Oh cool, people in the UK get to pretend it’s World War 2 again, with rationing and shortages and all. Wot larks.

The government has appointed a minister to oversee the protection of food supplies through the Brexit process amid rising concerns about the effect of a no-deal departure from the European Union.

I saw this being passed around yesterday:

Top left, EU; lower right, Brexit.

Food industry insiders welcomed his appointment after warnings that delays of only half an hour at UK ports and the Irish border would risk one in 10 British firms going bankrupt.

One food industry business leader said: “The issue at the ports is a big threat. The UK always has been a

I keep wondering why Flake doesn’t just break ranks. I hadn’t thought of this.

Follow the money:

All retiring senators like Jeff Flake have multi-million dollar lobbying offers waiting for them.

Republican lobbyists must be welcome in Republican senate offices.

Jeff Flake is preserving his welcome as a lobbyist.

— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) September 28, 2018

Oh. Of course. The whole reason retired pols are in demand as lobbyists is because they have connections. If they burn the connections, no millions from lobbying.

In short it’s utterly corrupt and money-seeking.… Read the rest

This helps a little.

pic.twitter.com/lZDRtMTD2Z

— C H I L I (@heyitschili) September 28, 2018

… Read the rest

… Read the rest

Trump is stoked. He thinks that display of entitled white boy rage by Kavanaugh was just the ticket.

President Donald Trump and his aides were ebullient Thursday as Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh defiantly rejected charges of sexual misconduct — a mood that reflected some relief after Trump officials conceded that his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, offered a compelling performance in the first half of the day.

Trump and senior officials were impressed by Kavanaugh’s combative defense before the Senate Judiciary Committee, in which the Trump nominee, alternating between fury and tears, called several misconduct charges against him a “calculated and orchestrated political hit” and “national disgrace” that had devastated his life and family.

Minutes after the committee

Apparently much of the country is in tears watching the testimony, and I can see why. Gut-wrenching.

Asked what her strongest memory is, Dr. Ford says, "The laughter, the uproarious laughter between the two, and their having fun at my expense."

"I was underneath one of them while the two laughed. Two friends having a really good time with one another." https://t.co/LDSuX8tP1O pic.twitter.com/RFAp6GLl3o

— ABC News (@ABC) September 27, 2018

… Read the rest

Apparently conservative women support rape. Who knew?

Students from Liberty University, whose president Jerry Falwell Jr. is a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, will rally in Washington on Thursday in support of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Liberty University and all the Jerries Falwell consider themselves intensely Christian, Christian all the way down, as Christian as it gets. It’s interesting to learn that it’s top most Christian to support – staunchly – a guy who brags about grabbing women by the pussy, who fucks around and brags about that, who fucks around while his wife is recovering from childbirth – a guy who lies and cheats and steals, a guy who exploits the poor, a guy … Read the rest

Never forget: these men won’t ask Christine Blasey Ford questions themselves. Instead, they chose to have prosecutor do their dirty work for them, Mitch McConnell’s “female assistant.” Cowards, miscreants, and misogynists, each and every one.

— Soraya Chemaly (@schemaly) September 27, 2018

This is credible and devastating.

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) September 27, 2018

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford: there are men and women all over this country crying – but most of all cheering – for you right now. Thank you.

— Mimi Rocah (@Mimirocah1) September 27, 2018

Imagine having to flatten your whole personality – all its complexity, your laughter, your irritation, your less-than-perfect-recall – into our rigid cultural image of Woman Who We Are Prepared To Believe Was

I’m not watching the hearing live; I’ll probably watch parts of it later. Twitter is supplying commentary.

Prosecutors have good spidey-senses. Mine says Dr. Ford is telling the truth. Her demeanor, the small details, her lack of willingness to force her memory, her emotion, her sense of duty as a citizen. And I believe her when she identifies Kavanaugh as the man who assaulted her.

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) September 27, 2018

Her having to live all these years with Brett Kavanaugh’s laughter will be seared into everyone’s memories for life. And her credibility couldn’t be greater. Who could honestly doubt her truthfulness or her memory?

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 27, 2018

This is just so hard to watch.

Michael Lewis gives a glimpse of how Trump managed the transition from random real estate profiteer to idiot president.

[Chris] Christie volunteered himself for the job: head of the Donald Trump presidential transition team. “It’s the next best thing to being president,” he told friends. “You get to plan the presidency.” He went to see Trump about it. Trump said he didn’t want a presidential transition team. Why did anyone need to plan anything before he actually became president? It’s legally required, said Christie. Trump asked where the money was going to come from to pay for the transition team. Christie explained that Trump could either pay for it himself or take it out of campaign funds. Trump didn’t want

Originally a comment by iknklast on It’s the lying.

Of course, that idea of lying is what makes this interesting. Democrats have gone down for lying, and Clinton’s impeachment centered a lot around his lying. But the interesting thing is that the Dems were, for the most part, dealing with consensual sexual acts between consenting adults (even accepting the possibility that Lewinsky couldn’t be consensual because of disparate power, but with that caveat, most women can’t be truly said to be consenting, since men in general have disparate power over women in general).

The Repubs, on the other hand, who seem to get away with it, are not consensual. Anita Hill did not consent to being sexually harassed by … Read the rest

Historian Claire Potter says it’s the lying at least as much as the sexual assaults.

The phrase “he said, she said” is often used to characterize the opaqueness of a sex crime: Without a direct witness, someone must be lying. But who? Is it equally likely that the accuser and the accused will lie? Conservatives don’t think so. Kavanaugh, as Thomas did, has categorically denied all charges, and his supporters have characterized Blasey as the agent of a smear campaign orchestrated to keep Kavanaugh off the court.

But Blasey’s story resonates with feminists and, in a change from 1991, with male Democratic senators — some of whom are former prosecutors shaped by the legal world that feminists made. Blasey’s

Hey kids of all ages, looking for a fun new Halloween experience? The West Midlands police have just the thing for you!

The West Midlands force used its Facebook page to advertise a charity event that will see thrillseekers pay £75 to bed down in Birmingham’s old Steelhouse Lane lock-up.

The message said: ‘These cells were occupied by none other than the original Peaky Blinders, Fred West and many more. Be there if you dare!’

That’s serial murderer of women Fred West, who killed at least 12 young women, at least 8 of whom were raped, bound, tortured, and mutilated.

Sophie Walker, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, said: ‘We have seen the glorification of violence against women used to