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They’re shocked, shocked

Sep 28th, 2018 5:12 pm | By

The WSJ reports that the White House is wringing its hands in consternation.

A person close to the White House described those working on the confirmation process as “shellshocked” by Friday’s events.

“As of last night, everyone was in a good mood,” the person said, saying the view was that Dr. Ford’s testimony was “good” but Judge Kavanaugh’s was “great.” As of 10 p.m. Thursday, the person said, “everything was locked and loaded.”

Then, shortly before midnight on Thursday, the American Bar Association issued a letter urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination only after a “thorough” FBI investigation. After that, the person said, “It kind of fell apart.”

The person said there was “enormous anger”

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 10 comments


Go ahead with that lawsuit

Sep 28th, 2018 4:13 pm | By

Also today:

A federal judge on Friday gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit filed by 200 congressional Democrats against President Trump alleging he has violated the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments while in office.

The lawsuit is based on the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which bars presidents from taking payments from foreign states. Trump’s business, which he still owns, has hosted foreign embassy events and visiting foreign officials at its downtown D.C. hotel.

The decision opens up yet another legal front for the president, who is now facing an array of inquiries into his business, his campaign and his charity.

Trump is already facing a separate emoluments suit filed by the attorneys general of Washington, D.C. and Maryland

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 3 comments
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Illustration for: Vulgarity

Sep 28th, 2018 4:07 pm | By

No words necessary.

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 6 comments
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“The devil’s triangle” is not and has never been a drinking game

Sep 28th, 2018 3:41 pm | By

A Facebook post (I don’t know who O. B. is):

O.B. : I was a dude who went to parties in the eighties, and worked on the yearbook staff, so let me shed some light on a few things:

“Boofing” doesn’t refer to farts or flatulence. Boofing is a very specific category of anal insertion. He lied about that. Under oath.

A comment said it’s a variant of BuFu, geddit?

“The devil’s triangle” is not and has never been a drinking game. It’s a euphemism for a threesome involving two men and one woman. He lied about that too. Under oath.

Yearbook editors do not doctor or change copy provided by students for their dedication page without their permission. Whatever

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 8 comments
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It turns out his integrity is not absolutely unquestioned

Sep 28th, 2018 3:24 pm | By

Over the course of the morning I read, via a slew of name lawyers on Twitter, that both the American Bar Association and Yale Law school had withdrawn their endorsements of Kavanaugh pending an investigation. Greg Sargent at the Post wrote about it early in the day:

During his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Brett Kavanaugh defended his qualifications for the Supreme Court by repeatedly citing his support from the American Bar Association. Crucially, Kavanaugh noted that the ABA had vetted him for the position. Kavanaugh said this not once but twice.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Kavanaugh’s chief defender, a man who melted down in a fit of histrionic rage at the sight of Kavanaugh getting

… Read the rest

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Not so fast

Sep 28th, 2018 3:12 pm | By

So. It flipped at the last minute. You probably already know by now, and if you don’t you probably don’t care (this is very US-centric, but then again when the US sneezes the world catches antibiotic-resistant TB, plus there is the whole hostile indifference to women issue), but here it is anyway. Jeff Flake voted with the Republicans to move Kavanaugh from the committee to the full Senate, but he also made that conditional on an FBI investigation first. Which they should have done all along. Flake on his own would have left things as they are because Pence would break the tie, but it turned out Flake wasn’t on his own.

But Flake — as well as Minnesota
… Read the rest

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Form an orderly queue

Sep 28th, 2018 2:56 pm | By

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

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 12 comments


Follow the money

Sep 28th, 2018 11:53 am | By

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

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

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 4 comments


Pulpy

Sep 28th, 2018 11:34 am | By

This helps a little.

https://twitter.com/heyitschili/status/1045718359713681408… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 1 Comment »


If an assailant attaches little significance to an assault

Sep 28th, 2018 10:59 am | By

Memory is complicated.

From the dizzying stream of incoming perceptions, the brain stores, or “encodes,” the sights, sounds, sensations and emotions that it deems important or novel. The quality of preservation may depend not only on the intensity of emotion in the moment an event occurs but on the mechanics of how that event is recorded and retrieved — in some cases, decades later.

“Recollection is always a reconstruction, to some extent — it’s not a videotape that preserves every detail,” said Richard J. McNally, a professor of psychology at Harvard University and the author of “Remembering Trauma.” “The details are often filled in later, or dismissed, and guessing may become part of the memory.”

Also, I have … Read the rest

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The patriarchy testing the limits

Sep 28th, 2018 10:29 am | By

A grotesque display of patriarchal resentment, Doreen St. Félix calls it.

At the time of this writing, composed in the eighth hour of the grotesque historic activity happening in the Capitol Hill chamber, it should be as plain as day that what we witnessed was the patriarchy testing how far its politics of resentment can go. And there is no limit.

For real. A woman testifies about what it was like to be pinned down and nearly suffocated by the nominee to the Supreme Court – and who flies into a rage? The male nominee who did the pinning down and near-suffocation, and a male Senator on his team. She was anxious and stressed but also serious and disciplined; … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 14 comments
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Rage boys in charge

Sep 28th, 2018 9:24 am | By

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 4 comments


Not all that supreme

Sep 27th, 2018 5:34 pm | By

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

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 4 comments


A taste of the aggression that emerged when Kavanaugh got drunk

Sep 27th, 2018 12:51 pm | By

https://twitter.com/NormEisen/status/1045393699709038592

But he seems like just the type to be aggressive toward women.… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 13 comments
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Two friends having a really good time

Sep 27th, 2018 10:44 am | By

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

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 2 comments


The Lynchburg contingent

Sep 27th, 2018 10:20 am | By

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

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 3 comments


Cowards, miscreants, and misogynists, each and every one

Sep 27th, 2018 9:23 am | By

https://twitter.com/helenlewis/status/1045329506532315136

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 1 Comment »


All these years with Brett Kavanaugh’s laughter

Sep 27th, 2018 9:07 am | By

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

https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1045337462317428736

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 1 Comment »


Shut it down, said Trump

Sep 27th, 2018 8:57 am | By

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

… Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 5 comments


The performance

Sep 26th, 2018 5:06 pm | By

In case you want to watch the waking nightmare that is that Trump press conference.

CBS picks out some highlights.

 

Mr. Trump reiterated his support for Kavanaugh throughout the press conference, lauding him as one of the great intellects of the country. But he did say he could change his mind after testimony from the women accusing the nominee. “That is possible,” he said.

Asked by CBS News’ Steven Portnoy what message the president is sending to young men with his stance on Kavanaugh, Mr. Trump decried a situation he sees as “guilty until proven innocent.”

“In this case, you’re guilty until proven innocent,” he said.

This is the guy who paid for a full-page ad in the New … Read the rest

Posted in Notes and Comment Blog | 17 comments
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