The Commentariat -- Sept. 30, 2018

Afternoon Update:

It Depends on What the Meaning of "Limits" Is. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The White House has not placed any limits on the FBI investigation into claims of sexual assault leveled against ... Brett M. Kavanaugh but is also opposed an open-ended 'fishing expedition' that could take a broader look at Kavanaugh's credibility, two Trump administration officials said Sunday.... [Sarah] Sanders said on 'Fox News Sunday' that the White House is 'not micromanaging this process' but also said an open-ended probe into [Julie] Swetnick's claims and whether Kavanaugh may have misled lawmakers in his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony would not be acceptable.... The order to the FBI was signed by Trump but has not been made public, while the White House has sought to lay responsibility for the details on the Senate." Emphasis added. ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: These remarks get this week's Doublespeak Award. Both of these things cannot be true: (1) there are no limits; (2) certain lines of inquiry "would not be acceptable."

Nathan Robinson of Current Affairs does a marvelous job of cataloging the lies Brett Kavanaugh told Thursday. "I can prove quite easily that Kavanaugh's teary-eyed 'good, innocent man indignant at being wrongfully accused' schtick was a facade. What may have looked like a strong defense was in fact a very, very weak and implausible one." This is a long piece, but it's easy to read. Many thanks to Keith H. for the link. ...

... James Comey in a New York Times op-ed: "Although the process is deeply flawed, and apparently designed to thwart the fact-gathering process, the F.B.I. is up for this. It's not as hard as Republicans hope it will be.... Unless limited in some way by the Trump administration, they can speak to scores of people in a few days, if necessary.... Agents have much better nonsense detectors than partisans, because they aren't starting with a conclusion.... They know that obvious lies by the nominee about the meaning of words in a yearbook are a flashing signal to dig deeper."

The Children's Warehouse. Caitlin Dickerson of the New York Times: "In shelters from Kansas to New York, hundreds of migrant children have been roused in the middle of the night in recent weeks and loaded onto buses with backpacks and snacks for a cross-country journey to their new home: a barren tent city on a sprawling patch of desert in West Texas. Until now, most undocumented children being held by federal immigration authorities had been housed in private foster homes or shelters, sleeping two or three to a room. They received formal schooling and regular visits with legal representatives assigned to their immigration cases. But in the rows of sand-colored tents in Tornillo, Tex., children in groups of 20, separated by gender, sleep lined up in bunks. There is no school: The children are given workbooks that they have no obligation to complete. Access to legal services is limited.... The tent city in Tornillo ... is unregulated, except for guidelines created by the Department of Health and Human Services."

*****

Shane Harris, et al., of the Washington Post: "The FBI has begun contacting people as part of an additional background investigation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, including a second woman who alleges that the Supreme Court nominee sexually assaulted her. The bureau has contacted Deborah Ramirez, a Yale University classmate of Kavanaugh's who alleges that he shoved his genitals in her face at a party where she had been drinking and become disoriented, her attorney said Saturday.... The FBI also is following up on allegations by Christine Blasey Ford.... But Michael Avenatti, an attorney for Julie Swetnik, who alleged that Kavanaugh and another boy got teenage girls drunk at parties, where the girls were sexually assaulted, sometimes by groups of boys, said Saturday that Swetnik has not been contacted by the bureau.... Each of the people Ford identified as being at the gathering — [Mark] Judge, Leland Keyser and Patrick J. Smyth -- has said they will cooperate with the FBI.... A background investigation is, by its nature, more limited than a criminal probe, and FBI agents will not be able to obtain search warrants or issue subpoenas to compel testimony from potential witnesses." ...

... AND there's this from the WashPo report: "Trump said the FBI is 'all over talking to everybody.... They have free rein, they can do whatever they have to do, whatever it is that they do. They'll be doing things we have never even thought of.'"

... BUT That Was A Double Whopper with Cheese. Ken Dilanian, et al., of NBC News: "The White House is limiting the scope of the FBI's investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against ... Brett Kavanaugh, multiple people briefed on the matter told NBC News. While the FBI will examine the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, the bureau has not been permitted to investigate the claims of Julie Swetnick, who has accused Kavanaugh of engaging in sexual misconduct at parties while he was a student at Georgetown Preparatory School in the 1980s, those people familiar with the investigation told NBC News. A White House official confirmed that Swetnick's claims will not be pursued as part of the reopened background investigation into Kavanaugh.... The White House counsel's office has given the FBI a list of witnesses they are permitted to interview, according to several people.... They characterized the White House instructions as a significant constraint on the FBI investigation and caution that such a limited scope, while not unusual in normal circumstances, may make it difficult to pursue additional leads in a case in which a Supreme Court nominee has been accused of sexual assault.... White House counsel Don McGahn, who has shepherded Kavanaugh's nomination since President Trump chose him for the high court on July 9, is taking the lead for the White House in dealing with the FBI on the investigation...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: McGahn knows where the bodies are buried. The fix is in. ...

     ... UPDATE. Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Saturday that the F.B.I. will have 'free rein' to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, but the emerging contours of the inquiry showed its limited scope. Four witnesses will be questioned.... Left off the list were former classmates who have contradicted Judge Kavanaugh's congressional testimony about his drinking and partying as a student.... Presidential advisers were working in concert with Senate Republicans.... 'I want them to interview whoever they deem appropriate, at their discretion,' Mr. Trump wrote [in a tweet]. He denied an NBC News report that he was limiting the inquiry and that investigators were not permitted to examine the claims of Julie Swetnick.... Democrats, left out of the discussions that led to Mr. Trump's order, tried on Saturday to clarify the scope of the F.B.I. investigation...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: So as I understand it, if a credible person called the FBI tipline & said, "I was at that party in 1982 where I directed Chrissie up to the bathroom, she stayed there a long time, & a while later I saw Brett & Mark come stumbling down the stairs laughing, & when I asked them what was so funny, Brett said, before passing out, 'We just did the Devil's Triangle with Squi's squeeze,'" under the parameters set by McGahn & Trump, the FBI would not be permitted to interview that witness. ...

... bmaz of emptywheel: "This was about the easiest thing in the world to predict. Jeff Flake issues some hollow self indulgent bullshit to make himself look like the last great reasonable man, and it is all garbage being run as cover for a complicit Trump White House and weak Senate Republicans (and at least one faux Democrat) desperately and cowardly seeking any fig leaf possible to allow them to put a craven, partisan, angry and drunkard historical sex offender on the United States Supreme Court for the next three to four decades."

... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "His hand forced by the demands of Senators Flake, Collins and Murkowksi, President Trump has authorized an FBI investigation into some details of Kavanaugh's past. Unfortunately (but not unpredictably), the White House is so delimiting the investigation as to make it a farce and a sham[.]... Also off limits are Kavanaugh's drinking habits and Mark Judge's employment records at Safeway. Both would be crucial in corroborating the accounts of both Dr. Ford and Ms. Ramirez.... And Flake, Collins and Murkowski have all the power they need to prevent the coverup." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: But they won't exercise that power. The minute the clock stops ticking, Grassley is going to announce he has received the FBI report & there's nothing new in it. The next minute, McConnell will call the vote. ...

... Steve M.: "The supposedly heroic Jeff Flake could be really heroic by threatening a no vote on Kavanaugh unless these restrictions are lifted. But he won't do that. So Democratic senators need to raise hell right now. It has to become widely known at the outset that this is a sham investigation." ...

... Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Say one thing about Donald Trump, the man knows how to obstruct justice[.]... It sure is amazing how Trump does not want any investigations that might implicate assertions made in Brett Kavanaugh's meticulous, highly believable testimony!... To state the obvious none of the actions Republican public officials are taking suggest they think Kavanaugh is credible." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you're looking for evidence of Kavanaugh's guilt, it's the cover-up.

... Matt Shuham of TPM: "The ACLU doesn't normally endorse or oppose individual candidates or nominees. It made a 'rare exception' Saturday, in its president's words, announcing its opposition to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation. Citing 'credible allegations that Judge Kavanaugh has engaged in serious misconduct that have not been adequately investigated by the Senate,' the ACLU's national board of directors passed a resolution stating that 'Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's credible testimony, subsequent allegations of sexual misconduct, the inadequate investigation, and Judge Kavanaugh's testimony at the hearing lead us to doubt Judge Kavanaugh's fitness to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: That's great! I'm sure when the ACLU brings its cases before the Supremes, Justice Wood B. Rapist will treat the organization's clients fairly & impartially. Because that's the kind of guy he is.

... More realistic than the original! Thanks, P.D.:

... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: At Thursday's Judiciary Committee hearing, "Judge Kavanaugh was angry and emotional, embracing the language of slashing partisanship. His demeanor raised questions about his neutrality and temperament and whether the already fragile reputation of the Supreme Court as an institution devoted to law rather than politics would be threatened if he is confirmed.... The charged language recalled Judge Kavanaugh's years as a partisan Republican, working for Ken Starr.... There was reason to fear that Judge Kavanaugh's searing reaction to the recent accusations could affect his work should he be confirmed to the Supreme Court." ...

... Jamelle Bouie: "With his furious partisanship and snarling anger, Kavanaugh is now an extraordinarily toxic nominee. And the raw exercise of power behind his confirmation is itself a powerful blow to the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.... Given the already unprecedented blockade of Merrick Garland, the presence of a Justice Kavanaugh would, for millions of voters, cement the Supreme Court as a narrow, factional power, meant to enhance one political party at the expense of another. In response, liberals may push for radical solutions that alter or dilute the power of the court, from impeaching Kavanaugh to expanding and 'packing' the court with new members. Either move would bring about an institutional arms race, as parties responded with ever-escalating reforms." ...

... Mike McIntire, et al., of the New York Times refute some of the tall tales Kavanaugh told during his confirmation hearings. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Charles Pierce: "In plain terms, for all his spleen and outrage, Judge avanaugh lies about everything. In his earlier hearings, he lied about his judicial philosophy, and he lied about his days as a Republican operative, both in and out of the White House. On Monday, he lied to Martha McCallum of Fox News. On Thursday, he lied about his entire adolescence and his college days. He lied even when he didn't have to lie. He lied in preposterous ways easily disproven by common sense. (The 'Devil's Triangle'? 'Renate Alumnius'?) He lied like a toddler, like a guilty adolescent, and like a privileged scion of the white ruling class, which is a continuum with which we all are far too familiar.... And now, he is a couple of easy steps away from having lied his way into a lifetime seat on the United States Supreme Court. This guy is going to be deciding constitutional issues for the next four decades, and the truth is not in him." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Shamus Khan, in a Washington Post op-ed: "How could a man brought up in some of our nation's most storied institutions -- Georgetown Prep, Yale College, Yale Law School -- dissemble with such ease? The answer lies in the privilege such institutions instill in their members, a privilege that suggests the rules that govern American society are for the common man, not the exceptional one.... Schools often quite openly affirm the idea that, because you are better, you are not governed by the same dynamics as everyone else.... Children whose parents are in the top 1 percent of earners are 77 times more likely to attend an Ivy League school than are the children of poorer parents.... Privilege casts inherited advantages as 'exceptional' qualities that justify special treatment.... His peers from the party of personal responsibility have largely rallied around him, seeking to protect his privilege." ...

... Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: Those calendar pages Kavanaugh provided to exonerate himself may be of interest to the FBI this week. Several entries tend to corroborate Blasey Ford's account. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

The Poor Dear Is Just Confused. Irin Carmon of New York: "The script was set ten days earlier.... Orrin Hatch called Christine Blasey Ford 'mistaken' and 'mixed up' in her belief that ... [Brett Kavanaugh] tried to rape her when they were teenagers. When the hearing came, Kavanaugh ... said, 'I am not questioning that Dr. Ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in some place at some time.' It was the pseudo-empathic version of, 'Bitch set me up.' The Republicans held fast to their mendacious dodge: The poor dear meant well. She was just confused -- and the true perps were the Democrats who were using her.... The insult to injury of this position is that it elides its cruelty with infantilizing faux-compassion: It's okay, little lady, you just don't know your own mind. Brett knows best." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Men who write laws designed to subjugate women have long claimed they're doing so to "protect" women. When I started working, many states had laws "protecting" women from having to lift more than 25 pounds. Coincidentally, it turned out that most job descriptions (and this includes office jobs) had a requirement that the job-holder lift more than 25 pounds even when that was not remotely true. For some reason, none of the he-men were around to help secretaries lug around boxes full of copy paper or files. ...

... Maureen Dowd: "... Kavanaugh simply adapted Clarence Thomas's playbook of raging against the machine.... 'This is a circus,' Thomas seethed in 1991. 'This is a circus,' Kavanaugh seethed on Thursday. Kavanaugh echoed Thomas's martyrdom, claiming he was being 'destroyed' by partisans conspiring to dig up dirt. He charged that Democrats were conducting a 'grotesque and coordinated character assassination' because of their anger about President Trump's ascent and their desire for revenge after his own seamy work helping Ken Starr in his pervy pursuit of Bill Clinton. It was a cri de coeur custom-made for the age of Trump -- and custom-designed to please Trump himself: entitled white men acting like the new minority, howling about things that are being taken away from them, aggrieved at anything that diminishes them or saps their power.... The nominee whom Ted Cruz defended as 'a boring Boy Scout' became a sneering portrait of privilege denied. As The Atlantic noted, Kavanaugh brandished Yale as 'a magic wand, something that could be waved to dispel questions of his conduct.'... The hope that the F.B.I. will save the day may be misplaced. In the case of Anita Hill, agents were deployed by Republicans to help smear her.&" ...

... Angry White Men think Kavanaugh Was "Too Timid." Jeremy Peters & Susan Chira of the New York Times: "For many conservatives, especially white men who share Mr. Trump's contempt for the left and his use of divisive remarks, the clash over Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation has become a rallying cry against a liberal order that, they argue, is hostile to their individual rights, political power and social status.... Judge Kavanaugh's furious denials of the allegation and his tirade before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday also underscore how Mr. Trump's own angry rhetorical defenses of himself ... have become such an effective playbook with the Republican base. Republican politicians now regularly portray critics, Democrats, the news media and even people making allegations of sexual misconduct as liars or fakes, and strike aggrieved tones as they present themselves as victims of conspiracies or leftist cabals."

... Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: "Catholic University's president suspended a dean whose comments on social media this week questioned allegations of sexual assault against ... Brett M. Kavanaugh. John Garvey, the president of the university, said Friday evening in an email to the campus that the remarks 'demonstrated a lack of sensitivity to the victim.' Will Rainford, the dean, had issued a written apology Thursday evening for a remark he made on his university Twitter account that he said 'unfortunately degraded' one of the women who have accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault.... 'Swetnick is 55 y/o,' Rainford posted Wednesday on his @NCSSSDean Twitter account. 'Kavanaugh is 52 y/o. Since when do senior girls hang with freshmen boys? If it happened when Kavanaugh was a senior, Swetnick was an adult drinking with&by her admission, having sex with underage boys. In another universe, he would be victim & she the perp!'... Scores of graduates of the National Catholic School of Social Service signed a letter to the university's president, provost and board of trustees objecting to Rainford';s comment and calling for his resignation." Rainford is dean of the School of Social Service. Huh. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... I was really being tough. And so was he. And we were going back-and-forth. And then we fell in love, OK? No really. He wrote me beautiful letters. And they're great letters. We fell in love. But you know what, now they'll say: "Donald Trump said they fell in love. How horrible! How horrible is that? So unpresidential." I always tell you it's so easy to be presidential, but instead of having 10,000 people outside trying to get into this packed arena, we'd have about 200 people standing right there. -- Donald Trump, speaking of his relationship with brutal dictator & U.S. nemesis Kim Jong-un, at a rally in West Virginia yesterday ...

... Reuters: "North Korea's foreign minister told the United Nations on Saturday continued sanctions were deepening its mistrust in the United States and there was no way the country would give up its nuclear weapons unilaterally under such circumstances. Ri Yong-ho told the world body's annual General Assembly that North Korea had taken 'significant goodwill measures' in the past year, such as stopping nuclear and missiles tests, dismantling the nuclear test site, and pledging not to proliferate nuclear weapons and nuclear technology. 'However, we do not see any corresponding response from the U.S.,' he said."

Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "An F-35 fighter jet crashed in South Carolina, the US Marine Corps said, in the first such incident to affect the most expensive defence programme in the world.... 'The US Marine pilot ejected safely,' the statement [by the Corps] said, adding that there were no civilian injuries and both the health of the pilot and the cause of the crash were being evaluated. The F-35 Lightning II is built by Lockheed-Martin. Reuters reported earlier on Friday that the Pentagon announced an $11.5bn contract for 141 planes, which 'lowered the price for the most common version of the stealthy jet by 5.4% to $89.2m'."

Election 2020. Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts declared on Saturday that she would 'take a hard look' at running for the White House in 2020 once the midterm elections are over, and called on the country to elect a female president to fix the 'broken government' in Washington. Ms. Warren made the announcement during a town-hall meeting in Holyoke, Mass., where she was decrying President Trump and Senate Republicans for digging in behind Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, the embattled Supreme Court nominee who has been accused of sexual assault. She described the hearings as a spectacle of 'powerful men helping a powerful man make it to an even more powerful position.'"

Matthew Goldstein of the New York Times: "Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive, under pressure from his lawyers and investors, reached a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Saturday to resolve a securities fraud case. The settlement will force Mr. Musk to step aside as chairman for three years and pay a $20 million fine. The S.E.C. announced the deal two days after it sued Mr. Musk in federal court for fraud and misleading investors over his post on Twitter last month that he had 'funding secured' for a buyout of the electric-car company at $420 a share. The deal with the S.E.C. will allow him to remain as chief executive, something he could have jeopardized if he had gone to battle with the agency."

News Lede

AP: "Rescue officials feared the full scale of Indonesia's earthquake and tsunami could climb far past the more than 800 already confirmed dead, as several large coastal towns remained cut off Sunday by damaged roads and downed communication lines. The country's disaster agency said the death toll more than doubled to 832, and nearly all of those were from the hard-hit city of Palu on the island of Sulawesi. The regencies of Donggala, Sigi and Parigi Moutong -- with a combined population of 1.2 million -- had yet to be fully assessed."

Social Circles

As I mentioned late yesterday to a contributor who is as sick of all this as I am, I started watching a British mystery series to escape the day's realities. It didn't work. When the fictional detective Vera goes to interview a posh lady who might shed some light on the victim's activities, the posh lady tells Vera, “Yes, I knew her, but I didn't know her well. We didn't travel in the same circles.”

So right away, I thought of Brett Kavanaugh. As Josh Marshall wrote yesterday, “Kavanaugh rested his aggressive defense on the claim that he and [Christine] Blasey Ford weren’t even in the same social circles and that he didn’t even attend parties like the one she describes in the summer in question.” Kavanaugh's exact testimony in regard to Blasey Ford was, “She and I did not travel in the same social circles.” Philip Bump of the Washington Post demonstrates, based on young Brett's 1982 calendar that Kavanaugh's assertion isn't true. His “gang” included a boy whom Blasey dated at the time. (Not coincidentally, the boy Blasey dated was the person Ed Whelan tried to finger as the "real rapist." Marshall suspects Kavanaugh himself had a hand in inventing this red herring.)

But it is also true that Christine Blasey was two years behind Kavanaugh in school,* and that does make a difference to teenagers. I can remember as a sophomore thinking that seniors were rarified gods and as a senior thinking sophomores were “kids.” The girls & boys in my “circle” were in my class. This seems ridiculous now, but it seemed like “proper order” to a teenager.

Kavanaugh was and is far more tribal than I ever have been. As Avi Selk of the Washington Post points out, Kavanaugh's tribalism was such a serious character flaw that in 2006 the American Bar Association downgraded his qualification rating because of it. At the hearing Thursday, he let fly the lunacy:

Since my nomination in July, there’s been a frenzy on the left to come up with something, anything to block my confirmation…. When it was needed, this allegation was unleashed and publicly deployed over Dr. Ford’s wishes…. This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit…. pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election…. revenge on behalf of the Clintons…. millions of dollars in money from outside left-wing opposition groups.

In other words, grown-up Brett thinks it is fine to viciously and falsely attack, to their faces, people who are not in his “group” – even as those despised “outsiders” are interviewing him for a job.

I think it's fair to take Kavanaugh at his word on this one point: that as a teenanger he did not think of Christine Blasey as part of his “social circle” even if she was dating someone who was. She was two years younger, a “kid” who was a “hanger-on,” like “Judy's little sister” Carol (played by Mackenzie Phillips) in “American Graffiti.” And, given Kavanaugh's lifelong disdain for outsiders, it's also reasonable to suspect that young Brett thought it was all right – in fact, hilarious – to attack a girl whom he perceived as an outsider, someone who was not part of his “social circle.”

Rather than providing evidence that he did not physically attack Blasey, Kavanaugh's effort to distance himself from her supports the likelihood that he did attack her. As an outsider, she was fair game, just like the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee whom he repeatedly insulted.

Whether Kavanaugh planned to rape Blasey or to just give her a scare for the fun of it, as Kevin Drum hypothesizes, his attack on Blasey affected her for life. He did not care then, and he does not care now. In the tribal worldview of Brett Kavanaugh, the feelings, the dignity, the rights of those of us he has “otherized” do not matter. Kavanaugh's world is a narrow one, far too narrow for him to grant justice to any "outsider" who would come before him.

* Oops, I was wrong about this. It looks as if Blasey was only a year behind Kavanaugh in school. She is about 18 months younger than he.

The Commentariat -- Sept. 29, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Mike McIntire, et al., of the New York Times refute some of the tall tales Kavanaugh told during his confirmation hearings. ...

... Charles Pierce: "In plain terms, for all his spleen and outrage, Judge Kavanaugh lies about everything. In his earlier hearings, he lied about his judicial philosophy, and he lied about his days as a Republican operative, both in and out of the White House. On Monday, he lied to Martha McCallum of Fox News. On Thursday, he lied about his entire adolescence and his college days. He lied even when he didn't have to lie. He lied in preposterous ways easily disproven by common sense. (The 'Devil's Triangle'? 'Renate Alumnius'?) He lied like a toddler, like a guilty adolescent, and like a privileged scion of the white ruling class, which is a continuum with which we all are far too familiar.... And now, he is a couple of easy steps away from having lied his way into a lifetime seat on the United States Supreme Court. This guy is going to be deciding constitutional issues for the next four decades, and the truth is not in him." ...

... Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: Those calendar pages Kavanaugh provided to exonerate himself may be of interest to the FBI this week. Several entries tend to corroborate Blasey Ford's account. ...

... Susan Svrluga of the Washington Post: "Catholic University's president suspended a dean whose comments on social media this week questioned allegations of sexual assault against ... Brett M. Kavanaugh. John Garvey, the president of the university, said Friday evening in an email to the campus that the remarks 'demonstrated a lack of sensitivity to the victim.' Will Rainford, the dean, had issued a written apology Thursday evening for a remark he made on his university Twitter account that he said 'unfortunately degraded' one of the women who have accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault.... 'Swetnick is 55 y/o,' Rainford posted Wednesday.... 'Kavanaugh is 52 y/o. Since when do senior girls hang with freshmen boys? If it happened when Kavanaugh was a senior, Swetnick was an adult drinking with&by her admission, having sex with underage boys. In another universe, he would be victim & she the perp!'... Scores of graduates of the National Catholic School of Social Service signed a letter to the university's president, provost and board of trustees objecting to Rainford's comment and calling for his resignation." Rainford is dean of the School of Social Service. Huh.

*****

If you're unsure of how yesterday's drama went down, Chris Hayes has a good tick-tock:

Ellie Hall of BuzzFeed News: "... Donald Trump on Friday called Christine Blasey Ford's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee 'compelling' and 'credible,' adding that he was not sure if Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court would 'continue onward.' Trump also said Ford, who alleges that she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh at a house when they were teenagers, was 'certainly a very credible witness.' 'I thought her testimony was very compelling and she looks like a very fine woman to me. A very fine woman,' he said. 'And I thought that Brett's testimony likewise was, really something that I hadn't seen before. Incredible. It was an incredible moment in the history of our country.' However, the president seemed less sure about the fate of his nominee, telling reporters, 'I don't know if this is going to continue onward or if we're going to get a vote.'... Speaking to reporters at the White House before a meeting with Chile's President Sebastián Piñera, Trump said that undecided senators must do what makes them 'comfortable' regarding his nomination, adding that he had 'no message whatsoever' for the senators who now face a vote to confirm Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Justice." ...

... Nicholas Fandos & Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Senator Jeff Flake, the lone swing Republican vote on the Judiciary Committee, said Friday morning that he would vote to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, ensuring committee passage and bringing President Trump's nominee to the brink of confirmation...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... The story has been updated. New Lede Plus: "President Trump, ceding to a request from Senate Republican leaders facing an insurrection in their ranks, ordered the F.B.I. on Friday to open an investigation into accusations of sexual assault leveled against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, his nominee to the Supreme Court. The decision capped a confusing day on Capitol Hill, where the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to advance Judge Kavanaugh's nomination, but only by agreeing to a last-minute demand by Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, to conduct a time-limited inquiry. 'I've ordered the F.B.I. to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh's file,' Mr. Trump said in a statement. 'As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.' The decision in the Senate, made in a hurried closed-door meeting between Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, came after a dramatic reversal by Mr. Flake, who announced he would not support final confirmation until the F.B.I. investigates the allegations.... [Republicans] were still able to muscle the nomination through committee with an 11-to-10 [party-line] vote and send it to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation." ...

... Niraj Chokshi & Astead Herndon of the New York Times: "Two women blocking an elevator door, angrily demanding to be heard as a senator stood by, listening quietly, nodding and looking away. 'On Monday, I stood in front of your office,' one of the women, Ana Maria Archila, forcefully told Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona. 'I told the story of my sexual assault.' Mr. Flake had just announced his intention on Friday morning to vote to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, despite emotional testimony a day earlier from Christine Blasey Ford, who had accused Judge Kavanaugh of sexual assault.... Hours later, in a surprise development, Senator Flake said that he would not support confirmation without a one-week F.B.I. investigation into the allegations, as he joined his fellow Republicans in advancing the nomination. There was widespread speculation that the elevator encounter had played a role."Story includes transcript of the exchange. ...

... Flake Earns His Name. Elana Schor, et al., of Politico: "Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Friday brought Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination to the brink of victory, then into significant uncertainty, in a matter of hours.... [He] announced his support for ... Donald Trump's high court pick Friday morning. But after a dramatic series of closed-door meetings with senators from both parties, he said that he would 'only be comfortable' voting yes in the end after the FBI investigates a sexual assault allegation against Kavanaugh. 'I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to but not more than one week in order to let the FBI do an investigation, limited in time and scope,' Flake told fellow senators on the Judiciary Committee. The committee voted to advance Kavanaugh's nomination. The latest head-spinning twist may not stop Kavanaugh's nomination from coming to the Senate floor by this weekend. But Flake's maneuver drops a political land mine in the lap of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the White House, which now must decide whether and how to initiate the FBI inquiry Flake sought.... Key undecided senators joined Flake's calls minutes after he made his move. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he supported Flake's call for an FBI investigation "so that our country can have confidence in the outcome of this vote," as did Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)." ...

... Matthew Haag & Rebecca Ruiz of the New York Times: "Mark Judge, who has been named by two women as being a key witness to sexual misconduct by Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, said Friday that he would cooperate with any law enforcement agency 'assigned to confidentially investigate' the accusations. The statement came in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee after the full Senate decided to delay a vote on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court so the F.B.I. could conduct an investigation of up to one week into the allegations.... Mr. Judge is now an author, filmmaker and journalist who has written for conservative publications including The Daily Caller and The Weekly Standard. He had active profiles on Facebook and YouTube until his name surfaced in recent weeks, but those pages have since been removed." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: I don't know what the law on this is, but I'm guessing that if the FBI wants a person to cooperate, he has to cooperate except to the extent he asserts a Fifth Amendment right. BTW, when the photo accompanying the story, which is of Judge at his Delaware beach hideout, surfaced several days ago, I was struck by how much he & Kavanaugh look alike now. I wonder whose beach house that is: a friend of Don McGahn's maybe? Trump should have put up Judge in his international hotel in Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, but maybe he was too cheap to do that. ...

     ... Update: I was wrong about that. According to the Washington Post: "A background investigation is, by its nature, more limited than a criminal probe, and FBI agents will not be able to obtain search warrants or issue subpoenas to compel testimony from potential witnesses."

... Seung Min Kim & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Shortly after the Judiciary Committee convened, the panel voted down a motion on party lines by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to subpoena Mark Judge, a high school classmate of Kavanaugh. Ford has alleged Judge witnessed the assault. The committee then voted, again along party lines, to decide on Kavanaugh's nomination at 1:30 p.m. The votes prompted outrage from Democrats.... Underscoring the acrimony surrounding Friday's proceedings, a a dozen House Democratic women who gathered to watch the Judiciary Committee stood up in the room in protest." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Clare Foran of CNN: "Two red state Democrats facing re-election in 2018 announced on Friday that they oppose Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Jon Tester of Montana both came out against ... Donald Trump's nominee the day after Christine Blasey Ford testified that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s -- allegations that Kavanaugh vehemently denied." ...

... Bully Boys. Josh Marshall: "Kavanaugh's performance told us little new that we didn't know but was filled with rage, grievance and aggression. Senate Republicans were close to ecstatic in response and appear to remain so this morning.... Kavanaugh decided to emulate Trump -- right down to the conspiracy theories, casual lying and aggressive counter-attacks against political enemies. It all seemed to come naturally. And Senate Republicans loved it. The reaction alone -- to a performance that cannot possibly ever command even the most limited respect on the Court from those Kavanaugh explicitly terms his political enemies -- is the most telling political takeaway from yesterday." ...

... ** He Was Always an Obstreperous, Lying, Partisan Prick. Avi Selk of the Washington Post: For three years, Democrats blocked George W. Bush's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to a federal judgeship because of his partisan bias. During all of this time, Kavanaugh retained an ABA rating of "well-qualified." "But in May 2006, as Republicans hoped to finally push Kavanaugh's nomination across the finish line, the ABA downgraded its endorsement [to 'qualified']. The group's judicial investigator had recently interviewed dozens of lawyers, judges and others who had worked with Kavanaugh, the ABA announced at the time, and some of them raised red flags about 'his professional experience and the question of his freedom from bias and open-mindedness.' 'One interviewee remained concerned about the nominee's ability to be balanced and fair should he assume a federal judgeship,' the ABA committee chairman wrote to senators in 2006. 'Another interviewee echoed essentially the same thoughts: "(He is) immovable and very stubborn and frustrating to deal with on some issues."' A particular judge had told the ABA that Kavanaugh had been 'sanctimonious' during an oral argument in court. Several lawyers considered him inexperienced, and one said he 'dissembled' in the courtroom.... [Senate] Republicans dismissed the warnings." So Kavanaugh got his judgeship, confirmed along party lines. ...

... Roger Cohen of the New York Times: "What America saw before the Senate Judiciary Committee was an injudicious man, an angry brat veering from fury to sniveling sobs, a judge so bereft of composure and proportion that it was difficult not to squirm. Brett Kavanaugh actually got teary over keeping a calendar because that's what his dad did.... This is what you get from the unexamined life, a product of white male privilege.... He failed the job interview.... Kavanaugh has revealed himself to be a man without measure, capable of frenzy, full of conspiratorial venom against Democrats. Justice would not be served by his presence on the Supreme Court." ...

... Judge Wood B. Rapist Lies about Everything. Alanna Richer of the AP: "... Brett Kavanaugh has repeatedly said that he was legally allowed to consume beer as a prep school senior in Maryland. In fact, he was never legal in high school because the state's drinking age increased to 21 at the end of his junior year, while he was still 17.... The legal age in that state was raised to 21 on July 1, 1982; Kavanaugh did not turn 18 until Feb. 12, 1983. In a Fox News interview on Monday, Kavanaugh said, 'Yes, there were parties. And the drinking age was 18. And yes, the seniors were legal.' In testimony Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he said all of his comments during the Fox interview were accurate and could be made part of the record." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: AND please don't tell me Preppy Boy had no idea what the legal drinking age was. If there's one thing a teenager knows about the law, it's his own & nearby states' drinking age laws. ...

... ** Philip Bump of the Washington Post goes over a number of misrepresentations lies Kavanaugh told in Thursday's committee hearing, some of which were significant & others of which were just LOL dog-ate-my-homework ridiculous. "... either his yearbook entry is littered with repeated references to drinking, being sick from drinking and forgetting things because of drinking -- or each has an innocent explanation that doesn't jibe with the most natural understanding of the term."

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Toting up all the false assertions Bump cites, it's clear that, like Trump, Kavanaugh lies whenever it's in his interest to do so. So falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, yes. But there's another thing: Kavanaugh was, of course, under oath during his testimony. In fact, Sen. John Kennedy made a big thing about Kavanaugh's being under oath, beginning with the question, "Do you believe in god?" to which the Choir Boy answered in the affirmative. Then "in front of God and country," as Kennedy put it, Kavanaugh denied a series of allegations. Since Kavanaugh takes the oath to tell the truth so lightly, it seems fair to assume he takes his oath to defend the Constitution with all the seriousness Donald Trump does. ...

Dr. Ford's allegations are not merely uncorroborated, it's refuted by the very people she says were there. -- Brett Kavanaugh, during sworn testimony yesterday

... Calvin Woodward & Chloe Kim of the AP: "Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh misrepresented the record Thursday when he stated that three witnesses have refuted Christine Blasey Ford's allegation that he sexually assaulted her at a party more than 30 years ago. The three swore they had no recollection of the party -- providing no support for Ford's accusations laid out to the Senate Judiciary Committee. But their statements do not disprove the allegations, either." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie BTW: Isn't it a curious thing, the way all those Republicans take white boy Bart O'Kavanaugh at his word, but assume Christine Blasey Ford was "mixed up"? ...

... ** AND It Wasn't Only Lies: The Artless Dodger. Alvin Chang of Vox analyzes the answers: "There were several noticeable differences between the Senate testimony of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and ... Christine Blasey Ford. The most obvious was the tone each took. Ford was polite and quiet...; he was angry and loud in his denials of the allegations against him. Beyond the style of their testimonies, there was a striking difference in the content.... Only Ford made an effort to answer every single question. Kavanaugh actively dodged questions. He often repeated the same non-answer over and over. Other times, he insisted on answering a question with 'context' -- which inevitably was a long story about his childhood -- but never actually answered the question. We went through the transcript of the hearing and noted every single time a question was asked of Ford and Kavanaugh.... Then we noted every instance in which answered the question or said they didn't know the answer -- and we also noted every time they either refused to answer or gave an answer that didn't address the question. Here are the results." A chart! ...

... Melissa Healy of the Los Angeles Times consulted four experts in sexual trauma about Thursday's testimony. While the experts spoke mostly about the credibility of Blasey Ford's testimony (they all found it credible), here's what Kevin Swartout said about Kavanaugh: "He demonstrated a great deal of hostility during the hearing, especially toward some of the female senators on the committee. He had a contentious exchange with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) at the outset, where he cut her off mid-sentence numerous times. There was also the exchange with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn), which he later apologized for, where he seemingly tried to flip the power differential by turning the question back on her. The results of hundreds of studies to this point suggest that levels of hostility toward women, which includes a drive to exert power over women, are positively related with levels of sexual violence." ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: You don't have to be an expert or apply analytical measurements to the witnesses' responses to figure out who was lying. Why, even a U.S. senator (and most parents of small children) of average intelligence could do it! Blasey Ford tried to be "helpful" & she admitted to not knowing certain details. Kavanaugh shouted his denials, as if truth were measured in decibels; he whined about how "unfaaaair" the process was to him; he vilified the questioners & scoffed at their questions; he denied obvious facts; & he repeatedly evaded answering questions. ...

... Kevin Drum: "At the time [of his assault on Christine Blasey, Kavanaugh] may well have thought of it as nothing more than horseplay.... But when he was first asked about all this, he panicked and denied everything.... Once he denied the incident entirely, he had no choice but to stick to his story. Everything that's happened since has hinged on that one rash mistake. And this is what explains his almost comically angry testimony.... The Republican playbook has a page for this. Even before his appearance, there were news reports about the advice Kavanaugh was getting: he needed to be passionate, angry, and vengeful against the Democrats who plainly orchestrated this entire witch hunt. And that's what he did. Unlike Ford, his performance was highly rehearsed: his emotional tone was rehearsed; his lines were rehearsed (and then repeated ad nauseam); and more than anything, his angry insistence that he was the victim of a vicious liberal frame-up was rehearsed.... Republicans took his cue and gave speech after speech about the perfidy of Democrats who had planned this entire smear campaign." ...

... Tim Egan: "Story follows character, as the Greeks knew, and what we're seeing now with the Bonfire of Republican Vanities is the predictable outcome of those who enabled the amoral presidency of Donald Trump. The bargain was simple: Republicans would get tax cuts for the well-connected and a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court, and in turn would overlook every assault on decency, truth, our oldest allies and most venerable principles.... Oh, but the price has gone up. Republicans are left with a roomful of men standing athwart the #MeToo movement and yelling, 'Stop!' They are left with Trump, who outlined the game plan for sexual predation, saying women who remember atrocities from the past are part of a 'con game.'"

... Ronan Farrow & Jane Mayer of the New Yorker: "Throughout Thursday's Senate hearing ..., Republicans on the Judiciary Committee claimed that they had tried in vain to secure more information about other accusations made about the judge.... On Wednesday, several conservative-media outlets published leaks of some of the e-mail correspondence between [accuser Deborah] Ramirez's team and Republican committee staffers, which appeared to back up Grassley's characterization. But a fuller copy of the e-mail correspondence ... shows that a Republican aide declined to proceed with telephone calls and instead repeatedly demanded that Ramirez produce additional evidence in written form. Only then could any conversation about her testimony proceed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan O'Connell, et al., of the Washington Post: "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.... Trump is already facing a separate emoluments suit filed by the attorneys general of Washington, D.C. and Maryland that is moving forward. In addition, he is contending with the ongoing special counsel investigation into Russian interference, a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General that alleged 'persistently illegal conduct' at his charitable foundation and a defamation lawsuit brought by former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos."

Mike Isaac & Sheera Frenkel of the New York Times: "Facebook, already facing scrutiny over how it handles the private information of its users, said on Friday that an attack on its computer network had exposed the personal information of nearly 50 million users. The breach, which was discovered this week, was the largest in the company's 14-year history. The attackers exploited a feature in Facebook';s code to gain access to user accounts and potentially take control of them.... Guy Rosen, a vice president of product management at Facebook, declined to say whether the attack could have been coordinated by hackers supported by a nation-state. Three software flaws in Facebook's systems allowed hackers to break into user accounts, including those of the top executives Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, according to two people familiar with the investigation but not allowed to discuss it publicly. Once in, the attackers could have gained access to apps like Spotify, Instagram and hundreds of others that give users a way to log into their systems through Facebook."