, Kavanaugh openly listed himself in the yearbook as Treasurer of the "100 Kegs or Bust" club, so keeping meticulous records of his drinking and holding onto them for 36 years would be rather on brand.
posted by zachlipton at 1:24 PM on September 23, 2018 [32 favorites]


I can't believe this is the world now. If I ever get put on trial for killin' a guy I'm absolutely gonna submit as evidence the calendars I'm about to start keeping with "definitely not killin' a guy" written in crayon on every single day.
posted by Justinian at 1:27 PM on September 23, 2018 [73 favorites]


Am I just naive or is it super weird for a minor to be bragging about their drinking prowess in the school yearbook?
posted by runcibleshaw at 1:33 PM on September 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


Rich assholes. It’s a different world.
posted by Artw at 1:35 PM on September 23, 2018 [22 favorites]


It would be weird now but this was the 80s. I mean, still kinda weird but much less weird.
posted by Justinian at 1:35 PM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


It was extremely common in my school full of rich assholes.
posted by Stacey at 1:42 PM on September 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


I'm pretty sure that there were people bragging in barely-coded language about their drunken adventures in the yearbook of my small town poor person high school, too.
posted by clawsoon at 1:43 PM on September 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


Am I just naive or is it super weird for a minor to be bragging about their drinking prowess in the school yearbook?

Drinking ages for beer was still 18-20 for most of the Eastern Seaboard until the mid '80s. Even though Kavanaugh was black out drunk, it was still perfectly legal for him to take quick jaunts down to DC, 15 minutes away from his prep school, to get into that state even if he was a year too late for the MD grandfather clause.
posted by Definitely Not Sean Spicer at 1:47 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Depending on Kavenaugh's precise birthday, he may not have been a minor, because Maryland's legal drinking age for beer and wine was 18 until 1982 and there was a "grandfather" clause. And it's still legal to drink when you're under 21 in Maryland, as long as you're with a parent in a private home. It's still weird to list your drinking habits as yearbook achievements, but it's more akin to a college kid making bad choices on social media, given the drinking laws of the time.
posted by halation at 1:47 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


There was lot of bragging about drinking prowess in my high school yearbook (70s era). Most of the ones I know about have been in AA for a while now.
posted by maggiemaggie at 1:49 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


There's non-persuasive evidence, and then there's whatever the fuck Kavanaugh's calendar is supposed to be. "As you can see, your Honor, my client made no mention of the alleged bank robbery in his Lisa Frank day-planner."

Prediction: if Professor Ford continues to plan to testify, Kavanaugh will withdraw his name before she does so.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:51 PM on September 23, 2018 [21 favorites]


To be fair, not having the attempted rape marked in his calendar is a powerful argument against convicting Kavanaugh of Pre-Meditated Conspiracy to Commit Attempted Rape, a crime I suspect does not exist
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 1:54 PM on September 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


maggiemaggie: There was lot of bragging about drinking prowess in my high school yearbook (70s era). Most of the ones I know about have been in AA for a while now.

Same here, though mine was in the 80's. But since when are well-off white kids going to face Consequences? A few strict parents might get upset, but mostly it was "tee hee oh you kids!" And cops were known to bust parties, but nobody was going to get tracked down from their yearbook.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:28 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


The Kavanaugh yearbook page. Highlights include the previously-mentioned Devil's Triangle, but also "Landon Rocks and Bowling Alley Assault - What a Night," "Beach Week Ralph Club - Biggest Contributor," and "Maureen - Tainted Whack."

Mark Judge's own entry straight-up calls Kavanaugh "Bart," the same name used in the Wasted drinking memoir. He also makes some of the same references Kavanaugh does (survived the Fourth of July, Rehobeth police force fans, etc.). So perhaps he didn't drink away all of his h.s. memories, though Judge is the founder of "Alcoholics Unanimous." (Not the M*A*S*H episode, I trust).
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:33 PM on September 23, 2018 [15 favorites]


Depending on Kavenaugh's precise birthday, he may not have been a minor, because Maryland's legal drinking age for beer and wine was 18 until 1982

It occurred in the summer of 1982 when Kavanaugh was 17. He did not turn 18 until 1983. But I assume all these prep boys had fake IDs so getting beer was no problem.
posted by JackFlash at 2:50 PM on September 23, 2018


You have to wonder what kind of specific leverage the Trump crew has over Lindsey Graham
Woodward's Fear has Graham quite cozy with both Bannon and Trump after just a few meetings. Hatred of McConnell can be quite bonding.
posted by Harry Caul at 2:57 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


and extra tax-cut cash is nowhere to be seen

And that's before we get to the Great Weeping And Wailing And Gnashing Of Teeth in or near next April when absolute shitloads of people who are used to getting at least a grand or two back on their taxes find out they're getting fuck-all back because they've been shunted to the standard deduction.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:05 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


As someone said on Twitter, that sound you hear is Pandora's Box opening.

David Burbach
He's got day planners from 35 years ago but doesn't remember anything -- nor have any documents -- from when he clerked for Koszinski or worked in the Bush WH? Senate Dems specifically told him to go back through his personal electronic/paper files re both those
posted by chris24 at 3:06 PM on September 23, 2018 [86 favorites]


Amy Chua continues to deny advising prospective clerks to be pretty for Kavanaugh. Text of denial letter, which was sent to the Yale Law School community, is available here. It's unclear to me whether this is a joint statement by Chua and Rubenfeld and who precisely has authored which parts of it; The Guardian says it's Chua's statement, while other sources say Rubenfeld wrote it.
posted by halation at 3:14 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Subject: Travel pool report #9
Motorcade arrived at Trump Tower at 6:04 pm.

Ride was uneventful except for some unhappy drivers in backed up traffic Some spectators lined up to watch the motorcade go by. Many were snapping photos with their phones. One man yelled fuck you. Another man stuck up his middle finger.
Hey Trump; welcome back to the city that hates you the most.
posted by zachlipton at 3:22 PM on September 23, 2018 [36 favorites]


So it’s not Amy Chua who’s lying, it’s the multiple students over a number of years reporting the same things who are lying. Sure, Amy.

Hey, isn’t her husband Jed Rubenfeld under investigation currently for inappropriate behavior with students going back several years? Indeed he is! My goodness. I guess they must be lying, too.
posted by palomar at 3:30 PM on September 23, 2018 [51 favorites]


Josh Barro:
I don’t understand the GOP endgame here. They’re going to follow up emotional testimony from Ford with a vote to advance the nomination a couple days later? To elaborate on some of the responses: if the idea of the hearing was to give people like Collins “cover” to vote for Kavanaugh, my expectation is they will emerge from the hearing with less cover than if they hadn’t held it at all. I read the whole thing as a bet on her not testifying. That bet the might have paid off. But I don’t get what the GOP plan is, politically, assuming she does testify and her testimony is as satisfactory as I expect. As for Kavanaugh’s testimony, I think there’s little he can do to improve his position and much he can do to hurt it— whether by seeming untrustworthy, or by seeming insensitive, or (most likely) by having to admit involvement in Zillowgate.
If this second hearing does happen, I think the nomination is in real trouble. Hard to see how Kavanaugh can clear his name here, mainly because everything he's done since it became public makes it pretty clear he's guilty. If they had the votes to confirm, they'd do it now without this hearing. Collins looks ready to walk the plank, but maybe Murkowski and Flake have made stronger statements to McConnell than their public ones.

Thursday is still, what, 8000 news cycles from now? I think there's a 50/50 chance McConnell pulls the nomination before then (and let's be clear, this is McConnell's nomination, Trump has nothing to do with it at this point). And the odds probably go up after that depending on just how bad Kavanaugh makes himself look on TV.

If that happens, Democrats MUST be ready to his back HARD with the "McConnell rule". The American people must be allowed to vote on this seat. McConnell won't care, he'll absolutely push through Coney-Barrett or some other ghoul in the lame duck anyway, but we cannot allow Democrats to completely ignore control of the Court as an election issue for the second time in 24 months.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:48 PM on September 23, 2018 [10 favorites]


Yashar Ali, @yashar: From the Drudge Report. This has been brewing all day with several rumors going around about a potential story. I won’t share them now.

Two White House sources have confirmed to me that they are aware of a potential story.


Hoping for a Farrow story to open up a new front feels like crossing one's fingers a little too hard, but at the same time, both Drudge and Yashar Ali seem to have a good record for getting wind of legitimate things early. And while the GOP's general rush to confirm makes sense just out of hand because they're being jerks about everything, something like this starts to make even more sense of the rush. They want to get him confirmed before more stuff comes out so then they can shrug and say, "We didn't know, oh well, too late now."
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:49 PM on September 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


Amy Chua continues to deny advising prospective clerks to be pretty for Kavanaugh.

NYMag's The Cut: Yale Law Students Cover School in Posters Protesting Support of Kavanaugh, e.g. “We believe Dr. Christine Ford,” “We still believe Anita Hill,” “YLS is a model of complicity,” and “Is there nothing more important to YLS than its proximity to power and prestige?” (As a partial response, the Office of Student Affairs left out a tray of cookies.)

Hey Trump; welcome back to the city that hates you the most.

To provide a makeshift safety barrier, the city has surrounded Trump Tower with parked garbage trucks. Behold, "The Trump Monument" (pix courtesy of MeFi's own scalzi)
posted by Doktor Zed at 3:49 PM on September 23, 2018 [32 favorites]


oh jfc they're not even GOOD cookies
they're the same shitty sysco bake-and-serve cookies that literally every undergraduate dining hall tries to pass off as a tolerable dessert
posted by halation at 3:54 PM on September 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


This has been brewing all day with several rumors going around

There's never just one woman.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:55 PM on September 23, 2018 [47 favorites]


>This has been brewing all day with several rumors going around

There's never just one woman.


My first thought was that there's probably other Mark Judges.
posted by rhizome at 4:01 PM on September 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


Crooked Media's Jon Favreau just retweeted that Yashar Ali tweet, and while this makes me feel like whats-his-face from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia with the red string and the corkboard and the crazy eyes, I feel like that lends credence to the rumor given that Favreau's about two degrees of separation away from Farrow, via Jon Lovett.
posted by yasaman at 4:05 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


I can quite clearly see the word “Drudge” there, so tempered expectations.
posted by Artw at 4:12 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


I just checked Drudge (so you don't have to!) & they're dropping more (unconfirmed so I won't repeat here) details. It doesn't sound good.
posted by scalefree at 4:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Reddit has it as a Ronan Farrow/Jane Meyer story on something that sounds like it will be INCREDIBLY salacious for conservative audiences.

Then again, to own the libs maybe we see a sudden revolution in... uh... eggplants and eggplant accessories.
posted by Slackermagee at 4:26 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


I feel like that lends credence to the rumor given that Favreau's about two degrees of separation away from Farrow, via Jon Lovett.

I thought it was open that they were dating?
posted by Anonymous at 4:27 PM on September 23, 2018


Yeah, and that's why I think the rumor of a story might be true, I just think it feels a little weird to be making that assumption based on knowing that Lovett and Farrow are dating and therefore assuming that Crooked Media has the inside line on Farrow's reporting. Feels gossipy. And yet, here I am.

Anyway, bracing myself for whatever fresh hell the upcoming week's news cycle has in store. Not sure whether to hope Kavanaugh's nomination is withdrawn before Thursday or not.
posted by yasaman at 4:35 PM on September 23, 2018




Welp, there it is. Kavanaugh is either toast or the Republican party needs to be burned out root and stock.
posted by Justinian at 4:43 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


Mod note: Folks, I appreciate and generally endorse the instinct to not rumor-monger—if it's coming down the pipe, let it get down the pipe and then discuss it probably—but please make a call between not talking about it or talking about it and providing cites because splitting the difference feels worse than either.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:44 PM on September 23, 2018 [15 favorites]


I am wishing he withdraws before she has to testify, for her sake.

And yeah, guys who pull this shit always seem to have multiple victims. Would be very unsurprising.
posted by emjaybee at 4:45 PM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


Scalefree: It doesn’t sound good.

Doesn’t sound good for who? Kavanaugh or us?
posted by msalt at 4:47 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


goddammit Avenatti I can't quit you
posted by Anonymous at 4:48 PM on September 23, 2018


“The Republicans need women voters, but all hell will break loose (or it will be chaos) if this nomination unravels,” Dan Eberhart, an Arizona-based GOP donor, wrote in an email. “If we can’t get the nomination done, why vote Republican?”
posted by clawsoon at 4:48 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


I do reiterate to people, though; you do not need to hire the lawyer you see on TV a lot. TV exposure is not the measure of the skill or credibility of an attorney.

Ford's judgment on this matter has deeply impressed me. Her team is top notch and doesn't make the story about them, in much the same way that Michael Avenatti does the opposite.
posted by Justinian at 4:50 PM on September 23, 2018 [13 favorites]


I don't particularly trust Avenatti. I think that he's more invested in being in the spotlight than in vetting allegations. I would not be the least bit surprised if there were additional credible allegations, but I'm reserving judgement on the Avenatti one until I know more.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 4:52 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


Farrow and Mayer: Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, from Brett Kavanaugh’s College Years.
posted by Justinian at 4:54 PM on September 23, 2018 [34 favorites]


Surely this...
posted by Devonian at 4:55 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


And yeah, guys who pull this shit always seem to have multiple victims. Would be very unsurprising.

This is how you get to a society in which nearly every woman has been harassed, assaulted or abused at at least one point in her life, but not every man (#notallmen ha ha sob) is a harasser or rapist. If they never experience consequences, they just do it over and over. And on preview: here we go.
posted by soren_lorensen at 4:55 PM on September 23, 2018 [44 favorites]


Doesn’t sound good for who? Kavanaugh or us?

Apparently there's a dildo involved. You tell me.
posted by scalefree at 4:59 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, from Brett Kavanaugh’s College Years
Deborah Ramirez, a Yale classmate of Brett Kavanaugh’s, has described a dormitory party gone awry and a drunken incident that she wants the F.B.I. to investigate.

The woman at the center of the story, Deborah Ramirez, who is fifty-three, attended Yale with Kavanaugh, where she studied sociology and psychology. Later, she spent years working for an organization that supports victims of domestic violence. The New Yorker contacted Ramirez after learning of her possible involvement in an incident involving Kavanaugh. The allegation was also conveyed to Democratic senators by a civil-rights lawyer. For Ramirez, the sudden attention has been unwelcome, and prompted difficult choices. She was at first hesitant to speak publicly, partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident. In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty. After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away. Ramirez is now calling for the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh’s role in the incident. “I would think an F.B.I. investigation would be warranted,” she said.

In a statement, Kavanaugh wrote, “This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name--and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building--against these last-minute allegations.”
No word from Avenatti if this is his new client or not. (And Drudge hasn't tweeted anything new, either.)
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:00 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


“The Republicans need women voters, but all hell will break loose (or it will be chaos) if this nomination unravels,” Dan Eberhart, an Arizona-based GOP donor, wrote in an email. “If we can’t get the nomination done, why vote Republican?”

This still doesn't make sense to me. "Oops, Kavanaugh turned out to be a dud. Here's another pseudo intellectual Federalist Society stooge for your oppress-the-masses pleasure."

The base would be plenty happy with that and who else could they vote for to further their dreams of Gilead except Republicans?
posted by duoshao at 5:00 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


Update from Avenatti: "My client is not Deborah Ramirez."
posted by Doktor Zed at 5:02 PM on September 23, 2018 [36 favorites]


Apparently there's a dildo involved. You tell me.

Or maybe not. Drudge just deleted that teaser. So who knows.
posted by scalefree at 5:03 PM on September 23, 2018


This would be a somewhat different conversation if Kavanaugh came forward to say "While I do not recall this incident, I have grown since then, I would never condone this sort of behavior today and I am especially sorry to those I might have hurt."

But it's particularly galling, because he sure as fuck remembers it, he has not grown, he absolutely continues to condone this kind of behavior, and he's not sorry.

He's not even willing to smile and tell the lie.

We're not talking about someone who is being unfairly haunted by his past. Past and present Brett Kavanaugh are interchangeable. He'd do it all again if he had the chance.

I'm not saying that any of this would form a reasonable excuse, by the way. I just want to note that he isn't even trying.
posted by schmod at 5:04 PM on September 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


All Republicans tomorrow: He was just a kid 4 years later too, at 21.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:04 PM on September 23, 2018 [12 favorites]


FTA (emphasis mine):
Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote.
This is how they work, of course. And there needs to be a strong focus on how and when Republicans knew, and what they did with that information.

Given how awful this has been for Dr. Ford, I can only imagine going through all this with the last name Ramirez. If anyone sees a "personal safety" fund for her, please post the link.
posted by duffell at 5:04 PM on September 23, 2018 [45 favorites]


The New Yorker story also contains this disgusting gem about Mark Judge:

Judge told the publication . . . I can recall a lot of rough-housing with guys.” He added, "I don’t remember any of that stuff going on with girls."

After seeing Judge’s denial, Elizabeth Rasor, who met Judge at Catholic University and was in a relationship with him for about three years, said that she felt morally obligated to challenge his account that “ ‘no horseplay’ took place at Georgetown Prep with women.” Rasor stressed that “under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t reveal information that was told in confidence,” but, she said, “I can’t stand by and watch him lie.” In an interview with The New Yorker, she said, “Mark told me a very different story.” Rasor recalled that Judge had told her ashamedly of an incident that involved him and other boys taking turns having sex with a drunk woman. Rasor said that Judge seemed to regard it as fully consensual. She said that Judge did not name others involved in the incident, and she has no knowledge that Kavanaugh participated. But Rasor was disturbed by the story and noted that it undercut Judge’s protestations about the sexual innocence of Georgetown Prep.

posted by robotdevil at 5:06 PM on September 23, 2018 [38 favorites]


There is a dildo involved, it is not involved in the way one would think (such a waste), and it now appears that there are (at least) three assaults (from Avenatti's Twitter).
posted by Slackermagee at 5:06 PM on September 23, 2018


Amy Goodman interviewed Michael Moore on Friday (YT, 16M). Part 2.
posted by growabrain at 5:12 PM on September 23, 2018


And that Mark Judge is a rapist.
posted by schadenfrau at 5:13 PM on September 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


More perjury:
By his freshman year, Kavanaugh was eighteen, and legally an adult. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh swore under oath that as a legal adult he had never “committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature.”
posted by Barack Spinoza at 5:15 PM on September 23, 2018 [29 favorites]


Grassley auditioning for wikileaks:
@nycsouthpaw: Grassley publicly releases Dr. Ford’s letter, along with a 9/20 letter from Feinstein asking him not to do that.
posted by pjenks at 5:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


Trump, Kavanaugh and Senate Republicans are rich white boys who grew up to be rich white men. They have no comprehension of how this comes across to the rest of us.
posted by nangar at 5:20 PM on September 23, 2018 [18 favorites]


In which we learn: "Potomac Village Safeway"
posted by pjenks at 5:21 PM on September 23, 2018


Drudge is right-wing. Surely any hints from them about another woman has to be some kind of ratfuckery? Though I can't imagine what. Possibly they're trying for generalized discrediting, along the lines of what "Project Veritas" did where James O'Keefe hoped to trick WaPo into publishing a false accusation against Roy Moore.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:27 PM on September 23, 2018


From Dr Ford's letter to Sen. Feinstein:
I have not knowingly seen Kavanaugh since the assault. I did see Mark Judge once at the Potomac Village Safeway, where he was extremely uncomfortable seeing me.
posted by scalefree at 5:28 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Drudge is right-wing. Surely any hints from them about another woman has to be some kind of ratfuckery?

Drudge consistently values a good scoop over pure partisanship, IMO.
posted by Andrhia at 5:29 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


This is over, right?
posted by pjenks at 5:32 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


Drudge is right-wing. Surely any hints from them about another woman has to be some kind of ratfuckery?

Generally but not exclusively. In the end he's more about the clicks. And he did temper the tease with counter-bait about it being a never-Trumper & that a friend never heard the story, so your sexist uncle will have his excuses for disregarding it preloaded for him.
posted by scalefree at 5:33 PM on September 23, 2018


This is over, right?

It's never over. Even if he's not on the Supreme Court he still has a lifetime appointment as a judge.
posted by dilaudid at 5:33 PM on September 23, 2018 [24 favorites]


Ok, so:

Grassley, Graham, and the rest of the ghouls knew about the New Yorker allegations when they went on the morning shows and were extra aggressively assholish

But they did not know about Avenatti’s client?
posted by schadenfrau at 5:33 PM on September 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


Andrhia: Drudge consistently values a good scoop over pure partisanship, IMO.

Ah, okay. That's kind of surreal to me, like meeting a toddler who enjoys vegetables more than dessert; my priors were faulty.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 5:33 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


That's kind of surreal to me, like meeting a toddler who enjoys vegetables more than dessert; my priors were faulty.

Think of it like a toddler who enjoys throwing food more than eating dessert. It's not an inversion of preferences, it's a prioritizing of orthogonal goals.
posted by cortex at 5:35 PM on September 23, 2018 [71 favorites]


This is over, right?

It's never over.


And the next name on the list now is even more likely to be Coney-Barrett when Kavanaugh falls.

She FAR worse than even Kavanaugh, from a policy standpoint. If not a "has she raped anyone" one.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:36 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


I certainly am not going to get into a WILL PENCE BE WORSE THAN TRUMP thing, but my understanding is that C-B is way worse than Kavanaugh on certain important issues but that Kavanaugh is worse than C-B on other important issues, particularly those related to the power of the executive. Which is why Trump picked him.

But, yeah. Coney-Barrett might as well be from Gilead.
posted by Justinian at 5:38 PM on September 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


Farrow and Mayer: Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, from Brett Kavanaugh’s College Years.

Thank you Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer. And I'm waiting for the Avenatti shoe to drop. THis makes me unspeakably hopeful.
posted by bluesky43 at 5:38 PM on September 23, 2018 [10 favorites]


David Atkins: A huge part of why our country is broken is that it is run by white male legacy admissions to Ivy League schools--a group that as a rule has the worst morals and most mediocre intelligences in the country.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:56 PM on September 23, 2018 [98 favorites]


The New Yorker article quotes Yale alums who dispute Ramirez's account of events, including Louisa Garry, the prep-school teacher who appeared in the Judicial Crisis Network-funded TV ad defending Kavanaugh, and Dino Ewing, CFO of Logicworks. [In December 2016, Logiworks announced it had "raised $135 million from private equity firm Pamplona Capital." This is the Pamplona Capital with ties to Russia's Alfa Group.]

Kavanaugh had an army of lawyers at his disposal, but it seems they're deserting in droves?

Keeping cake in reserve, but having ice cream for dinner.
posted by Iris Gambol at 6:02 PM on September 23, 2018 [21 favorites]


She FAR worse than even Kavanaugh, from a policy standpoint. If not a "has she raped anyone" one.

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 6:04 PM on September 23, 2018 [122 favorites]


Come on, we're not still pretending that any of the nominees during this nightmare would be anything less than complete disasters, are we? Not a single damn nominee should be confirmed. None.

Exactly. The point of fighting is to slow Trump's roll, to built relationships and to build popular consensus. Make the GOP fight for everything they get - for one thing, we can't see the future and some act of god might happen and favor us. For another, do you really, deep down, think that there aren't rapey Democrats? Of course there are. They need a lesson too, and their allies need to learn that old boys' networks and "what about his future" are unacceptable. The Democratic Party needs to be very clear on the idea that Republican-lite isn't okay anymore.

What if this whole thing gets slowed and slowed until Trump finally actually collapses into a drooling heap and the entire country is gridlocked as the 25th Amendment process plays out? What if the whole thing gets slowed down and then someone, I dunno, proves to have recordings of Trump saying "thank you GRU for your help with the election, also tell Putin I got the wire transfer and it's in my secret offshore account"?

We can't win, but there's a real difference between "due to national ferment we only enacted 50% of our agenda" and "we marched in force through all the nation's infrastructure, burning and looting as we went".
posted by Frowner at 6:12 PM on September 23, 2018 [85 favorites]


Wow, multiple corroborating sources, some named, saying they'd seen or heard about this behavior and said nothing till now (or only whispered back and forth between classmates). Men have to call out this bullshit every time we see or hear about it. We can't let this slide. I'm ashamed I initially made excuses for Al Franken and I'm glad we got rid of him. No one should have to tolerate this.
posted by rikschell at 6:13 PM on September 23, 2018 [42 favorites]


The New Yorker article quotes Yale alums who dispute Ramirez's account of events

From the article: “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”

I can’t fathom what would possess a person to put out a statement like that. Say you had no knowledge of it, sure, but I can’t think of any situation where I’d categorically insist I would have known if it happened, because there’s no possible way I’d ever be sure I would have known, and as the many painful stories that have been shared over the past week make clear, “we would have seen or heard about it” is often just not true.
posted by zachlipton at 6:14 PM on September 23, 2018 [37 favorites]


Always take Avenatti with a grain of salt.


Harnessing his star power to reunite families, Michael Avenatti responds to questions about his tactics


"Avenatti’s characteristically brash approach to this particularly complicated area of immigration law has raised concern among immigration attorneys, who worry that he may be out of his depth at best — and, at worst, placing his own interests above those of his vulnerable clients.


...

Though a number of Avenatti’s tactics have raised red flags over the past two months or so since he joined the family separation fight, the primary point of contention right now is whether the celebrity lawyer-turned-prospective presidential candidate is equipped to provide the best legal guidance to the nearly 80 immigrant parents and 100 children he told Yahoo News he’s now representing pro bono — a caseload one experienced attorney described as “insane.”

Amid ongoing efforts by advocates to ensure the rights of all separated children to pursue their own claims of asylum or other legal relief in the United States, Avenatti drew much scrutiny last week with the highly-publicized return of an 8-year-old client to his deported mom in Guatemala, the country his mother had previously said they fled due to fears of growing violence. That case, which Avenatti told Yahoo News is one of “multiple” in which he’s returned separated kids to parents who were deported without them to their home countries, has specifically raised questions about whether, in an effort to quickly reunite separated families, Avenatti may be foregoing some of his clients’ legal rights to relief in the U.S. and, inadvertently, putting them in harm’s way."



He also used immigration to raise money (160 000$ (to cover flights and stuff)) but the fund isn't being used. It is just rolling over month after month and doesn't appear to be helping anyone and the whole thing just looks like a promotional stunt by Avenatti to insert himself into the news.

(One of the immigration lawyers (Matthew Kolken) quoted in the article is co host of a podcast I listen to call Re-Direct, Immigration Law and Perspectives, and Andrew Free has been a guest on the show a couple of times. So I'll vouch for them as people working in the trenches and trying to do good vs Avenatti showboating).
posted by phoque at 6:17 PM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


This would be a somewhat different conversation if Kavanaugh came forward to say "While I do not recall this incident, I have grown since then, I would never condone this sort of behavior today and I am especially sorry to those I might have hurt."

I think this is a sign of the metastasizing of the Republican party and the complete corruption of the evangelicals. Back in the far-off misty past of 1999, I seem to recall GWB talking a good and believable game about his contrition for his youth of drug-fueled excess. And that narrative went down really well! The "born-again" crowd eats up a good redemption story so much that I'm pretty sure they prefer a redeemed fuck-up to someone who didn't screw up in the first place. There were a lot of respects in which Bush was venal, incompetent, and straight-up terrible, but he spoke that language, knew how to use it, and honestly believed it. The modern Republican party has no use for redeemed sinners: apparently repenting of your evil is for wusses.
posted by jackbishop at 6:17 PM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


It's telling that the group who is disputing the story put out a joint statement, rather than speaking on the record individually. They met to get their story straight, and it sounds like the women were put up to it by their husbands. Gross.
posted by rikschell at 6:17 PM on September 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


Because they aren't "random folks that went to Yale" who knew the involved, they are movement conservative activists, fundraisers, and movers and shakers. They are not objective third parties, they are folks deeply invested in Kavanaugh getting confirmed.
posted by Justinian at 6:18 PM on September 23, 2018 [37 favorites]


Worth remembering that Kavanaugh was Anthony Kennedy's hand picked replacement and the carrot that induced him to give up his swing vote and go full #MAGA.

A lot of people have destroyed their legacy for Donald Trump, but none more utterly than Anthony Kennedy.
posted by T.D. Strange at 6:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [79 favorites]


If the Kavanaugh nomination is defeated, the Republicans have until January to push through another judge. Tne problem they'll have is that it will be harder for them to rush the second nomination because the shadow of their unseemly rush to get Kavanaugh on to the Supreme Court will hang over them. Also, even if the Democrats only take the house I think that a big mid-term defeat will take some of the shine off Trump for Republican senators.
posted by rdr at 6:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


@maggienyt:
Per people in contact with him, Trump was briefed earlier today on the allegations in the New Yorker piece. Per one person briefed on the discussions, Trump said this is why they should have been fighting the Ford allegations from the beginning.

Trump is calm, two of the people in touch with him say, and sticking with Kavanaugh. But there is drama between Kavanaugh team and some White House aides, who Kavanaugh team blame for WaPo leak out of their moot session last week.
And this is the story they want to put out there. We elected just the worst person to be president.
posted by zachlipton at 6:21 PM on September 23, 2018 [34 favorites]


...but Andrew Jackson...
posted by Justinian at 6:22 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


Avenatti’s email to Grassley’s office (cw: contains sickening accusations of rapes), saying they’ll provide details in the coming days.
posted by zachlipton at 6:27 PM on September 23, 2018 [14 favorites]


“The Republicans need women voters, but all hell will break loose (or it will be chaos) if this nomination unravels,” Dan Eberhart, an Arizona-based GOP donor, wrote in an email. “If we can’t get the nomination done, why vote Republican?”
posted by clawsoon at 8:48 AM on September 24 [+] [!]


I laughed. Seriously. After Jason Miller and Garret Ventry just YESTERDAY, and after Roy Moore, Trump, and the parade of rapey non-consenty people the GOP has thrown up and burned to get the one rapey non-consenty person on the Supreme Court, how do you look at that and not see a straight up organized patriarchy?

Gilead was at least in response to a fictional fertility crisis. In the book, yes the outcome is horrid, but the leaders at least had a chain of logic that kindasorta made sense if you're a sociopath. This reality-based version of it is the dumbest ever thing ever. Who are these women Dan references, why do they vote for it, are they even real, and how much more reality and all-your-party's-men-are-doing-it and let-them-eat-cake-ing will it take before the revolution comes, the rich white men burn, and we dance gloriously around the socialist LGBTQ-friendly multiracial/cultural/non-asshole campfires? It took the mere thought of Trump in office to inspire donations and voting and years of anxiety for me, and I'm a white male abroad in a cushy position.

And the next name on the list now is even more likely to be Coney-Barrett when Kavanaugh falls.

She FAR worse than even Kavanaugh, from a policy standpoint. If not a "has she raped anyone" one.


If the Kavanaugh nomination is defeated, the Republicans have until January to push through another nomination. One problem they'll have is that it will be harder for them to rush the second nomination because the shadow of their unseemly rush to get Kavanaugh on to the Supreme Court will hang over them.

It would be so delicious if the sexual harassment is their undoing. If Kavanaugh gets shut down, I pledge whole-cake-eating. Fuck this guy.
posted by saysthis at 6:28 PM on September 23, 2018 [22 favorites]


Avenatti’s email to Grassley’s office (cw: contains sickening accusations of rapes), saying they’ll provide details in the coming days.
posted by zachlipton at 10:27 AM on September 24 [+] [!]


And if Showboatin' Avenatti torches their pretty little nominee with the same dirty tactics that Trump burned Hillary with, if the poison is the cure, I'll eat two cakes, because obviously at that point cakes are immortality potion.
posted by saysthis at 6:32 PM on September 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


thanks for the content warning on that, zachlipton, because it most assuredly requires one, jfc. i know it's going to be difficult to talk around, and i know the mod note upthread specifically asked people not to talk around the accusations, but if there's a way to avoid explicitly and directly talking about the accusations in the megathread, that might be helpful, because, uh. it's... a lot.
posted by halation at 6:39 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


I think this could also be the end of the line for Uncle Joe Biden's White House hopes. Bringing up the memory of what he did to Anita Hill does not play well in this political climate. There are just too many better choices.
posted by rikschell at 6:40 PM on September 23, 2018 [44 favorites]


I’ve just been typing and deleting, typing and deleting. The Avenatti allegations are viscerally sickening.

Burn them all to the ground.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:47 PM on September 23, 2018 [15 favorites]


I’ve been thinking about the Biden angle, too (and felt relieved).
posted by AwkwardPause at 6:48 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


Thanks. Please secure your own mask first; it’s ok not to click, and the venting thread is always here too.

The broad outlines seem to match the story told about Mike Judge by his college ex in the New Yorker story.

Just like during the Trump campaign in October ‘16, I don’t know how we as a country talk about this without revictimizing so many people. I’m so done with this week already, and it’s Sunday.
posted by zachlipton at 6:50 PM on September 23, 2018 [10 favorites]


Burn them all to the ground.

You know, Steve King (spit) said a thing earlier today: "No man will ever qualify for the Supreme Court" if being accused of sexual assault is "new standard"

For once, I almost agree with him. If those are the terms, then fine. That's acceptable. Men need a time out, I think.
posted by Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick at 6:50 PM on September 23, 2018 [91 favorites]


Luckily, being credibly accused of sexual assault is closer to what that new standard actually is.

King (spit) obviously knows that "being accused of being a racist moron" isn't sufficient to be disqualified from office.
posted by delfin at 6:55 PM on September 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


Once the total number of women who have ever served on the Supreme Court equals the total number of men who have ever served on the Supreme Court, we can start talking about appointing men again.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:56 PM on September 23, 2018 [62 favorites]


If they continue to push this nomination after these new Avenatti allegations...

I honestly don’t know what happens, then.
posted by schadenfrau at 6:59 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


I'm sadly not at all surprised at the content of the Avenatti email. It's pretty much straight out of the nationwide gross amoral fratboy pack-hunting playbook, or was in that era.

The fact that the White House and GOP Judiciary fucks knew some or all of this and tried to rush the confirmation vote through before it came out. . . . Also not surprising, but they ALL need to be burned down to the ground. Good lord, if this terrible shit doesn't get out the vote, I do not know what will.

I need to go watch the Beto/Clash video few more times to wash out my brain.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:02 PM on September 23, 2018 [14 favorites]


I know this isn't a good time for #notallmen and that's not what I'm saying here...but even Gorsuch didn't have these problems. Somehow I doubt that if Merrick Garland had gotten his rightful hearing anything like this would've come out. It's not actually hard to vet nominees properly, and it seems like talking to literally anyone who knew Kavanaugh would've showed he was at minimum a raging alcoholic with a gambling problem, but they just didn't feel like they had to do it. And Trump wanted a yes man against Mueller. They've still faced no consequences at all, so they believe they're entirely above them no matter what, they didn't do even the most rudimentary background, and with what's come out now Kavanaugh likely couldn't have even been confirmed the first time. It's sad that we've had to come to nominating a literal rapist to the Supreme Court before it happened, but maybe that's what it took.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:04 PM on September 23, 2018 [51 favorites]


Potomac Village Safeway

In addition to everything else that's been ruined by this garbage fire of a timeline, I now have to add the grocery store closest to my parents' house. Ugh.
posted by nonasuch at 7:09 PM on September 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


I really really really really appreciate that no one has posted details of the Avenatti allegations. I'm a sexual assault survivor and I'm struggling to hold it together while also having trouble keeping away from this entirely.

That said, could someone filter some basic info into the thread, like approximate dates, number of women making accusations, and what men have been accused?
posted by medusa at 7:14 PM on September 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


They HAVE to pull the nomination now...there's no way this Avenatti story can unfold over the coming week(s) without doing huge collateral damage to the GOP (even if baseless and unproven), and there's no way they can hope to just get testimony from Ford on Thursday and call the whole nomination matter resolved. They MAY have been able to weather the Ramirez story (her memory was admittedly fuzzy, it was less assault and more freshman hijinx, etc, etc) but this latest account from the ex-gf in the New Yorker combined with the Avenatti letter is too much.

The longer they delay in pulling the nomination the more damage they do, and the less time they have for the next nom. I'm saying Kavanaugh is done by lunchtime tomorrow.
posted by karst at 7:16 PM on September 23, 2018


You know, Steve King (spit) said a thing earlier today: "No man will ever qualify for the Supreme Court" if being accused of sexual assault is "new standard"

For once, I almost agree with him. If those are the terms, then fine. That's acceptable. Men need a time out, I think.



There are currently five men and three women on SCOTUS, with one vacant seat, and the supply of men is renewable and improvable. The next two appointees could be women before we'd need to worry about an real imbalance.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:17 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


if Showboatin' Avenatti torches their pretty little nominee with the same dirty tactics that Trump burned Hillary with

That email actually sounds a lot like the series of carefully-chosen questions that Kavanaugh burned Bill with, back when K was first proving his partisan bona fides. I'm skeptical of Avenatti, and also definitely don't wish to minimize the human suffering involved in the stories that these questions imply. But there is something poetic in seeing this sanctimonious snotgoblin's own tactics used against him.
posted by shenderson at 7:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [31 favorites]


less assault and more freshman hijinx

yeah, let's not cede this ground.

it wasn't rape. it was definitely sexual assault by any reasonable definition.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [31 favorites]


That said, could someone filter some basic info into the thread, like approximate dates, number of women making accusations, and what men have been accused?

Avenetti's email says: early 1980s; "multiple" incidents and witnesses; Kavanaugh, Judge, and "others".
posted by thelonius at 7:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


There aren't any specifics, but the allegation is that Mark Judge, Kavanaugh, and other boys drugged and gang-raped girls at house parties while they were in high school. Avenatti claims that there were "multiple" incidents and that there are "multiple" corroborating witnesses. But it's Avenatti, so who knows.

For what it's worth, I'm about ten years younger than Kavanaugh, and when I was a teenager in D.C. there were stories floating around about Prep guys having sex with unconscious girls at parties.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:21 PM on September 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


Medusa, the Avenatti letter only mentions Kavanaugh and Mark Judge by name. Lists the allegation of rape, mentions alcohol/drugs and other unnamed men.
There are questions Avenatti would like to ask but they may be too specific to mention here.
It is a very short letter.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 7:21 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


This is why Blasey Ford has gone public. She knew there were more and that she could help them come out if she went first. She knew.
posted by medusa at 7:25 PM on September 23, 2018 [50 favorites]


GOP is no longer the party of misogyny -

it are now the party of rape
posted by growabrain at 7:27 PM on September 23, 2018 [20 favorites]




This is why Blasey Ford has gone public.

This rings extremely true to me. And... damn, we owe her even more of a debt.
posted by bcd at 7:28 PM on September 23, 2018 [22 favorites]


Avenatti isn't helping. If he does have a client, this is serving his interests, not hers. He's putting out salacious details with no evidence detracting from Farrow and Meyer's well sourced and corroborated story.

Maybe he does have something here, but what he's put out tonight is not evidence of anything, and it's not advancing anyone interests other than his own to keep himself in or adjacent to the ongoing Trump shitshow spotlight. I don't really consider Avenatti acting as a lawyer at this point, he's a declared 2020 candidate, and a sideshow one at that. Everything he says should be filtered through that lens.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:28 PM on September 23, 2018 [18 favorites]


The next two appointees could be women before we'd need to worry about an real imbalance.

“When I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court] and I say, 'When there are nine,' people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that.”

― Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Given the facts, I think you can make a case that the next 105 appointees could be women before we'd need to worry about imbalance.
posted by mstokes650 at 7:30 PM on September 23, 2018 [90 favorites]


There are currently five men and three women on SCOTUS, with one vacant seat, and the supply of men is renewable and improvable. The next two appointees could be women before we'd need to worry about an real imbalance.
posted by snuffleupagus


And it went 192 years with only men on it. So I think we've got a LONG way to go before it would be unbalanced with all women on the Court, oh indeed.
posted by agregoli at 7:30 PM on September 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


This is why Blasey Ford has gone public. She knew there were more and that she could help them come out if she went first. She knew.

I'm pretty sure she went public because she was viciously outed against her will, but this is indeed a great service that her willingness to speak about her attack has done.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:31 PM on September 23, 2018 [28 favorites]


The text of Feinstein's letter to chairman Grassley
I am writing to request an immediate postponement of any further proceedings related to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. I also ask that the newest allegations of sexual misconduct be referred to the FBI for investigation, and that you join our request for the White House to direct the FBI to investigate the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford as well as these new claims.

Today, Deborah Ramirez came forward with serious allegations of sexual misconduct by Judge Kavanaugh. The New Yorker article recounting her experience states that there are witnesses who can corroborate her claims and who challenge Mr. Judge’s account. An investigation needs to be conducted as part of Judge Kavanaugh’s background investigation by career professionals at the FBI – not partisan staff of the Committee. We need a fair, independent process that will gather all the facts, interview all the relevant witnesses, and ensure the Committee receives a full and impartial report. Should the White House continue to refuse to direct the FBI to do its job, the Committee must subpoena all relevant witnesses.

It is time to set politics aside. We must ensure that a thorough and fair investigation is conducted before moving forward.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:31 PM on September 23, 2018 [29 favorites]


@annalecta
If the name Louisa Garry—one of Brett Kavanaugh’s Yale classmates disputing Deborah Ramirez’s sexual misconduct claim— looks familiar, it might because she was recently featured in a pro-Kavanaugh ad by 501(c)(4) "dark money" group Judicial Crisis Network
posted by Artw at 7:37 PM on September 23, 2018 [28 favorites]


Here is different story, from Deborah Copaken - My Rapist Apologized
posted by growabrain at 7:43 PM on September 23, 2018 [10 favorites]


she was recently featured in a pro-Kavanaugh ad by 501(c)(4) "dark money" group Judicial Crisis Network
I believe that should be the the Judicial Crisis Actors Network.
posted by Tabitha Someday at 7:44 PM on September 23, 2018 [36 favorites]


Avenatti better be as good as he clearly thinks he is and have vetted these new allegations thoroughly and intensively before inserting himself in this way. I've been critical of his showboating (even while recognizing he's being self-serving while on the right side) but this moment is far beyond the Stormy Daniels stuff. That was a sideshow... this is a pivotal moment in the nation's history.

So he better not fuck this up for us all.
posted by Justinian at 7:49 PM on September 23, 2018 [28 favorites]


I'm happy to see the GOP self-destruct, but I wonder why they don't just try the easy logical choice of nominating a "centrist" like a Merrick Garland. Didn't work for Dems because GOP senators are immature assholes, but would totally work for GOP to win over the pushover Dem senators.

Trumpists and alt-right would have a shitfit, but by the time they got over it, the actual number of lost voters would be not much bigger than the independents and never Trumpers they win back, and it would go a long way to start repairing their party image to associate more with pragmatists and centrists than alt-righters and Trumpists. I guess this speaks to the bigger issues of partisanship in politics and the disappearing center, but before long, public intolerance of partisan gridlock will begin to outweigh their distaste for "establishment" candidates and career politicians. They'd be smart to get ahead of the curve on this instead of backing racists and rapists.
posted by p3t3 at 7:49 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


They can't nominate a centrist. A centrist won't do most of the things they so desperately need him (or her) to do. The GOP agenda is in no way centrist so a centrist judge is useless to them.

And with this being a 5th justice for conservatives this is the brass ring. It's all the marbles. It's... whatever metaphor you care to use. Nominating a centrist here would be like Caesar getting to the Rubicon and then being like "eh, screw it, let's go home."
posted by Justinian at 7:52 PM on September 23, 2018 [45 favorites]


Well, back to Gaul. You pedants know what I meant.
posted by Justinian at 7:54 PM on September 23, 2018 [69 favorites]


Trumpists and alt-right are the party now. The aristocrats are trying to ride them like a mechanical bull but they can't loosen their grip for an instant. They saw what happened to Eric Cantor and things have only gotten worse since then.
posted by murphy slaw at 7:54 PM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


Feinstein: "I also ask that the newest allegations of sexual misconduct be referred to the FBI for investigation, and that you join our request for the White House to direct the FBI to investigate the allegations ..."

It is important to note what Feinstein is saying here. Grassley and the Republican line to the public thus far has been to say "Sorry, we don't control the FBI. They work for the executive branch. We can't make them investigate anything."

This is true only in the the most tendentious technical sense. As in the Anita Hill case, the Judiciary Committee can simply vote a resolution and tell the President that they will not proceed on the nomination until the FBI completes an investigation. The President then has only two choices. Authorize the FBI investigation or withdraw the nominee. Feinstein is putting Grassley on notice to cooperate in that request.
posted by JackFlash at 7:57 PM on September 23, 2018 [24 favorites]


@biocuriosity: the whole next week should be a national holiday so people who have been sexually assaulted can turn off their computers and lie down for a while

@jessicavalenti: This is all incredibly hard. If you're a survivor of sexual violence and need help, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673
posted by zachlipton at 7:58 PM on September 23, 2018 [40 favorites]


If the name Louisa Garry—one of Brett Kavanaugh’s Yale classmates disputing Deborah Ramirez’s sexual misconduct claim— looks familiar, it might because she was recently featured in a pro-Kavanaugh ad by 501(c)(4) "dark money" group Judicial Crisis Network

And if Judicial Crisis Network wasn't already familiar to USpolitics megathread readers, Maggie Haberman just tweeted their statement on Kavanaugh in response to the NYer article. She really doesn't care whose water she's carrying.

Avenatti better be as good as he clearly thinks he is and have vetted these new allegations thoroughly and intensively before inserting himself in this way.

He'd damn well better have, because he's already gone to Politico in what will doubtless be another of his media blitzes:
Avenatti told POLITICO he represents a group of individuals who can corroborate allegations involving Kavanaugh and his longtime friend in the 1980s.

Avenatti said he’d describe just one of the individuals as a victim. He said the others were witnesses to the allegations. Avenatti would not elaborate on the number of clients but said he represents them alone.

“I represent multiple clients, they are witnesses. I’m representing multiple individuals that have knowledge of this, there’s no other attorneys involved,” Avenatti told POLITICO. Asked if the witnesses attended Georgetown Prep’s sister school, he said they went beyond that. “They went to schools in the same general areas. These house parties were widely attended.”

Avenatti said his new claims are "not out of character from what Dr. Ford said.”
Politico also suggests the Senate GOP's united front could be cracking:
Importantly, Kavanaugh does not yet have the votes to be confirmed and several GOP senators are watching his reaction to the allegations closely. Privately, several Republicans said they were alarmed by the new allegations, but it was not yet clear whether the party will abandon Kavanaugh.

The GOP will wait to see the reaction of Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bob Corker of Tennessee to assess whether they can proceed, according to a person familiar with caucus politics.
Phone (1-202-224-3121) or fax your senators.
posted by Doktor Zed at 7:59 PM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


Michael Avenatti is tweeting some really... explicit things. I get why that's effective but it's also upsetting and triggering. The "shock tactic" way he's approaching this feels really gross. I can't articulate it very well. But it's making me uncomfortable.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 8:00 PM on September 23, 2018 [15 favorites]


They can't nominate a centrist. A centrist won't do most of the things they so desperately need him (or her) to do.

Can't or won't? I mean not Merrick Garland, but someone slightly to the right. Their donors really only care about corporate issues, so they can just lie to their constituents about where their nominee stands on social issues like Roe v. Wade knowing that public opinion is against the far-righters anyways.

I mean, I know this will never happen, I just struggle to find any logic to the madness on the right.
posted by p3t3 at 8:01 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


like Caesar getting to the Rubicon and then being like "eh, screw it, let's go home."

Vini, vidi, volo in domum redire.
posted by homunculus at 8:02 PM on September 23, 2018 [19 favorites]


Their donors really only care about corporate issues

Yeah, I don't think that's true. The Mercers for example.
posted by dilaudid at 8:03 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


"How close is the Sen. Collins opposition fund to $1.5 million?" nobody asked. Good question! Currently $1,490,191, just under $10,000 away.
posted by duffell at 8:10 PM on September 23, 2018 [19 favorites]


It’s time for Avanatti to hand this story off to Farrow and Mayer, who are apparently the closest thing we’ve got to a government agency that can investigate this (can we just extend 18 USC 1001 to make lying to Roman Farrow a crime? Would really simplify matters). Tweeting salacious details is a worthy attention-getting tactic, and he’s masterful at it, but everyone’s attention is already fully tuned to this matter, and it deserves a sober non-bombastic treatment.
posted by zachlipton at 8:11 PM on September 23, 2018 [20 favorites]


Michael Avenatti is tweeting some really... explicit things. I get why that's effective but it's also upsetting and triggering.

I think the issue is that, as an attorney, his duty is to his clients and not to the public at large. If something is good for this clients but bad for the public, he does the thing. And vice versa; if it would be bad for his clients but good for the public he doesn't do the thing. I don't like it but I understand it.

That, of course, begs the question since it's unclear that he is actually acting in the interests of his clients and not the interests of one M. Avenatti, esquire. Guess we'll find out.
posted by Justinian at 8:12 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


Pence does seem like a true believer.

1000% a Death Cult true believer. He's extinguished every last trace of anything human within his soul as a sacrifice to his dark god and now he wants to do it to everyone else too. Being corrupt as fuck and desiring all the money is just a means to an end for that dead eyed prick.
posted by Artw at 8:14 PM on September 23, 2018 [9 favorites]


Can't or won't?

Both. It's not at ALL an exaggeration to say that the entire purpose of the last 40+ years of the conservative project has been this moment. To take over the Court once and for all. They saw what the Warren Court did, and ever since they've wanted to have an anti-Warren Court of their own. And that has only gotten more desperate as their actual agenda grew less popular and demographics turned against them.

They want to overrule democracy from the bench, full stop. This is the only way they stay in power long term. They've spent billions building toward today. Entire lives and careers, Bret Kavanaugh's, and thousands of would-be Bret Kavanaghs, were born and built solely to take power now, and vanquish Earl Warren and Barack Obama and all liberals forever. This has been their animating purpose. They can't fail, or they lose everything forever. That's their mindset.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:15 PM on September 23, 2018 [81 favorites]


Michael Avenatti is tweeting some really... explicit things. I get why that's effective but it's also upsetting and triggering. The "shock tactic" way he's approaching this feels really gross. I can't articulate it very well. But it's making me uncomfortable.

The thing is, Avenatti is not the FBI and he's not a survivor's advocacy group. If it turns out he didn't vet this thoroughly enough and things start falling apart, it could backfire on the other accusers' cases, too. I don't say that to support that thinking, 'cause I believe Ford at least and I 100% believe there are other women out there (Ramirez), but that's how public opinion works.

I think Avenatti has been the right guy for the job re: Daniels. From what I've seen, he has treated her with respect and he has been effective advocating her case--but she doesn't claim to be an assault victim. It's basically a personal feud, albeit with huge political implications. This is something else entirely. I want to believe Avenatti is doing the right thing here, but he may well just be trying to Avenatti it up. Any survivor of sexual assault deserves better than that.

And yet...with as secretive and bullying and bulldozer-like as the Republicans have been, I kinda can't blame him for making sure some of this is public right away. Because they sure are shoving stuff under the rug as fast as they can.

I agree with others here that he probably needs to hand this off to another party with more expertise.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:16 PM on September 23, 2018 [13 favorites]


Louisa Garry was in that Judicial Crisis Network ad, and she testified as one of the character witnesses in the hearing three (!) weeks ago.
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:17 PM on September 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


So... new thread soon? I don't think tomorrow morning is going to be less crazy.
posted by bcd at 8:18 PM on September 23, 2018 [12 favorites]


Btw, let's not forget that Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch were high school acquaintances at Georgetown Prep.

I wonder if ol' Neil attended any of these soirees.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:23 PM on September 23, 2018 [24 favorites]


@ryangrim:
Kavanaugh’s defenders always undermine themselves with this, ‘Oh, Brett, would never do anything like that!’ Meanwhile, his own college roommate is like, yeah, that sounds right...
"Is it believable that she was alone with a wolfy group of guys who thought it was funny to sexually torment a girl like Debbie? Yeah, definitely. Is it believable that Kavanaugh was one of them? Yes.”
posted by chris24 at 8:33 PM on September 23, 2018 [40 favorites]


> That [Avenatti] email actually sounds a lot like the series of carefully-chosen questions that Kavanaugh burned Bill with, back when K was first proving his partisan bona fides.

This thread moves fast, and I can't even keep up with the news any longer, but I just wanted to interject that it's 2018 and the writers are clearly way high and drunk - at this point, it wouldn't surprise me to see Bart O'Kavanaugh testify in the Senate that he did not have sex with that woman.

But I think the Avenatti allegations are a precisely-calibrated pile-on at this point.

There's smoke, there's a scheduled hearing, and now there's so much more risk. I don't see the dam holding till Thursday - I think Kavanaugh is going to step aside "so as not to impede the President's role in filling the court vacancy" and go back to his lifetime appointment on the DC circuit, and then whether or not the Avenatti allegations fall apart at a later date, the right wing will forever hold the Kavanaugh grudge on the same shelf as the Bork grudge.
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:35 PM on September 23, 2018 [10 favorites]


"Btw, let's not forget that Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch were high school acquaintances at Georgetown Prep."

Membership in the Federalist Society should always be disqualifying, both because you're willing to support anything as long as you're paid to do so and because they'll forgive any personal crimes as long as you support them.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:35 PM on September 23, 2018 [50 favorites]


Elizabeth Warren:
If Republicans have blocked an FBI investigation, bullied Dr. Ford, & tried to "plow right through" & put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court – all while holding onto credible information about a second sexual misconduct claim – then this isn’t a confirmation. It’s a cover-up.
posted by gwint at 8:42 PM on September 23, 2018 [127 favorites]


You can question the propriety of Avenatti's approach, but if his indelicate tweets lead to Kavanaugh backing out (sooner than later) then it allows Ford to remain not in DC, not in front of the Judiciary, not Anita Hill'd, and it allows the other dozens of Kavanaugh's victims (who are likely debating whether to come forward) to remain in the shadows. This is a fight and Fienstein is the only person, out in front, on the side of the good guys.

I don't mind if she has some muscle behind her, even IF he's an attention hungry wannabe celeb.
posted by karst at 8:49 PM on September 23, 2018 [14 favorites]


it's unclear that he is actually acting in the interests of his clients and not the interests of one M. Avenatti, esquire.

His clients knew exactly what they were getting when they hired him. Presumably they sought him out because of the extremely loud work he's been doing for Daniels, saying yes, more of that please.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 8:51 PM on September 23, 2018 [15 favorites]


ELECTIONS NEWS

(adding Cook ratings for governor races)

** 2018 House:
-- CA-49: Siena poll has Dem Levin up 51-41 on GOPer Harkey [MOE: +/- 4.7%]. [Clinton 51-43 | Cook: Lean D]

-- NJ-07: Siena poll has GOP incumbent Lance up 45-44 on Dem Malinowski [MOE: +/- 4.8%]. [Clinton 49-48 | Cook: Tossup]

--OH-01: American Viewpoint poll has GOP incumbent Chabot up 46-39 on Dem Pureval [MOE: +/- 4.9%]. Poll was commissioned by a GOP SuperPAC. [Trump 51-45 | Cook: Tossup]

-- IA-02: Gravis poll has Dem incumbent Loebsack up 43-37 on GOPer Peters [MOE: +/- 4.8%]. Poll was commissioned by the Loebsack campaign. [Trump 49-45 | Cook: Solid D]

-- YouGov poll of 61 battleground districts (56 GOP-held), has Dems leading 45-41.
** Odds & ends:
-- GA gov: Garin-Hart-Yang poll has Dem Abrams up 48-42 on GOPer Kemp [MOE: +/- 4.1%]. Poll was commissioned by the Abrams campaign. [Cook: Tossup]

-- IA gov: Selzer poll has Dem Hubbell up 43-41 on GOP incumbent Reynolds [MOE: +/- 4.2%]. [Cook: Tossup]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:52 PM on September 23, 2018 [21 favorites]


Those deadlines Grassley imposed on Dr. Ford don't look so arbitrary anymore:

From the New Yorker's article: "...Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote..."

They wanted to rush this through before the story broke. They don't give a collective rat's ass about this country.
posted by growabrain at 8:54 PM on September 23, 2018 [61 favorites]


Avenatti might be ambitious, but I don't think he's made anything up. If he's asking questions, I bet he already has the answers.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 8:58 PM on September 23, 2018 [17 favorites]


Then he should release them. This isn't a time to be coy, the nomination could possibly happen very fast.
posted by jaduncan at 9:02 PM on September 23, 2018


There's a thing called attorney-client privilege.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:04 PM on September 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


> the nomination could possibly happen very fast.

They've already scheduled testimony for Thursday. Sure, they could cancel the testimony and vote to confirm Kavanaugh on Tuesday - it's 2018, anything's possible - but I think it's rather unlikely. They're buckled in for the wild ride until at least Thursday, unless Kavanaugfh withdraws before then.
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:05 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


Can't or won't? I mean not Merrick Garland, but someone slightly to the right. Their donors really only care about corporate issues, so they can just lie to their constituents about where their nominee stands on social issues like Roe v. Wade knowing that public opinion is against the far-righters anyways.

The President nominates SCOTUS candidates, not the Party or Congress. Maybe (maybe) Trump can be strong armed by his own Party since they're the ones who'll vote to confirm him (or not). In a normal Administration this would be a cooperative matter, President & Congressional leadership coming to agreement before announcing. But it's Trump so who knows? He's made any number of baldly self-destructive decisions already, several flying in the face of the expressed wishes of the GOP. And this choice was already dicey to begin with for just that reason, presumably in the interest of putting a thumb on the scales of justice to preserve his own hide. Why wouldn't he try again?
posted by scalefree at 9:07 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


Avenatti is prepared to give Kavanaugh the same treatment he gave the Clintons as Ken Starr's nasty little protégé: "Brett Kavanaugh must also be asked about this entry in his yearbook: "FFFFFFFourth of July." We believe that this stands for: [something unbefitting a SCOTUS justice, but entirely believable of a burgeoning sex predator]. As well as the term "Devil's Triangle." Perhaps Sen. Grassley can ask him. #Basta"

He's started out in full-on attack dog mode while the Senate Dems have had to tread cautiously because of the political climate and calculus. He's definitely the opposing counsel the Trump administration deserves, whether or not he's the one the country needs.
posted by Doktor Zed at 9:07 PM on September 23, 2018 [64 favorites]


This seems all so utterly incompetent and bizarrely easy to avoid, if you're the (R) scumbag machine. I mean, there must be dozens of "qualified" jurists without background problems, people who are horrible human beings based on their views, but who still only have a beer on a holiday and mostly watch the ballgame on TV at night, and left no trace at all of their high school years because they just went to class.

It makes me wonder if the next step on the (R) agenda is so awful--so "I cannot go there" for the subset of their base who still consider "being decent" and "being a republican" as qualities an individual can simultaneously hold, despite all evidence--that this clusterfuck is necessary to prepare that group for just how much of their "humanity" they're going to be asked to give up in support of the next step. The Kavanaugh problems, and the buy-in required from the "moderates", are a feature in that model, not a bug.

"What the heck, guess if I'm in for a Kavanaugh, I may as well be in for The Purge."

(Of course, the R's in power--being utterly craven and absolutely to a person having similar backgrounds to Kavanaugh--wouldn't trust a squeaky-clean candidate who professed to back their agenda any further than they could throw them.)
posted by maxwelton at 9:13 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


I have no doubt whatsoever that Avenatti has the goods. He just put a shot across the GOP/Kavanaugh bow, letting them know that all the unholy details will become public. If they dump Kavanaugh or he backs out without that happening, then Avenatti's clients may not have to get their names tossed to the mob. Can you blame the survivor and witnesses for wanting to avoid that? Blasey's life is never going to be the same.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:14 PM on September 23, 2018 [11 favorites]


One more upvote here for Avenatti's techniques: Most everything he had promised earlier came to pass
posted by growabrain at 9:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [10 favorites]


Has the school where he coaches basketball asked him to step down yet? There is no way in the world he should be allowed to be in a position of authority over women who are minors (well, any women, but especially minors).
posted by maxwelton at 9:19 PM on September 23, 2018 [41 favorites]


This seems all so utterly incompetent and bizarrely easy to avoid, if you're the (R) scumbag machine. I mean, there must be dozens of "qualified" jurists without background problems, people who are horrible human beings based on their views, but who still only have a beer on a holiday and mostly watch the ballgame on TV at night, and left no trace at all of their high school years because they just went to class.

Two problems with that: first, as as narcissist & sociopath Trump is morally blind; he simply cannot distinguish between those groupings you describe. He tends to go with people he likes, meaning people like him. You can see where that leads. And second, the bench depth of his advisors, not deep to start with, is running pretty thin. If it seems utterly incompetent that's because it is.
posted by scalefree at 9:24 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


This seems all so utterly incompetent and bizarrely easy to avoid, if you're the (R) scumbag machine.

The simplest explanation is that most of them just don't think what Kavanaugh is accused of is a big deal. Many of them probably did something like it themselves. They know it's something better kept quiet, or winked at ("what happens at Georgetown Prep..."), but nothing to tank a Supreme Court appointment about. They're internally (and, when they slip up, not so internally) rolling their eyes every time a woman says she was deeply violated by what they consider to be, at worst, standard drunk dumbass behavior. They're never going to understand because they fundamentally do not empathize with women or believe what they say.
posted by theodolite at 9:28 PM on September 23, 2018 [56 favorites]


I mean, there must be dozens of "qualified" jurists without background problems, people who are horrible human beings based on their views, but who still only have a beer on a holiday and mostly watch the ballgame on TV at night, and left no trace at all of their high school years because they just went to class.

this feels so natural to say, I've probably said something like it myself, but really think about why you believe it when there is no evidence at all and very little reason to assume it. Why "must" there be dozens of qualified men who hate women the enormous amount necessary to roll back Roe v. Wade but don't hate them enough to act it out in their personal lives? Come to that, why believe that men who rape and hate women leave that all behind in high school? We know Kavanaugh didn't.

I say men and not people because you know why because. I bet there are several conservative women who haven't acted out their hatred on the bodies of others, but Republican men don't like to nominate them unless they're incompetent.
posted by queenofbithynia at 9:29 PM on September 23, 2018 [23 favorites]


"FFFFFFFourth of July." We believe that this stands for: [something unbefitting a SCOTUS justice but entirely believable of a burgeoning sex predator]

Someone smarter than I can find better F words, but having read what that means in Avenatti’s tweet all I can say is:

Find them, fire them, federally prosecute them, fence them in prison, fine them, and force restorative justice.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:35 PM on September 23, 2018 [22 favorites]


We estimate that Democrats would win 224 seats if the elections were held today, which is more than the 218 needed for a majority. The margin of error is plus or minus 12 seats

No competent analyst would put forward a model with a +/- of 12 seats. The poll dudes on twitter seem to think it's more like +/- 30 seats.
posted by Justinian at 9:41 PM on September 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


Hoo boy. So who's up for a light discussion on something uncontroversial, say Israel/Palestine or cat declawing?

[text image] @kaitlancollins The White House just sent out this sheet attempting to cast doubt on the most recent story in the New Yorker that accuses Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.
posted by scalefree at 9:52 PM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]


What's the URL for the latest "fucking fuck" thread? We should put a link to it here. We really should.
posted by scalefree at 9:56 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


That memo - ugh. But they are certainly on the back foot and it reads that way.
posted by Miko at 10:00 PM on September 23, 2018


What's the URL for the latest "fucking fuck" thread?

Current fucking fuck thread.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:01 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


> In which we learn: "Potomac Village Safeway"

I'm missing something -- what's the significance of this?

(I get that it's the grocery store where Dr Ford ran into Mark Judge; I'm just not sure why that's important. Help?)

In other news, my brain is now helpfully reading "prep school" as "perp school," no browser extensions needed.
posted by Westringia F. at 10:01 PM on September 23, 2018 [19 favorites]


The simplest explanation is that most of them just don't think what Kavanaugh is accused of is a big deal. Many of them probably did something like it themselves.

Again, look at everything coming from Kavanaugh's defenders regarding the first allegation: it was only high school, it was thirty years ago, why ruin his life now, lolz teenage boys am i right, what teenage boy hasn't done this. Every one of these things is offensive as hell and they're saying it all with a straight face. And I have no doubt most if not all of them fully mean it.

They are very clearly saying they believe Dr. Ford. They're saying they believe her and they don't care.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 10:03 PM on September 23, 2018 [56 favorites]


(I get that it's the grocery store where Dr Ford ran into Mark Judge; I'm just not sure why that's important. Help?)

I think that's all there is to it, that from now on it'll be known as the place that happened.
posted by scalefree at 10:05 PM on September 23, 2018


Wow, Avenatti is swinging for the fences. Credible witness of gang rapes? This is exactly
The republican playbook - he heard something or even jumped to the logical conclusion (yeah, I’ve met plenty of guys like Kav and Judge) and came out with it - a lie races around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.

Good. Now let’s focus him on O’Connel and maybe Lindsey Graham.
posted by From Bklyn at 10:08 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Because he’s shifting the idea people have of these figures using the same techniques as the R playbook. Say something outrageous, retract later but at least now it’s out and in people’s minds. No, it’s not very ethical but the R’s have been doing this shit for years (Swift boats anyone?) - and turn about is fair play.
posted by From Bklyn at 10:11 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


That memo - ugh. But they are certainly on the back foot and it reads that way.

Nothing says "placid and unworried" like a full-page set of talking points released on Sunday at midnight.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:13 PM on September 23, 2018 [31 favorites]


> I think that's all there is to it, that from now on it'll be known as the place that happened.

Ah, ok. So I guess we can update the DC Safeway nicknames list to include Trigger Warning Safeway. :/
posted by Westringia F. at 10:13 PM on September 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


and turn about is fair play

no, it isn't. in this case, blowing it means that every time that a public figure is accused of sexual assault, the other side will say "this is just another case like that time Avenatti blew a lot of smoke in the Kavanaugh nom".

if we're going to stop kavanaugh from getting a lifetime appointment with this, it has to be above board or it will come back to bite every victim of sexual assault in america for decades to come.
posted by murphy slaw at 10:16 PM on September 23, 2018 [26 favorites]


Because he’s shifting the idea people have of these figures using the same techniques as the R playbook. Say something outrageous, retract later but at least now it’s out and in people’s minds. No, it’s not very ethical but the R’s have been doing this shit for years (Swift boats anyone?) - and turn about is fair play.

This presumes that the outrageous thing is false, and will be retracted later. I suspect that given the situation, there are dozens of women who could make the complaint of being victimized by this gang of depraved--I'll just stop there...

And of the non-trivially sized cohort, there's -- I would say -- four or six who are tired of all this shit and are all out of fucks to give. I'd put loose change on "Avenetti can produce the receipts"
posted by mikelieman at 10:24 PM on September 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


So NavelWarfare went and dumped all of the circumstantial evidence between CRC, Ventry, and Grassley. (Thread Reader Link)

Thread got longer, notes that @SpicyFiles has a bunch of deleted stuff from @confirmkav , which seems to have disappeared.
posted by ZeusHumms at 10:26 PM on September 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


They are very clearly saying they believe Dr. Ford. They're saying they believe her and they don't care.

Anytime one of those "it wasn't a big deal" arguments surfaces, it's important to point out that beyond the vileness of minimizing the assault, such arguments are also premised on the admission that Kavanaugh's categorical denial under oath was a bald-faced lie.
posted by contraption at 10:29 PM on September 23, 2018 [22 favorites]


@MichaelAvenatti [with attachment]: Here are subsequent emails between me and Mr. Davis. It appears that (1) the Committee has an issue with this process being public and (2) the Committee wants to avoid Mr. Judge testifying or even requesting that he testify. Both are absolute necessities.

@HelenKennedy: Whatever your thoughts on Avenatti, he’s boring in on the weakest part of the edifice: their increasingly indefensible refusal to call Judge.

She's right. They called character witnesses during the initial hearings who testified to bland generalities about how great he is; their increasingly insistent refusal to call a witness with direct knowledge of these events underscores how entirely uninterested they are in using this process to obtain information.
posted by zachlipton at 10:43 PM on September 23, 2018 [77 favorites]


Correction: Kavanaugh has not yet had the opportunity to deny the allegations under oath. I regret the error and look forward to seeing whether he decides to reverse himself or perjure himself.
posted by contraption at 11:00 PM on September 23, 2018 [5 favorites]


I can't stop thinking about Justice Roberts now.

From an talk Justice Kagan gave recently (as cleaned up and edited from tweets):
People viewing the judiciary as legitimate is part of the “marvel” of the third branch of government. But that’s fragile. People can lose that faith in “unelected, pretty old” justices. If we lose that, we’re losing something incredibly important to American constitutional democracy.

This is a dangerous time for the court, because people see us as an extension of the political process. “It’s dangerous if in big cases, divisions follow ineluctably from political decisions.”

You have to try as hard as you can to find ways to avoid 5-4 decisions “by taking big questions and making them small.” Recently, we’ve had good practice in that. During 8-member court, we had to try hard to avoid 4-4s and find consensus. Sometimes it had a ridiculous air to it, “since we left the big thing that had to be decided out there.”

We kept on talking until we achieved consensus, and CJ Roberts gets huge credit for that.
The underlying theme of the Roberts court has been his effort to try to maintain some appearance of legitimacy for the institution while carrying out his project of doing precisely what Bush appointed him to do. This explanation is one of the more frank and honest statements of that I've seen: the court recognizes that its legitimacy is fragile, and is taking steps as a political actor to try to preserve it. You can say it's about preserving the institution, or more cynically, about playing the long game to advance the conservative cause in the fullness of time, but either way, the Supreme Court has a lot more in common with the political considerations of the Senate than the neutral umpire calling balls and strikes Judge Kavanaugh sets himself out to be.

As Linda Greenhouse wrote, legitimacy here extends well beyond the bounds of what is justified in law:
In 2005, Richard H. Fallon Jr., a constitutional scholar at Harvard Law School, published an article in The Harvard Law Review titled “Legitimacy and the Constitution.” He drew a distinction between what he called “legal legitimacy” and “sociological legitimacy.” His argument was extensive and subtle, and I can’t do it justice by boiling it down to a few sentences.

As I understand the argument, it is that legal legitimacy — a governmental act or judicial decision that can be justified on strictly formal terms — is necessary but not sufficient. Something more, sociological legitimacy, is needed. As Professor Fallon defines it, “When legitimacy is measured in sociological terms, a constitutional regime, governmental institution or official decision possesses legitimacy in a strong sense insofar as the relevant public regards it as justified, appropriate or otherwise deserving of support.”
Justice Roberts is looking at a future in which 5-4 decisions about the autonomy of women are made where two of the five will have credibly been accused of sexual misconduct. Can the marvel of sociological legitimacy that everyone listens to these 9 people in robes stretch past that? At what point does he decide this is counterproductive to the long-term conservative plan? At what point does he pick up the phone and start suggesting this isn't tenable?

----

Correction: Kavanaugh has not yet had the opportunity to deny the allegations under oath. I regret the error and look forward to seeing whether he decides to reverse himself or perjure himself.


But:
“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?” the senator asked.

“No,” Kavanaugh responded.
While he was not a legal adult during high school, he would have been during college when the events described in today's New Yorker story are alleged to have taken place. He has testified to that, albeit not after being presented with the specific allegations.
posted by zachlipton at 11:18 PM on September 23, 2018 [35 favorites]


So this is a thing that's been bothering me all day. CNN asked a group of Republican women what they thought of Dr Ford's claim & they offered several defenses including this one:
“But in the grand scheme of things, my goodness, there was no intercourse. There was maybe a touch. Really? Thirty-six years later she’s still stuck on that, had it happened?” Irina Villarino added.

“I mean, we’re talking about a 15-year-old girl, which I respect. I’m a woman. I respect. But we’re talking about a 17-year-old boy in high school with testosterone running high. Tell me, what boy hasn’t done this in high school?” Gina Sosa asked.
Now I understand a lot of the questioning was pre-programmed & I'm sure the interviewer was careful not to be unnecessarily confrontational. But still & all there's a glaring omission in the questioning. How many of the women had something like this happen to them (or a close friend) in high school & how did they feel about it?
posted by scalefree at 11:27 PM on September 23, 2018 [12 favorites]


Salon: CNN focus group of conservative women turns out to be comprised of GOP operatives.

The failure of followup is the least of CNN's sins here. I can't believe they haven't been forced to address this.
posted by Justinian at 11:34 PM on September 23, 2018 [54 favorites]


People are naturally asking why Trump picked Kavanaugh when there must be right-wing judges with less felonious sexual assault baggage available. I don't think his support of presidential power explains it.

NBC reported last summer that Kennedy retired now only because Trump made an explicit promise to nominate Kavanaugh, who clerked for Kennedy and who Kennedy wanted to replace him. I think it's that simple.

Why Kennedy doesn't care about his protege's raping and harassing and alcoholism and gambling, I can't speak to that.
posted by msalt at 11:42 PM on September 23, 2018 [18 favorites]


Even if they all believably say no it leaves open the necessary followup, "so who were the girls that 'all the boys' were doing this to if not any of them?"
posted by scalefree at 11:44 PM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]


Not by name, obviously. But where were the boys finding all these girls to assault?
posted by scalefree at 11:46 PM on September 23, 2018


I understand, it's the old double standard. Boys are socially encouraged to be aggressors, girls are encouraged to be chaste. It's not reality but it's the standard they're held to. Much less now than back then, I'm sure. There's more openness & honesty now. But I bet it's still fairly pervasive.
posted by scalefree at 11:54 PM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Democrats need to start pushing now not only to reject Kavanaugh's nomination, but also to impeach him from his current judgeship.

It's not only the right thing to do, but it will maintain the offensive, lay the groundwork for impeaching Clarence Thomas, and use up the oxygen in the room lest Republicans get a notion to quickly ram through a different appointee.
posted by msalt at 12:05 AM on September 24, 2018 [59 favorites]


Question: Is there an actual short list of actual leftist applicants for the Supreme Court? Ot even just left of center?
posted by The Whelk at 12:08 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


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."

I don't think McGahn cares about having a justice who will protect Trump from investigations; McGahn willl be long gone before there's any chance it could matter. My gut feeling is that McGahn and Leo were picking for the long haul and went with the candidate, like Gorsuch, they could count on to undermine administrative law.
posted by zachlipton at 12:10 AM on September 24, 2018 [19 favorites]


On a certain level, gut level sewer wise, I think part of the reason Trump picked Kavanaugh was because he was the most Trumpian of choices. The horrendous history regarding women, the scams, the unexplained financial history, the fealty to power no matter how corrupt it is; just the over riding vileness of his entire enterprise made him such a perfect pick for Trump.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 12:18 AM on September 24, 2018 [11 favorites]


Hope that I am not double posting (ctrl-f and all). If you are wondering about Trump, Kavanaugh and Kennedy note the relationship of Justin Kennedy, the son of the outgoing Supreme Court Justice. A lot of business and money is between Justin, Trump and Deutsche Bank If we are to believe that Kennedy wanted Kavanaugh as his replacement then Trump may feel more attached to Kavanaugh than initially understood.
posted by jadepearl at 12:19 AM on September 24, 2018 [13 favorites]


Question: Is there an actual short list of actual leftist applicants for the Supreme Court? Or even just left of center?

The odds that the Democratic Party doesn't have something like this on-hand is slim to none.
posted by Merus at 12:20 AM on September 24, 2018


Question: Is there an actual short list of actual leftist applicants for the Supreme Court? Ot even just left of center?

Took a minute but I came up with a name, Patricia Millett. The Democrats’ Next Supreme Court Nominee. Meet Patricia Millett, the hero of the Jane Doe abortion case and a worthy successor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Over the past five days, Judge Patricia Millett performed the judicial equivalent of a triple axel. Millett, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, first dissented from a decision by a three-judge panel delaying an undocumented minor’s abortion. Her dissent was so powerful that when the full D.C. Circuit eventually reversed the panel’s ruling, it did nothing more than explain in a single paragraph that Millett had it right. The judge then took a well-earned victory lap, penning a trenchant concurrence that excoriated her conservative colleague’s anti-abortion, anti-immigrant casuistry. Her brilliant performance secured a vulnerable young woman’s right to bodily autonomy. It should also earn Millett a spot at the very top of the Supreme Court shortlist the next time a Democratic president gets tasked with making a selection.

Even before Millett’s recent triumph, the 54-year-old judge was widely recognized as a Supreme Court contender. Her resume is sterling: She graduated from Harvard Law, clerked on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and worked at the Department of Justice preparing and arguing appellate cases. She then served as an assistant to the solicitor general, ultimately arguing 25 cases before the Supreme Court. Millett then took a job at the prestigious firm Akin Gump in 2007 and continued to argue before the justices. In June 2013, President Barack Obama nominated her, along with Robert L. Wilkins and Nina Pillard, to the D.C. Circuit. That December, Democrats eliminated the filibuster for lower-court nominees in order to confirm the trio.
posted by scalefree at 12:21 AM on September 24, 2018 [39 favorites]


In which we learn: "Potomac Village Safeway"

I'm missing something -- what's the significance of this?


Sorry, I'm late to this follow-up. That was just the only redacted item that we hadn't known already (as far as I could tell).
posted by pjenks at 3:01 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


It doesn't cover any ground we haven't covered in this thread already but if anyone is looking for a decent summary of the Kavanaugh confirmation craziness that transpired over the past several days in order to share with people who might not be up to following one of these mega-threads, I think this piece in Slate does a pretty decent job of tying together the Whelan doppelganger theory, CRC Public Relations, and the importance of learning who was coordinating the circulation of Whelan's theory into a narrative that a non-fanatic can follow.
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:05 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


They wanted to rush this through before the story broke. They don't give a collective rat's ass about this country.

s/this country/women
posted by rorgy at 3:06 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


The Avenatti allegations (which have been picked up by the NY Daily News) are worrying me a little bit in terms of their, uh, scale, I guess, to not go into details? What I really fear is that repudiation of the Avenatti allegations will hurt Ford and the woman in the Farrow piece.

/throws up hands. But maybe he did what Avenatti is alleging. If so, those women need justice, and Kavanaugh needs to go to jail.

Which is why we need the FBI investigation.
posted by angrycat at 3:42 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


What a bunch of putrid crooks. To paraphrase an old paradox and pin it on Trump:

There goes the mob, I must follow them for I am their leader.
posted by adept256 at 3:57 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


the Avenatti allegations will hurt Ford and the woman in the Farrow piece.

yeah, in a reasonable environment (which is the default for non-shithead people)... is Avenatti that reckless? I don't know. He seems to have won the day in the Clifford suite and though he's a showboat, I don't have a sense of how far he'd go just for the attention.

What it does do is amp up the message - Kavanaugh is a scum-bag. And that's one I think should be spread far and wide. I am surprised that this didn't all turn into Kavanaugh has lots of gambling debts and lies to congress. That part escapes me.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:02 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


“I mean, we’re talking about a 15-year-old girl, which I respect. I’m a woman. I respect. But we’re talking about a 17-year-old boy in high school with testosterone running high. Tell me, what boy hasn’t done this in high school?” Gina Sosa asked.

I have not done this ever.

Also weird: Gina Sosa is a Log Cabin Republican.

In a South Florida Gay News story from 2014, Sosa was identified as then-treasurer of the The Miami Log Cabin Republican (LCR) Club that hosted and supported gay Republican candidates and elected officials.
posted by srboisvert at 4:11 AM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


For what its worth, the talking heads this morning have been focusing entirely on Ford and Ramirez. Until and unless Avenatti shows his hand I expect that to continue.
posted by Justinian at 4:16 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]




“I mean, we’re talking about a 15-year-old girl, which I respect. I’m a woman. I respect. But we’re talking about a 17-year-old boy in high school with testosterone running high. Tell me, what boy hasn’t done this in high school?” Gina Sosa asked.

Someone was trying to get guys to speak out on Twitter if they hadn't. Which on the one hand would be exactly what the situation warrants (I know plenty of men who got through high school without managing to skirt along the edge of sexual assault, thanks, and trust that most men didn't), but on the other, that is a movement that could be co-opted really easily, I'm afraid....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:34 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


I have a feeling that for some women, telling them about a possible future where men just don't do that shit (and if they do, consequences happen) will sound like "Let them eat cake". That's a general obstacle progressivism faces: what it offers can look like a mixture of elitist naivety and false hope.
posted by InTheYear2017 at 4:43 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Someone was trying to get guys to speak out on Twitter if they hadn't. Which on the one hand would be exactly what the situation warrants (I know plenty of men who got through high school without managing to skirt along the edge of sexual assault, thanks, and trust that most men didn't)
I don't do social media, so this is about the only place for me to speak out, but guys if you want my advice: if you do speak on this issue, try your best not to make it about you -- no cookie seeking. Focus instead on how incredibly vile it is that one side has people coming out of the woodwork trying to normalize rape in order to save a judicial appointment to the highest court in the land and maybe spare a moment to ask your readers whether they think that's the best message to send to boys who are 17 right now or whether we have to do better than that.
posted by Nerd of the North at 4:48 AM on September 24, 2018 [36 favorites]


Also weird: Gina Sosa is a Log Cabin Republican.

Man, that is a salmagundi of internalized hate right there.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:57 AM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


Trump nominated Kavanagh because someone else told him to. He didn’t even know what the Supreme Court was until recently.
posted by Melismata at 4:59 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Mod note: Everything is so much, I know, but let's try to rein it back in a bit to focus more the news here rather than general expressions of disgust/despair*, or getting too deep into side topics such as how people talk about this on twitter, etc. (* Fucking Fuck is over here for your venting convenience.) Thanks, all.
posted by taz (staff) at 5:03 AM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


Trump nominated Kavanagh because someone else told him to.

Trump nominated Gorsuch because someone else told him to. Trump nominated Kavanaugh because someone told him that Kavanaugh was a political hack who would sign off on never holding Trump accountable in return for a Supreme Court seat.
posted by Etrigan at 5:13 AM on September 24, 2018 [23 favorites]


Avenatti is a loudmouth and an attention-seeker but thus far not proven himself to be a liar, as far as I know.

His clients knew exactly what they were getting when they hired him. Presumably they sought him out because of the extremely loud work he's been doing for Daniels, saying yes, more of that please.

If you have a legal problem, one big and scary and complicated enough that you need a lawyer, how do you find a lawyer?

The first is personal recommendation. Which is one thing if you have a relatively common sort of problem like a divorce or a will or a criminal charge. Then you can probably find a friend or a friend-of-a-friend who used a lawyer and can ask them about this.

But say your problem is BIG, like, say, taking on the entire goddamn GOP and the POTUS. That requires specialization. Now you have two options. One is having the class/privilege/whatever status to hire The Right Kind Of People-Type Lawyer that you hire when you either know lawyers or know a lot of The Right Kind Of People-type rich people--people who can point you to a firm or a lawyer and say "They're a BigLaw Serious Law Firm, they have [A] history of doing [B] types of cases and came from [C] school and worked with [D], who has a stellar reputation because of [E], and you can trust them."

If you are not in that sort of social circle, you go with the second, not-great option, which is Google. When you Google "how to find a lawyer" the advice boils down to "search on these websites". Search on the local bar association's website! Look up on Martindale Hubbard (which appears to be Yelp For Lawyers?)! Which is all well and good, but what does even Yelp For Lawyers really tell you? Those websites aren't going to tell you if the lawyer you pick is competent, is brave, that they're fair, that they're dogged, that you can trust them to put you first and back you up no matter what. Yelp For Lawyers is not going to give you 100% assurance that if you walk into their offices you won't regret putting down the thousands you've scrimped and saved--and it's not unlikely you did scrimp and save, because if the thousands weren't a big deal to you then you probably know The Right Kind Of People who can direct you to aforementioned BigLaw Firm. Things are going to get hard. Yelp For Lawyers won't tell you if your lawyer is up for it. Ultimately you just have to go with your gut and hope that you've flailed in the right direction.

Which is the appeal of someone like Avenatti. He seems big, strong, and confident. He's putting himself out there and promising that to go to bat for you. He seems like he's going to fight for you every step of the way and on all fronts. And in the case of Avenatti he's not some rando with a commercial on late-night TV. He's already established himself as someone who can take on a porn star as a client, someone who by all rights should have been dragged through the mud, and actually beat Trump legally and in the eyes of the public. And you're savvy enough that you understand winning in the eyes of the public is as important as the legal side.

That's why you go to Avenatti. Honestly . . . in that situation I would go to Avenatti, because I know shit-all about BigLaw except "if they went to Harvard that's good" and "avoid anyone who went to Michael Cohen's school because I read that's bad". And I wouldn't care if he wanted attention for himself because frankly I'd be happy for him to be out there on Twitter doing the work and the social media stuff and the cable TV interviews.

Anyway . . . that's my thoughts on Avenatti. I can understand his appeal, and I can understand why someone would retain him despite all the other silliness.
posted by Anonymous at 5:16 AM on September 24, 2018


This is making it sink in for me - though I know I'm late to the realization - just how important having women blame themselves for being assaulted is to the maintenance of the whole system. If a woman blames herself, she won't come forward; if she comes forward, other women will blame her. Women are made to do the emotional labour required for their own oppression. If there's anything that the purity culture of conservative Christianity accomplishes, this is it.
posted by clawsoon at 5:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [106 favorites]


It also keeps the hands of the patriarchy clean, as they can just agree with (judgemental) women and express sorrow at the outcome caused by the victim's lack of respectability/too much flirting/too much rejection/wrong clothes/wrong location. Then just end by saying that it didn't really mean so much and the boy/man concerned shouldn't have his life ruined.

Especially if she might be lying/confused. Anything to get him off the hook, but always in authority figure sorrow rather than anger.
posted by jaduncan at 5:29 AM on September 24, 2018 [13 favorites]


(the anger is, of course, left to and ensured by the followers)
posted by jaduncan at 5:33 AM on September 24, 2018


I've been listening to NPR morning edition since 630am, and they have not breathed a word about avanttis claims. They're minimizing DR's story as much as they can. It feels very Vichy.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:49 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


NewYorkMagazine has picked up the Avenatti/Kav/Judge story, as of 1am. "Michael Avenatti Implicates Kavanaugh in Pattern of Teenage Sexual Assault"
posted by Harry Caul at 5:51 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


From the New Yorker article on Ramirez:
Ramirez said that witnessing the attempts to discredit Ford had made her frightened to share her own story, which she knew would be attacked due to the gaps in her memory and her level of inebriation at the time. “I’m afraid how this will all come back on me,” she said.
One thing you can say for Kavanaugh: He has a great, really supportive support network. ("Great" in the sense of being supportive of him no matter what. Not so great in moral compass terms.)

I hope Ramirez gets her own fantastic support network. It sounds like she's afraid she'll never have one, that she's never felt confident in having one. That's heartbreaking.
posted by clawsoon at 5:58 AM on September 24, 2018 [14 favorites]


The other thing people should be looking into is what kind of hazing Kavanaugh participated in when he was on the Georgetown Prep football team. There was a hazing scandal there sometime in the late '80s that involved allegations of older players sexually assaulting younger ones, in ways that resembled what Kavanaugh is alleged to have done to Ramirez.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:00 AM on September 24, 2018 [16 favorites]


Mod note: One deleted (and sorry for missing it earlier). Good lord, DO NOT scold someone for saying that the graphic nature of the Avenatti stuff is disturbing/triggering and suggest they need to be forced to face the mechanics of what a sexual assault is. CHECK ALL YOUR ASSUMPTIONS. WTF, COME ON.
posted by taz (staff) at 6:12 AM on September 24, 2018 [65 favorites]


Ok, so this New Yorker article mentions the hazing scandal a couple of years after Kavanaugh graduated. For what it's worth, while the public version was that the bad behavior was "butting," (older players sticking their naked butts in younger players' faces), it was common knowledge that the actual offense was teabagging, which you can look up for yourself if you're so inclined.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:15 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Josh Marshall's brief twitter thread on possible ramifications:
GOP sens & the people actually running this - Federalist Society clique operating out of the White House - have one priority: Get BK on the Court by any means necessary. Damaged? Who cares? Thomas has been damaged goods on the Court for almost 30 yrs. None of them care.

2/ The people who are apoplectic are the operatives running Republican campaigns right now. This is the worst possible scenario for them. Those folks don’t give a crap abt BK and they don’t even care that much abt the Court, at least as it concerns their day jobs.

3/ Regardless of how this turns out you now have basically guaranteed the last six weeks of the campaign focus on the GOP and sexual predation when much of the campaign was already abt the ur-predator Donald Trump. It basically turns up to 11 what was already a central ...

4/ vulnerability and guarantees it will be talked about every day. The key point not being that either party has a monopoly on virtue but that hanging over this election from the start is the universal knowledge that the President is a serial sexual predator and the ...

5/ entire election is fundamentally about him. And that’s not all. If Trump has to pull the plug on BK it will ignite a massive conflagration on the right, which is very different but also bad news for GOP campaigns. We shld not ignore the fact that this will ...

6/ spark a backlash among some male voters. But the way this is moving that will be overwhelmed by those two other factors. And the real gas on the fire - DJT entering vocally into this fight - has not even happened yet.
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:45 AM on September 24, 2018 [26 favorites]


I've been listening to NPR morning edition since 630am, and they have not breathed a word about avanttis claims

Just a note, it's important to remember with the major news outlets that do original reporting, they are often slower precisely because they do their own vetting and corroboration and use their own sources. This takes time, especially since you can do little to reach sources during the overnight hours and this latest broke last night. The current Ramirez story on Morning Edition is here. Only the lower-level "news" orgs and blogs are repeating Avenatti so far, because there is some investigation to do. The issue in general is being pretty thoroughly covered on All Things Considered, The Takeaway, etc. I will stay tuned to see what investigation of Avenatti's claims reveals. I don't doubt them.

No matter how long you live under patriarchy, even your whole life, you can still put new pieces of the puzzle together all the time. This morning I suddenly realized why it was always such a big deal for men in power to try to maintain their male-only access to spaces like private golf clubs, men's clubs, and men-only pubs and steakhouses. It wasn't (only) because they were doing big Business Deals and wanted to exclude women from access to those power discussions. It's gotta be also because the kinds of conversations that they have in those places lay bare their machinations. Those places are where they celebrate their "hijinx" and engage in "locker room talk" that revisits and minimizes their acts of violence, dismissal, and oppression, and reinforces and normalizes their own brutal hold on power through the sharing of stories - and mutual ties of obligation to silence - like the ones coming out via Judge and Avenatti. That - not some high and sacred bond of male responsibility, nor protection for business - is why women were not welcome. That's what happens in boys' clubs.
posted by Miko at 6:52 AM on September 24, 2018 [70 favorites]


ArbitraryAndCapricious: Ok, so this New Yorker article mentions the hazing scandal a couple of years after Kavanaugh graduated.

Mark Judge has said things to the effect that, "Yeah we did that sort of thing to other boys, but we would never ever do them to women." Wouldn't it be nice if even that was enough to disqualify you? "Oh, so you were a bully and an asshole to people weaker than you when you thought you could get away with it... hmm... not really judge material, I'd say."
posted by clawsoon at 7:01 AM on September 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


much of the campaign was already abt the ur-predator Donald Trump

Actually, I haven't seen as much of this in the press as you might expect. I would LOVE to see some reporter step up to Trump and say, "Given that you claimed you could 'grab em by the pussy' anytime you wanted, why should the American people believe you on the innocence or guilt of Kavanaugh?"
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:03 AM on September 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


Miko: It's gotta be also because the kinds of conversations that they have in those places lay bare their machinations. Those places are where they celebrate their "hijinx" and engage in "locker room talk" that revisits and minimizes their acts of violence, dismissal, and oppression, and reinforces and normalizes their own brutal hold on power through the sharing of stories

From my own time in a football locker room, I'll add that it's also about sharing information about exactly whose vulnerabilities make them sexually exploitable - who "puts out" when they "get drunk". I was never part of the inner circle, and never wanted to be, but occasionally they'd blurt details out when the whole team was there and they were feeling particularly powerful/safe.
posted by clawsoon at 7:08 AM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


@SarahThyre:
Ramirez spent years working for an organization that supports victims of domestic violence. And Blasey Ford researched the connection between trauma and depression. That's what these women did with their abuse: turned it into their life's work, to help others. My god.
posted by chris24 at 7:08 AM on September 24, 2018 [103 favorites]


I just emailed CSPAN and asked why they are not livestreaming the Trump Tower lobby like they normally do when Cheeto is back in NYC. Would be interesting to see the visitors this week.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:27 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


Avenatti turns up the heat

Warning: My client re Kavanaugh has previously done work within the State Dept, U.S. Mint, & DOJ. She has been granted multiple security clearances in the past including Public Trust & Secret. The GOP and others better be very careful in trying to suggest that she is not credible
posted by Devonian at 7:37 AM on September 24, 2018 [37 favorites]


Axios: Rod Rosenstein is resigning.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has verbally resigned to Chief of Staff John Kelly in anticipation of being fired by President Trump, according to a source with direct knowledge.

Per a second source with direct knowledge: “He’s expecting to be fired,” so plans to step down.
Background: Rosenstein talked last year invoking the 25th Amendment and wearing a wire during Trump meetings, the N.Y. Times' Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt reported last week. He denied both allegations.
posted by cybertaur1 at 7:41 AM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


@Axios: "BREAKING: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has verbally resigned to Chief of Staff John Kelly in anticipation of being fired by President Trump, according to a source with direct knowledge."

Scoop: Rod Rosenstein is resigning [article on Axios]
posted by Buntix at 7:42 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]




the other obvious very good reason to employ Avenatti instead of a quieter, more careful lawyer is that if he gets going before your name gets out, as he has here, people will remember your own name as an afterthought, a footnote, "Avenatti's client." a big personality drags attention its way, and when it's bad attention, that makes him a good person to stand beside and a little behind. Everybody knows Christine Blasey Ford's name now, while at least half of us have to look up her lawyer's name to double check before writing it down. with Avenatti and his client, it'll be the opposite. that's a great blessing in a world where being a rape victim means people mainly want to know your name so that they can threaten to kill you. a self-interested showboating human shield is still a shield.
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:43 AM on September 24, 2018 [42 favorites]


Wait, I know we riot if he gets fired, do we also riot if he quits? My pitchfork is confused.
posted by Shutter at 7:45 AM on September 24, 2018 [27 favorites]


New thread please
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:45 AM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


Oh hey it's that clammy panicky nervous-laughter feeling that I remember from every single day of 2016, hello old friend
posted by theodolite at 7:47 AM on September 24, 2018 [48 favorites]


Real question: why do you resign in this case? What in hell would make that a better move for yourself than letting this douchebag fire you?
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:48 AM on September 24, 2018 [12 favorites]


I highly doubt Rosenstein would even consider verbally resigning to the WH Chief of Staff. Sounds suspect.
posted by Harry Caul at 7:48 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


MSNBC is reporting that Rosenstein is going to the WH but has said he will NOT resign, and that Trump will have to fire him if he wants him out.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:49 AM on September 24, 2018 [54 favorites]


As we wait for the facts to settle, here's Fucking Fuck again.
posted by duffell at 7:50 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


CNN's reporting that he has resigned to Kelly in expectation of being fired.

Real question: why do you resign in this case? What in hell would make that a better move for yourself than letting this douchebag fire you?

He's a Republican and will therefore never actually do the right thing.
posted by Rust Moranis at 7:53 AM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


What the heck is a verbal resignation?

This feels like another dumb leak like last week’s “wire the President” leak meant to amp up the pressure on Rosenstein (and on Trump).

Gah.
posted by notyou at 7:54 AM on September 24, 2018




Perhaps, to continue this game of oblivious retellings of statements while ignoring tone, he said "what, do you expect me to just quit?"
posted by phearlez at 7:56 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Firing Rosenstein was one of the MoveOn Rapid Response triggers. Get ready to take to the streets, folks.
posted by frecklefaerie at 7:56 AM on September 24, 2018 [11 favorites]


Trump has played games with whether someone resigned or was fired before, I can't remember who now.
posted by BungaDunga at 7:57 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Remember that despite his TV tough-guy rep, Trump is famously bad at actually firing people face-to-face. I won't be surprised when we find out that Kelly or someone near him made up this "He told Kelly he quit!" story so Trump would assume it was a done deal and be able to act his way through a "You're fired! (tm)".
posted by Etrigan at 7:57 AM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


Saturday Night Monday Morning Massacre 43 days before the midterms seems like a great idea and not at all like the kind of thing that'll make it much more likely Democrats take the Senate.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:58 AM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


It could be someone who only LOOKS LIKE Rosenstein who's resigning. Let's not jump to conclusions.
posted by delfin at 7:58 AM on September 24, 2018 [129 favorites]


I really feel the "verbal resignation" thing is WH leaks trying to create a reality. MSNBC has strong reporting that Rosenstein is forcing firing, not resigning. And of course Trump is nowhere to be found when it's firing time.
posted by scalefree at 7:58 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


NBC's Pete Williams, gold standard in DOJ reporting, says Rosenstein en route to White House, won't resign and will force them to fire him. As I am told, Vacancies Act only kicks in if he resigns.

For anyone wondering, triggering the Vacancies Act would allow Trump to appoint an (acting) replacement.
posted by duffell at 7:59 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


Trump has played games with whether someone resigned or was fired before, I can't remember who now.

The CFPB
posted by fluttering hellfire at 7:59 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Real question: why do you resign in this case? What in hell would make that a better move for yourself than letting this douchebag fire you?

As it seems that he's been summoned to the White House then fired is looking more likely.

It looks like there may be some implications regarding who his successor will be, but possibly not..

Who would be Mueller's boss if Rosenstein goes? [CNN]
The Federal Vacancies Reform Act is silent about what happens when someone is fired, as opposed to resigning.
Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin repeatedly insisted that he had been fired, whereas the White House said he had resigned.

Some legal experts believe that if Rosenstein were fired, Trump could put in whomever he wants because the Federal Vacancies Reform Act implicitly includes firings, it would be impossible in certain cases to distinguish between a forced resignation and a termination, and the President's hands shouldn't be tied. Others say, however, that there's a policy argument that allowing the act to cover firings permits the president to work around Senate confirmation in a way that shouldn't be encouraged.
posted by Buntix at 7:59 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Ah, Shulkin was the one I was thinking of- the "I was fired", "no, you resigned" back and forth. The Axios story feels like someone trying to set this up ahead of time.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:01 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Isn't it Nicholas Francisco?
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:03 AM on September 24, 2018


If they’re canning Rosenstein, then part of me wonders what other bombshell they’re expecting to drop. These guys are big on distracting from big news stories that hurt Trump. But, at the same time, let’s see how fast they cram a replacement in there and see how fast he fires Mueller.
posted by azpenguin at 8:05 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


I thought Hannity told Trump to hold off on the firing.
posted by klarck at 8:05 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Isn't it Nicholas Francisco?

Maybe not.

Marty Lederman:
7. ... Solicitor General Noel Francisco. Francisco, however, is probably recused from the Russia investigation (at a minimum), because Jones Day, his former firm, represents the Trump Campaign (unless there's been a change). NF has recused from all SCOTUS cases ... 8. ... where Jones Day represents a party, including in the new Term. If NF recuses from supervising Mueller, and any other investigations involving the Trump campaign, those AG functions presumably would be performed by Assistant AG for OLC Steve Engel.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:05 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Montgomery County PD looking into additional allegations against Kavanaugh; apparently not Ford or Ramirez, unclear if this is Avenatti's client--could be someone else. (cw for graphic descriptions of sexual assault via Avenatti)
posted by duffell at 8:05 AM on September 24, 2018 [14 favorites]


At this point I feel like we should be asking if there’s some actual reason the White House thinks the midterm elections are so far in the bag for the GOP that it doesn’t matter what they do
posted by schadenfrau at 8:05 AM on September 24, 2018 [40 favorites]


I think Congress needs to really step up & do its job to bring closure to all this. Just jettison all the extra hearings, hold a party line vote & get Kavanaugh installed immediately so he can rule out any possibility of SCOTUS doing anything but rubber stamp Trump's every merest whim.
posted by scalefree at 8:05 AM on September 24, 2018


And one good thing about Rosenstein is that if he is fired, he'll hold a press conference and tell the world. He has not been shy about publicly contradicting these assholes in the past.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:06 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


how fast he fires Mueller

If it's someone slightly smart (yeah, yeah, unlikely) he won't fire Mueller but will work to impede him as quietly as possible.
posted by BungaDunga at 8:07 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


"If they’re canning Rosenstein, then part of me wonders what other bombshell they’re expecting to drop."

This might be in part about the Kavanaugh proceedings going downhill fast, if they don't know how many women there are going to be.
posted by Selena777 at 8:08 AM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]




Yeah, getting rid of Rosenstein actually makes it more important for Trump to shove Kavanaugh onto the court. I'm a little afraid the GOP Judiciary dicks may just summarily announce a committee vote today with no more testimony.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:11 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


I think we can safely and squarely blame this on The New York Times.
posted by monospace at 8:11 AM on September 24, 2018 [51 favorites]


Why is Rosenstein being summoned to the White House? Isn't the President in New York right now?
posted by Uncle Ira at 8:12 AM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


Yellowcake Uranium: 2018 Edition
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:12 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


perfectly normal and healthy republic
posted by entropicamericana at 8:13 AM on September 24, 2018 [16 favorites]


He's going to the WH so someone can sit him down in front of a screen to read the tweet through which Trump will fire him.
posted by invincible summer at 8:15 AM on September 24, 2018 [18 favorites]


Natasha Bertrand: "CNN's Laura Jarrett now says that Rosenstein discussed resigning with Kelly on Saturday, conditions, timing, etc., but did NOT resign. The WH did not agree to some or all of those conditions. Now he's headed over to the WH after being summoned and expects to be fired."

And several others are concurring. Basically, it seems that WH assholes are spinning this as Rosenstein resigning, and some reporters, as usual, just regurgitated those statements that as fact rather than recognizing them as disinformation.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:17 AM on September 24, 2018 [42 favorites]


Wow, how dumb does the White House have to be to not accept a resignation? Whatever conditions Rosenstein wanted, it would be better than firing him. What conditions could it be that they thought firing him was a better option?
posted by BungaDunga at 8:21 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


What conditions could it be that they thought firing him was a better option?

Picking his successor who he knows would continue backing Mueller.
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [25 favorites]


What conditions could it be that they thought firing him was a better option?

My money is on something that ensured Mueller was better insulated from White House tampering.
posted by C'est la D.C. at 8:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [11 favorites]


If this was meant to be a distraction from Kavanaugh, it's working, sigh.
posted by Melismata at 8:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


What conditions could it be that they thought firing him was a better option?

His replacement will let Mueller's investigation run its course.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


Protecting the Mueller investigation or putting someone specific in charge of it is one condition I can see Rosenstein asking for and Trump declining.
posted by chris24 at 8:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


He's going to the WH so someone can sit him down in front of a screen to read the tweet through which Trump will fire him.

Still classier than finding out about the tweet on the toilet, I guess.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


There is the "surely this" that refers to thinking there's some depths of behavior which will finally cause his base to turn on him and there is the "surely this" of thinking that there's something that represents a level of incompetent stupidity beyond which they cannot sink. Both are foolish.
posted by phearlez at 8:24 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Wow, how dumb does the White House have to be to not accept a resignation? Whatever conditions Rosenstein wanted, it would be better than firing him. What conditions could it be that they thought firing him was a better option?

It's about getting to use the Vacancies Act

Aaron Blake, WaPo, "Fired" vs. "resigned" MATTERS. Why? Federal Vacancies Reform Act gives Trump power to appoint an Acting AG if it's a resignation. If he's fired? It's murkier.
posted by gladly at 8:25 AM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


Gotanda: I watched the Beto Cruz debate. And, damn if he isn't a good speaker. But also saying what needs to be said simply and directly. I hear you Justinian and Chrysostom, I'll re-up my donation for Heidtkamp, but this [Twitter vid] is the best Cruz self-own yet and Beto is firing up a lot of people. In all districts.

And if Beto is firing people up, that means "R" money dumped into Texas to defend formerly "safe" Cruz, making it for Dems to defend other seats.


Barack Spinoza: Trump administration seeks to limit access to visas or residency for immigrants who use or are likely to use public assistance (WaPo)

We're nearing the end of 2018, and definitely time for a re-write:

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired energetic workers, your poor wealthy,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free choke on increasing clouds from renewed coal mining,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore white anglo-saxon Christians.
Send these those, the homeless, tempest-tost to me someone else,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door for the well-to-do white people only!"


msalt: When Republicans say that they want "an outside lawyer" (ie a woman) to ask questions instead of themselves, how does that work? Does she just read questions they hand her? [Politicians must be desperate to yield camera time.]

What about Democrats? Can they ask their own questions, or will Republicans force them to hand queries to these women lawyers, too?


When 11 men interrogate: GOP tries to head off Kavanaugh debacle (Burgess Everett and Elana Schor for Politico, Sept. 18, 2018)
To head off the potentially bad optics of older white men questioning a woman about alleged sexual assault, Republicans are considering having an independent outside lawyer question Ford alongside senators. They’re also carefully controlling the hearing, allowing testimony from no witnesses other than Kavanaugh and Ford, and declining Democratic calls for the FBI to investigate Ford’s claim further.
Emphasis mine. I don't think Dems have the same concerns, and I assume would grill Kavanaugh while supporting Ford, instead of the opposite, which the GOP will do, and they realize that this might look bad coming from a bunch of old, white men (so observant!).


Xyanthilous P. Harrierstick: You know, Steve King (spit) said a thing earlier today: "No man will ever qualify for the Supreme Court" if being accused of sexual assault is "new standard"

For once, I almost agree with him. If those are the terms, then fine. That's acceptable. Men need a time out, I think.


More than patriarchy, this is mysogony, and it's a hell of a disease. Not sure if there's a cure, but getting men out of positions of power and prestige seems like a good first measure to prevent further spreading the disease. (Why yes, I watched Hannah Gadsby's Nanette (MetaFilter; FanFare) last night, why do you ask?)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:27 AM on September 24, 2018 [19 favorites]


If the context of all of this wasn't already wild enough, the UN General Assembly meeting is this week, so a good chunk of the world's leaders (or selected representatives) have front-row seats to this shit.
posted by zombieflanders at 8:32 AM on September 24, 2018 [12 favorites]


If this was meant to be a distraction from Kavanaugh, it's working, sigh.

It's been less than an hour. This is less of a distraction than a halftime show.
posted by Etrigan at 8:40 AM on September 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


Montgomery Sentinel: Investigators in Montgomery County confirmed Monday they’re aware of a potential second sexual assault complaint in the county against former Georgetown Prep student and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

This would potentially bring the number to four women accusing Kavanaugh of wrongdoing and comes after Deborah Ramirez, a former Yale college student, stepped forward this weekend to accuse Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her in college, and after attorney Michael Avenatti tweeted out a message saying he represents a woman with “credible information regarding Judge Kavanaugh and Mark Judge.”
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:40 AM on September 24, 2018 [40 favorites]


If this was meant to be a distraction from Kavanaugh, it's working, sigh.

It's been less than an hour. This is less of a distraction than a halftime show.


There are dozens of protesters in the hall outside Sen. Collins' office chanting "We believe Debbie Ramirez, we believe Dr. Ford, we believe Anita Hill" this morning, facing arrest for speaking up. The Rosenstein madness may be meant as a distraction, but we can walk and chew gum at the same time if we focus. (What narrative gets spun in the news media is another question, granted.)
posted by duffell at 8:45 AM on September 24, 2018 [48 favorites]


It is really time for a new thread guys. Even my desktop is choking.
posted by invincible summer at 8:45 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Question: is the President on his way back to the White House or is he still in NY? Is this being done without him there personally?
posted by andruwjones26 at 8:47 AM on September 24, 2018




The template for a new thread is ready for collaboration:

http://mefiwiki.com/wiki/U.S._Politics_FPP_Draft
posted by Doktor Zed at 8:49 AM on September 24, 2018 [6 favorites]


Question: is the President on his way back to the White House or is he still in NY? Is this being done without him there personally?

Supposedly he's on a call from NYC with Kelly and Pete Wiliams is suggesting the meeting might be a clear the air meeting and Rosenstein doesn't end up fired/resigning.
posted by chris24 at 8:49 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


If this was meant to be a distraction from Kavanaugh, it's working, sigh.

It's been less than an hour. This is less of a distraction than a halftime show.


I dunno, the story on Kavanaugh's apparent fourth accuser is like two hours old and I posted that link immediately after I saw it. I suspect chris24 did exactly the same as he posted almost at the same time. Considering how front-and-center that story is, or was last night, how fast should these things be spreading?

We've gotten to the point where the news cycle is so crazy that Monday's insanity needs a head start from Sunday evening and even that isn't enough before the news trips over itself. I'm starting to wonder if that isn't affecting the journalists and pundits speculating about the Rosenstein news already.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:49 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


Question: is the President on his way back to the White House or is he still in NY? Is this being done without him there personally?

He's in NY to speak before the UN. It's all happening in his absence. As is always the pattern with him.
posted by scalefree at 8:50 AM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


NYT Headline change. "Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General, Is Planning to Leave Job Considering Resigning"
posted by T.D. Strange at 8:51 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


The Rosenstein thing is definitely weird, sounds like he's getting fired and the White House staff is scrambling to minimize that impact.
posted by chaz at 8:52 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]




It's been less than an hour. This is less of a distraction than a halftime show.

I dunno, the story on Kavanaugh's apparent fourth accuser is like two hours old and I posted that link immediately after I saw it.


It had already been posted here 45 minutes earlier.

I know things are horrible and awful right now, but we really don't do ourselves a service when we rush to click "Post Comment" before checking stuff like this. The news is anxiety-inducing enough on its own, it doesn't need our help.
posted by duffell at 8:58 AM on September 24, 2018 [12 favorites]


According to WhiteHouse.gov Trump has a signing event with South Korea at 3:45PM today in NYC.
posted by scalefree at 9:00 AM on September 24, 2018


So what happens if Trump refuses to fire Rosenstein face-to-face, claims that Rosenstein has resigned, but Rosenstein just keeps showing up to work as if nothing had happened?

"Mr. Rosenstein, you're fired. Leave this office immediately."
"I would prefer not to."
"All right, then. If you want to stay, you have to fire Robert Mueller and terminate his investigation."
"I would prefer not to."
"..."
posted by delfin at 9:02 AM on September 24, 2018 [32 favorites]


It had already been posted here 45 minutes earlier.

I know things are horrible and awful right now, but we really don't do ourselves a service when we rush to click "Post Comment" before checking stuff like this.


Damn it. I did look through the last couple hours of the thread first. Guess I missed it. Usually I search for keywords on a headline before posting but I wasn't sure which to use. Apologies, Metafilter.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:03 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]



"All right, then. If you want to stay, you have to fire Robert Mueller and terminate his investigation."
"I would prefer not to."


If you mean Rosenstein could sort of atone for his Comey letter and become a kind of Roddleby the Shriven-er, I think the religious implications there are a little icky.
posted by gurple at 9:08 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Boston Globe headline: Trump says no statehood for Puerto Rico with critics in office. Wait, so that means there will be statehood if only his critics leave office? Woo-hoo!
posted by Melismata at 9:08 AM on September 24, 2018 [9 favorites]


So Trump backed down?

Del Quentin Wilber (LAT)
DAG Rosenstein is NOW attending a previously scheduled meeting at White House as the Deputy Attorney General, says a person familiar. It is a principal meeting. Report that he resigned is not correct, the person says.
• He spoke before this meeting with COS Kelly. On Saturday, Rosenstein and Kelly had a conversation about his tenure in wake of NYT story about wiretapping White House
posted by chris24 at 9:11 AM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


Trump pre-taped the interview for Rivera’s show on Cleveland’s WTAM radio. He says: ‘‘Puerto Rico shouldn’t be talking about statehood until they get some people that really know what they’re doing.’’

He adds: ‘‘With people like that involved in Puerto Rico, I would be an absolute no.’’


"he knows he doesn't have veto power for petitions for statehood," i almost said, but of course he doesn't.
posted by murphy slaw at 9:15 AM on September 24, 2018 [18 favorites]


Kelly Cohen (Washington Examiner)
SOURCE- it is becoming less likely that rod rosenstein is out of his job as deputy attorney general by day’s end.


Melissa Block (NPR)
Reports of Rod Rosenstein's resignation/firing are premature, according to @npr's @johnson_carrie.
posted by chris24 at 9:16 AM on September 24, 2018 [10 favorites]


I would be an absolute no

Will be, are and always have been, buddy.
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:19 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


Apparently Rosenstein is not so easy to bounce. Given his previous history in the Administration it seems like a bit of a a hail Mary play to attempt it. The flop sweat is ever more apparent. I would however guess that Trump changed his mind about firing him behind the scenes. Possibly twice.
posted by jaduncan at 9:21 AM on September 24, 2018 [7 favorites]


What conditions could it be that they thought firing him was a better option?

His replacement will let Mueller's investigation run its course.


Since it's unlikely Rosenstein will not comment to the media, this point will make it absolutely clear, publicly, in a way that even NPR couldn't even he-said she-said their way out of it, that Trump is firing him to impede the Mueller investigation. It's as obvious an act of obstruction of justice as the original Saturday Night Massacre was.
posted by Gelatin at 9:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


=====================

-> -> -> new thred

=====================
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 9:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [17 favorites]


Gotta love Axios' tech-startup model of political reporting. Axios: move fast and misinform the public about important matters of state.
posted by runcibleshaw at 9:23 AM on September 24, 2018 [22 favorites]


The press really needs to get it through it’s head that anything off the record it gets from the whitehouse should probably be considered a lie and an attempt to manipulate.
posted by Artw at 9:25 AM on September 24, 2018 [37 favorites]


Apparently Rosenstein is not so easy to bounce. Given his previous history in the Administration it seems like a bit of a a hail Mary play to attempt it. The flop sweat is ever more apparent. I would however guess that Trump changed his mind about firing him behind the scenes. Possibly twice.

I suspect that both we and the news media need to get over this tendency to talk about stuff coming out of the White House as if it likely represents any cohesive voice. It is not necessarily Trump, Kelly, Miller, and certainly not a collaboration of them. This doesn't necessarily represent any sort of change in position from Trump, assuming he even had one from moment to moment. This could well be on of the factions pulling the knives out for someone else or just operating on what they think is the right way to work towards the Führer at any given moment. Not only is it not necessarily the truth, it very possibly is nothing more than a few cranks trying to push their personal cart.
posted by phearlez at 9:27 AM on September 24, 2018 [4 favorites]


The press really needs to get it through it’s head that anything off the record it gets from the whitehouse should probably be considered a lie and an attempt to manipulate.

As long as they get credit for who is the first one to report the overthrow of democracy, they couldn't give less of a fuck.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:28 AM on September 24, 2018 [13 favorites]


murphy slaw: ""he knows he doesn't have veto power for petitions for statehood," i almost said, but of course he doesn't."

I could be wrong, but I don't think this is accurate? Last time this came up, I thought the understanding was that the act conferring statehood is a just a regular old law, and therefore, the president could veto it, if they want to.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:50 AM on September 24, 2018


Nominating a centrist here would be like Caesar getting to the Rubicon and then being like "eh, screw it, let's go home."

posted by Justinian at 7:52 PM on September 23 [42 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]


It's the butt end of the thread, so I'll say it: Pedantic point, but Caesar was on his way home. The Rubicon formed the border of Italy at the time and he was forbidden to bring his army home. It led to the civil war and him becoming emperor.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:04 AM on September 24, 2018 [15 favorites]


Investigating President Trump with Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman: podcast & transcript - "Chris Hayes speaks with former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman about what the Nixon scandal can teach us about our current political moment."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:05 AM on September 24, 2018


Nah, it's Congress's call, Article IV gives them the right to admit states. Their only check on this is that they can't carve up an existing state without that state's consent. I don't know enough about the politics to understand why statehood for Puerto Rico doesn't seem to be a priority for democrats. Probably don't want to rock the boat and actually win Congress in an ungentlemanly way.
posted by skewed at 10:06 AM on September 24, 2018 [3 favorites]


In fairness, Justinian made this correction too. Did that get deleted?
posted by jaduncan at 10:12 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


Well I’ll be damned, thanks for the correction.
posted by skewed at 10:24 AM on September 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Today might be a good day for Rod Rosenstein to wear a wire.
posted by srboisvert at 10:34 AM on September 24, 2018 [12 favorites]


schmod: "But it's particularly galling, because he sure as fuck remembers it, he has not grown, he absolutely continues to condone this kind of behavior, and he's not sorry.
"

I'd bet he honestly doesn't remember it because for him it was just another party and nothing special happened. No more memorable than any unremarkable baseball game from three decades ago.

Plus all the blackout drinking.
posted by Mitheral at 10:59 AM on September 24, 2018 [12 favorites]


🎉🎉🎉

New thread
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:51 AM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


🥛🍪🍪
posted by Two unicycles and some duct tape at 12:52 PM on September 24, 2018 [5 favorites]


I don't know enough about the politics to understand why statehood for Puerto Rico doesn't seem to be a priority for democrats.

Probably has something to do with the many, many Puerto Rican referenda showing less than overwhelming support for statehood. Silly Democrats, respecting democracy.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:16 PM on September 24, 2018


Now DC, on the other hand...
posted by mosst at 8:05 PM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


> Asks The Irish Times Is it acceptable to laugh at Donald Trump’s mushroom?

Russian State TV Defends Trump’s Mushroom
posted by homunculus at 5:12 PM on September 28, 2018


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