The Ledes

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Washington Post: “ John Amos, a running back turned actor who appeared in scores of TV shows — including groundbreaking 1970s programs such as the sitcom 'Good Times' and the epic miniseries 'Roots' — and risked his career to protest demeaning portrayals of Black characters, died Aug. 21 in Los Angeles. He was 84.” Amos's New York Times obituary is here.

New York Times: “Pete Rose, one of baseball’s greatest players and most confounding characters, who earned glory as the game’s hit king and shame as a gambler and dissembler, died on Monday. He was 83.”

The Ledes

Monday, September 30, 2024

New York Times: “Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. He was 88.”

~~~ The New York Times highlights “twelve essential Kristofferson songs.”

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Public Service Announcement

Washington Post: "Americans can again order free rapid coronavirus tests by mail, the Biden administration announced Thursday. People can request four free at-home tests per household through covidtests.gov. They will begin shipping Monday. The move comes ahead of an expected winter wave of coronavirus cases. The September revival of the free testing program is in line with the Biden administration’s strategy to respond to the coronavirus as part of a broader public health campaign to protect Americans from respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), that surge every fall and winter. But free tests were not mailed during the summer wave, which wastewater surveillance data shows is now receding."

Washington Post: “Comedy news outlet the Onion — reinvigorated by new ownership over this year — is bringing back its once-popular video parodies of cable news. But this time, there’s someone with real news anchor experience in the chair. When the first episodes appear online Monday, former WAMU and MSNBC host Joshua Johnson will be the face of the resurrected 'Onion News Network.' Playing an ONN anchor character named Dwight Richmond, Johnson says he’s bringing a real anchor’s sense of clarity — and self-importance — to the job. 'If ONN is anything, it’s a news organization that is so unaware of its own ridiculousness that it has the confidence of a serial killer,' says Johnson, 44.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll be darned if I can figured out how to watch ONN. If anybody knows, do tell. Thanks.

Washington Post: “First came the surprising discovery that Earth’s atmosphere is leaking. But for roughly 60 years, the reason remained a mystery. Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space — at speeds of 20 kilometers per second. Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream. There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet. It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found. The field is only about the strength of a watch battery — but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space. It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth. This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable. The electric field is 'an agent of chaos,' said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study. 'It undoes gravity.... Without it, Earth would be very different.'”

The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Tuesday
Sep182018

The Commentariat -- September 19, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Ken Dilanian, et al., of NBC News: " A former schoolmate of Brett Kavanaugh's accuser wrote a Facebook post saying she recalls hearing about the alleged assault involving Kavanaugh, though she says she has no first-hand information to corroborate the accuser's claims. 'Christine Blasey Ford was a year or so behind me,' wrote the woman, Cristina Miranda King, who now works as a performing arts curator in Mexico City. 'I did not know her personally but I remember her. This incident did happen.' She added, 'Many of us heard a buzz about it indirectly with few specific details. However Christine's vivid recollection should be more than enough for us to truly, deeply know that the accusation is true.'... King has since taken down her Facebook post, which NBC News verified as having appeared on her account." ...

... Frank Thorp, et al., of NBC News: "Republican lawmakers on Wednesday appeared poised to move ahead with a confirmation vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman while they were in high school, if the woman does not participate in a Senate hearing to air the allegation.... [Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck] Grassley ... said that no law enforcement investigation was warranted and that the invitation for her to testify on Monday 'still stands.' The chairman responded to Ford's lawyers Wednesday afternoon in a letter in which he said again that FBI involvement is not needed and that the Senate doesn't have the power to authorize such an investigation.... He said Ford would need to submit her biography and prepared testimony by Friday at 10 a.m. if she intends to testify Monday." ...

... Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, another former classmate of Brett Kavanaugh's denies attending a party like the one described in the allegation made by Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused the Supreme Court nominee of sexually assaulting her three decades ago when they were teenagers. Patrick J. Smyth attended Georgetown Prep -- an all-boys school in North Bethesda, Maryland -- alongside Kavanaugh. Both men graduated in 1983.... Eric Bruce, who is representing Smyth, authored a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the committee. CNN has obtained a copy of the letter, which includes a quote from Smyth denying seeing any 'improper conduct' from Kavanaugh." ...

... Maria Caspani of Reuters: " A growing number of Americans said they opposed ... Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, as the candidate's confirmation hearings took place and as he fended off a sexual assault claim, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. The Sept. 11-17 poll found that 36 percent of adults surveyed did not want Kavanaugh in the Supreme Court, up 6 points from a similar poll conducted a month earlier. Only 31 percent of U.S. adults polled said they were in favor of Kavanaugh's appointment."

John Solomon & Buck Sexton of the Hill: "President Trump in an Oval Office interview with Hill.TV launched one of his most ferocious broadsides to date against Jeff Sessions, suggesting the attorney general was essentially AWOL and performing badly on a variety of issues. 'I don't have an attorney general. It's very sad,' Trump told Hill.TV in an extensive and freewheeling interview Tuesday from the Oval Office.... '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,' he said. 'And then he went through the nominating process and he did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused, and people that worked with him for, you know, a long time in the Senate were not nice to him, but he was giving very confusing answers. Answers that should have been easily answered. And that was a rough time for him.'" ...

John Solomon & Buck Sexton: "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." ...

... Chris Strohm of Bloomberg: "Donald Trump has demanded the 'immediate declassification' of sensitive materials about the Russia investigation, but the agencies responsible are expected to propose redactions that would keep some information secret, according to three people familiar with the matter. The Justice Department, FBI and Office of the Director of National Intelligence are going through a methodical review and can't offer a timeline for finishing, said the people, who weren't authorized to speak publicly about the sensitive matter."

*****

What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep. -- Brett Kavanaugh, in a speech in March 2015 ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "President Trump said Wednesday that it is 'very hard for me to imagine anything happened' between Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of sexual assault when both were teenagers. Trump praised his Supreme Court nominee as 'an extraordinary man' with 'an unblemished record' and said what he is experiencing is 'unfair.' But the president also said that Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, deserves to be heard at a Senate hearing scheduled for Monday. 'If she shows up and makes a credible showing, that will be very interesting, and we'll have to make a decision,' Trump told reporters as he left the White House for North Carolina to survey hurricane damage. Lawyers for Ford alerted the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that she wants the FBI to investigate her allegation before she testifies, a request Republicans are resisting. Trump told reporters that Kavanaugh has been investigated by the FBI six times and suggested it is unnecessary to do so again." ...

... The Case of the Reluctant Witness. Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The woman who has accused President Trump's Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault has so far failed to respond to requests from the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at an extraordinary public hearing on Monday, raising doubts about whether she plans to attend -- and whether the session would go on without her. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday that he had sent several requests to lawyers for the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, to testify along with Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.... The mysterious silence from Dr. Blasey and her lawyers was another turn in a drama that has gripped the Capitol since Thursday.... Dr. Blasey, thrust suddenly into a spotlight that she never sought, has been inundated with vulgar email and social media messages, and even death threats, according to a person close to her.... Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, are clashing over the scope and shape of the hearings. Mr. Grassley said Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Blasey would be the only witnesses, prompting pushback from top Democrats, who are demanding an F.B.I. investigation to search for additional witnesses or evidence, and to avoid the specter of a 'he said, she said' debate.... One possible witness is a friend of Judge Kavanaugh's, Mark Judge, who Dr. Blasey said was in the room with Judge Kavanaugh when the assault occurred. Mr. Judge had told the Judiciary Committee that he does not remember the episode and has nothing more to say...." ...

     ... The story has been updated: "The woman who has accused President Trump's Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault threw into doubt plans for an extraordinary Senate hearing to air her accusations, charging on Tuesday that some senators have already made up their minds and insisting that the F.B.I. investigate first. Speaking through her lawyers, Christine Blasey Ford did not explicitly rule out appearing next Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify along with Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh. But echoing Senate Democrats, she said an investigation should be 'the first step' before she is put 'on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident.'... 'If she does not come on Monday, we are going to move on and vote on Wednesday,' Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a member of the committee, told Fox News on Tuesday evening." ...

... Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "The woman who has accused Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault decades ago wants the FBI to investigate her allegation before she testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee -- a demand that came as President Trump and Senate Republicans increasingly rallied to the defense of the embattled Supreme Court nominee.... The two-page letter does not explicitly say she will not attend if there is no FBI probe.... Though Kavanaugh's confirmation prospects looked shaky earlier this week after Ford's allegations became public, senior Republicans on Tuesday were increasingly determined to press forward with his nomination." ...

     ... ** Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: MSNBC reported on-air that Blasey Ford's attorney has said Blasey Ford will not appear before the Judiciary Committee on Monday. So that's a big win for Trump unless something changes. As Josh Marshall points out, top Republicans, including Susan Collins, have presented the planned Monday hearing as a take-it-or-leave-it "opportunity" for Blasey Ford. I agree that an investigation is necessary, but sometimes you have to make do with what you get, even if that's appearing before Chuck Grassley & Orrin Hatch without a couple of cream pies to throw at their mugs. So if the on-air report is true, shame on Blasey Ford & her attorneys. Unless Blasey Ford's lawyers are coordinating their moves with Democrats on the committee & they plan to allow her to testify whatever the eventual circumstance, I'm disgusted with all of them. ...

... Rebecca Shabad, et al., of NBC News has a well-explained story on the state of the impasse. It does not specifically state that Blasey Ford refuses to testify Monday, but that's pretty much the effect. Chuck Grassley is standing his ground that no FBI investigation is necessary. Sen. Dianne "Feinstein, meanwhile, criticized the FBI and White House on Tuesday for 'failing to take even the most basic steps' to investigate Ford's allegation. 'What's worse at that time, President Bush asked the FBI to do its job and perform an investigation looking into Anita Hill's allegations, which it did. Now, under the Trump administration, Republicans want to do even less by blocking any investigation into Dr. Ford's allegations,' she said. 'I'm disappointed the FBI and White House are failing to take even the most basic steps to investigate this matter.'" ...

... AND Margaret Hartmann, as she always does, writes another helpful post on where things stand. Apparently Republicans have settled on a mistaken-identity defense: "they believe Ford was assaulted, but she's wrong about Kavanaugh being the perpetrator[.]" Hartmann notes that Blasey Ford "knew Kavanaugh in passing before the party, which makes it harder to believe that she simply misremembered the identity of the man who attempted to rape her." ...

... Burgess Everett & Elan Schor of Politico: "Republicans are already taking shots at Ford.... Their conduct could determine not just the public's perception of their party but whether Kavanaugh wins the 50 votes needed to sit on the high court.... Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) questioned Ford's motives.... Graham questioned why she waited months after contacting The Washington Post and her Democratic representative in Congress to go public. He also expressed skepticism about some of the details of her story, including why she took a lie detector test administered by a former FBI agent." ...

... Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: "Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are considering having their aides question Christine Blasey Ford should she testify about her sexual assault accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.... There's a reason for this unusual move: Every Republican senator on the committee is male, and aggressive questioning of Blasey could backfire for them. If they use their aides, they would be able to rely on female staffers.... Three Democratic sources familiar with the committee's planning told HuffPost that this proposal was under consideration, although so far it's not clear whether Blasey and Kavanaugh will testify." Mrs. McC: Everett & Schor reported that Republicans also were considering having a female attorney question Blasey Ford. ...

... Elana Schor, et al., of Politico: "The woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her decades ago has not yet confirmed her appearance at a public hearing the GOP is planning next week as of midday Tuesday, according to top Republican senators. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that his staff has reached out to Christine Blasey Ford's camp several times since the California-based professor came forward with her story of a high-school-era assault by ... Donald Trump's high court pick. Although Ford's lawyer said that her client would be open to 'a fair proceeding,' it remains unclear whether she would agree to a planned hearing on Sept. 24 that Republicans have set up to help save Kavanaugh's nomination." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Trump falsely charged on Tuesday that Democrats had sought to time a sexual assault allegation against his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, to obstruct his confirmation, siding with the judge as he called for a swift process for airing the accusation on Capitol Hill. 'I feel so badly for him that he's going through this,' Mr. Trump said of Judge Kavanaugh.... 'This is not a man that deserves this.'... 'Why didn't the Democrats bring it up then?' Mr. Trump said Tuesday during a news conference at the White House with President Andrzej Duda of Poland. 'Because they obstruct, and because they resist. That's the name of their campaign against me -- they just resist and they just obstruct.' It's a shame,' he added, 'because this is a great gentleman.'... Mr. Trump, himself the subject of sexual misconduct allegations that he has denied, mischaracterized Democrats' role. They took their cue from Dr. strong> Blasey, who was not willing to go public with her accusation until this past weekend.... Mr. Trump, who has been uncharacteristically restrained about the matter in his public statements and on Twitter, said he felt 'terribly' for Judge Kavanaugh and did not address his feelings about the alleged victim, Dr. Blasey, to whom he referred as 'the woman.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Wow! See how compassionate & even-handed Trump can pretend to be. Never mind that his fake compassion is for a man who has been accused of sexual assault; Trump says the guy has an "impeccable record." One does feel a certain awe for a party that manages in one fell swoop to sully all three branches of government. ...

... Gabriel Sherman of Vanity Fair: "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. Another reason Trump hasn't gone to the mat for Kavanaugh is that he's said to be suspicious of Kavanaugh's establishment pedigree. '"He's a Bush guy, why would I put myself out there defending him?"' Trump told people, according to a former White House official briefed on the conversations. Trump also has expressed frustration with White House counsel Don McGahn, who aggressively lobbied for him to choose Kavanaugh, a source said. 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.'"...

... MEANWHILE. Daniel Lippman of Politico: "Former President George W. Bush is standing by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.... Bush told Politico in a statement on Tuesday: 'Laura and I have known and respected Brett Kavanaugh for decades, and we stand by our comments the night Judge Kavanaugh was nominated.'" ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Trump said Tuesday the FBI doesn't want to investigate sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. 'I don't think the FBI really should be involved because they don't want to be involved,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Poland's president. Trump said he hasn't spoken to his pick for the Supreme Court since Sunday, when The Washington Post published Christine Blasey Ford's allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her during a high school party in the 1980s. Trump indicated that he has made a point not to speak with Kavanaugh because he expected to be asked about any conversations with the judge." Mrs. McC: Funny how he wants "complete transparency" of secret investigative documents regarding his own case, even at the expense of national security & possibly the very lives of informants, but when it comes to charges of sexual abuse by a privileged white man, nothing doing. ...

... Pema Levy of Mother Jones: "In April 2014, Kavanaugh gave a speech to the Yale Law School Federalist Society in which he recalled drinking and partying in law school. The speech recalls innocent hijinks, but in light of the accusations now leveled against him, they provide context to Kavanaugh's partying, though they happened several years after the alleged attack would have taken place." Levy provides excerpts of the speech. ...

... Matt Stevens of the New York Times: "Christine Blasey Ford's claims that Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers while he was drunk have drawn attention to a speech he gave four years ago in which he discussed heavy drinking at Yale Law School -- and to an offhand remark about his high school days that he made during another speech.... In one episode, he described taking a bus with his classmates to Boston for a Red Sox game and a night of barhopping, which ended with the students 'falling out of the bus onto the front steps of Yale Law School at about 4:45 a.m.'" Kavanaugh also described another such incident in the same speech. And Stevens reports on the March 2015 speech in which Kavanaugh laughed off his Georgetown Prep capers. Mrs. McC: Not only do his recent remarks back up one aspect of Blasey Ford's account -- that Kavanaugh was a heavy drinker -- but they suggest he has not changed his views on that. He still thinks it's funny. What about now? Does he still binge-drink? Will a senator ask him about that? ...

... The Other Reluctant Witness. Elana Schor, et al., of Politico: "A key witness in Ford's decades-old allegation, Kavanaugh's high school classmate Mark Judge, said Tuesday he would prefer not to testify. Judge, who Ford says was the third person in the room when Kavanaugh assaulted her, said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee that 'I have no more information to offer the committee and I do not wish to speak publicly regarding the incidents.'... GOP lawmakers are vowing to proceed regardless [of whether or not Ford appears] on Monday, as Democrats slam what they describe as a rushed process designed to push Kavanaugh through to confirmation." ...

... John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "The No. 2 Republican in the Senate on Tuesday sharply questioned the credibility of the woman who has accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, as GOP leaders indicated they will limit witnesses at next week's hearing to just the Supreme Court nominee and his accuser. Speaking to reporters, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said..., 'The problem is, Dr. Ford can't remember when it was, where it was, or how it came to be,' Cornyn told reporters at the Capitol late Tuesday morning. When asked whether he was questioning the accuser's account -- which Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied — Cornyn said, 'There are some gaps there that need to be filled.' His comments came shortly after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) outlined a plan to limit testimony at Monday's planned hearing to that provided by Kavanaugh and Ford -- which brought cries of protest from Democrats. They insisted that other witnesses also be called, including Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ford said witnessed the assault." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Blasey Ford Told Her Story to a Friend in 2017. Julia Sulek of the Mercury News: "In an interview Monday with this news organization, [Rebecca] White..., one of Blasey Ford's neighbors and a good friend..., 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.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Since Sen. Upchuck Grossly won't allow other witnesses to come forward, I sure hope Democrats bring up White's attestation during the hearing Monday -- if there is a hearing Monday. ...

... No, It's Not a "He Said/She Said." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... Georgetown University law professor David Super notes, federal law explicitly says these previous statements are not regarded as hearsay, or unreliable, when they are used 'to rebut an express or implied charge that the declarant recently fabricated it or acted from a recent improper influence or motive in so testifying.' That's exactly what Republicans are implying -- often gently and without expressly calling Ford a liar. 'Calling it "he said, she said" implies that both accounts are uncorroborated,' Super said. 'But these prior consistent statements are corroboration. And with so many complaining about the lateness of the charges, they are at least implying recent fabrication. That makes her prior consistent statements not hearsay. Even a court would consider them.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mimi Rocah & four other former federal prosecutors make the same point in an NBC News opinion piece: "... prosecutors look for corroborating evidence -- and there are strong indications already that Ford is telling the truth about her attack.... A Senate hearing, if it indeed occurs, is not enough.... Rather, there must be a thorough, unrushed investigation by the FBI or by another independent investigator and a full and fair public hearing, including all relevant witnesses and not just Kavanaugh and his accuser.... There is no legitimate reason to rush a confirmation vote. Confirming Kavanaugh under the current circumstances would undermine both his legitimacy and the integrity of the Supreme Court." ...

... Brian Beutler of Crooked: "Facing the real prospect that their long-sought fifth anti-abortion Supreme Court justice might go unseated, and President Trump's growing legal exposure, the Republican Party is charging into election season with a two-fronted disinformation campaign, in a desperate effort to salvage conservative control not just of the Court, but of Congress and the White House as well. Specifically, they are maximizing confusion about whether Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a 15 year old girl when he and she were both high school students, and about the legitimacy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. And they are advancing both goals with naked abuses of power. In the Senate, Republicans believe the path to confirming Kavanaugh now runs through preventing the public from reaching consensus about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school.... Trump has ordered the Justice Department and the Director of National Intelligence to breach Mueller's investigation by declassifying and disclosing sensitive counterintelligence information...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)


Margaret Hartmann of New York: "While President Trump declassifying documents 'at the request of a number of committees of Congress, and for reasons of transparency,' may sound like routine presidential behavior, the directive announced by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday afternoon was actually a dramatic escalation of his attempts to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller.... This is the first time a president has released information about an ongoing investigation into members of his campaign and administration over the objections of intelligence officials.... The materials won't immediately be made public. In a classic Trumpian move, the administration made the announcement before giving the Justice Department specific instructions about what it's supposed to release, according to the Washington Post. The department responded with a statement saying it will review the information to ensure it doesn't release anything that would put 'national security interests' at risk." (Also linked yesterday.)

Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Nearly a dozen lawyers now assist President Trump in contending with two federal investigations, one in Washington and one in New York, that could pose serious threats to his presidency and his businesses. But the expanding legal team is struggling to understand where the investigations could be headed and the extent of Mr. Trump's legal exposure. The lawyers have only a limited sense of what many witnesses -- including senior administration officials and the president's business associates -- have told investigators and what the Justice Department plans to do with any incriminating information it has about Mr. Trump, according to interviews with more than a dozen people close to the president. 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "In a tell-all memoir, the pornographic actor Stormy Daniels details salacious descriptions of her time with Donald Trump, wonders if he is fit to be president and claims he offered to cheat for her in his reality TV show.... [Mrs. McC: Sorry, I'm going there:] She describes Trump's penis as 'smaller than average' but 'not freakishly small'. 'He knows he has an unusual penis,' Daniels writes. 'It has a huge mushroom head. Like a toadstool.... I lay there, annoyed that I was getting fucked by a guy with Yeti pubes and a dick like the mushroom character in Mario Kart.... It may have been the least impressive sex I'd ever had, but clearly, he didn't share that opinion.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Paul Sonne & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "After months of pushing for a permanent U.S. military presence in Poland as a bulwark against Russia, the Polish president offered President Trump a new incentive tailored to his real estate sensibilities: naming rights. 'I would very much like for us to set up a permanent base in Poland, which we would call Fort Trump,' Polish President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday in a joint news conference at the White House.... Trump smirked and raised his right eyebrow before pursing his lips as he appeared to consider the possibility of an American military base in Poland emblazoned with his name. Though the Polish president's naming proposal appeared to be in jest, Trump said Poland was willing to make a 'very major' contribution if the United States were to establish a permanent military presence in the nation."

Trump's War on Christmas. Jim Tankersley & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The Trump administration seems confident that consumers will not feel pain from its escalating trade war with China. 'Because it's spread over thousands and thousands of products, nobody's going to actually notice it at the end of the day,' Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Tuesday, when asked about the administration’s latest round of tariffs on Chinese imports. But a pain-free trade war with China is nearly impossible. For American consumers, prices have already risen on some products that the administration targeted for tariffs this year -- most notably, washing machines, which were subjected to steep tariffs in January.... Tariffs on thousands of products are 'death by a thousand cuts,' said David French, the senior vice president for government relations for the National Retail Federation, which opposes the administration's approach. 'In the aggregate, household budgets will feel the impact.'... The initial effect of the new $200 billion round of tariffs will be felt just ahead of the holiday shopping season in the United States, when Americans will be looking to stock up on gifts."

Our Most Incompetent President Ever. Jonathan Chait: "President Trump frequently posts short videos online of him attempting to appear presidential -- i.e. he is shot with professional lighting, he discusses the kinds of normal subjects presidents customarily address, he is not engaging in obstruction of justice at that very moment, etc. Unfortunately, Trump subverts the effect by declining to use any kind of script for his appearances. Even a polished, articulate speaker would struggle in such circumstances, and Trump is comically inarticulate. 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." Read on for more laughs.

"The Trump Administration Gives the World One More Reason to Lose Faith in America. Washington Post Editors: "Another milestone in America's retreat from global leadership passed Monday when the Trump administration announced that it will cap refugee admissions next year at 30,000, by far the lowest ceiling since the current program was established in 1980. The total is just over a third of the number admitted in 2016, the last year of the Obama administration. Judging from the current year, even that paltry goal may overstate actual admissions, as officials use bureaucratic means to cripple the program. In announcing this abdication, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it should not be misread as 'the sole barometer of America's commitment to vulnerable people around the world.' That's a fair point. A 'barometer' would include a raft of other programs and initiatives the administration has used to intimidate, deter, remove, oppress and, in some cases, terrify other groups of vulnerable migrants, including many who aspire to enter this country or who are already here: Thousands of Central American parents and children forcibly separated as a means of dissuading their compatriots who might follow."

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The Senate on Tuesday passed a short-term spending bill that would keep the government running through Dec. 7, aiming to avert a government shutdown and put off a fight over funding for President Trump's border wall until after the midterm elections. The short-term bill came attached to a massive budget package containing full-year 2019 funding for the Pentagon as well as for the Labor, Education and Health and Human Services departments. GOP leaders designed the package to combine key Republican and Democratic priorities in an attempt to garner overwhelming bipartisan support. The package also aims to satisfy Trump's desire for more military spending. The 93-to-7 vote came less than two weeks ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline when government funding will expire unless Congress and Trump intervene.... The House is expected to take up the bill next week, but it remains uncertain whether Trump would sign the measure."

Michelle Lee & Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Advocacy groups pouring money into independent campaigns to impact this fall's midterm races must disclose many of their political donors beginning this week after the Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in a long-running case. The high court did not grant an emergency request to stay a ruling by a federal judge in Washington who had thrown out a decades-old Federal Election Commission regulation allowing nonprofit groups to keep their donors secret unless they had earmarked their money for certain purposes. With less than 50 days before this fall’s congressional elections, the ruling has far-reaching consequences that could curtail the ability of major political players to raise money and force the disclosure of some of the country's wealthiest donors.... The ruling last month by Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell will be challenged on appeal. But in the immediate, the decision forces major groups on the left and the right to scramble and reassess how they plan to finance their fall campaigns."

Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: "Four men who were repeatedly sexually abused as children by a religion teacher at a Catholic church in Brooklyn received a $27.5 million settlement from the Diocese of Brooklyn on Tuesday, in one of the largest settlements ever awarded to individual victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. The settlement comes two weeks after the New York State attorney general announced a statewide civil investigation into sex abuse within the Catholic Church and its cover-up by church leaders."

News Lede

New York Times: The Carolinas contend with the second "500-year-flood" in two years.

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Monday
Sep172018

The Commentariat -- September 18, 2018

Afternoon Update:

John Wagner, et al., of the Washington Post: "The No. 2 Republican in the Senate on Tuesday sharply questioned the credibility of the woman who has accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, as GOP leaders indicated they will limit witnesses at next week's hearing to just the Supreme Court nominee and his accuser. Speaking to reporters, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said..., 'The problem is, Dr. Ford can't remember when it was, where it was, or how it came to be,' Cornyn told reporters at the Capitol late Tuesday morning. When asked whether he was questioning the accuser's account -- which Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied -- Cornyn said, 'There are some gaps there that need to be filled.' His comments came shortly after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) outlined a plan to limit testimony at Monday's planned hearing to that provided by Kavanaugh and Ford -- which brought cries of protest from Democrats. They insisted that other witnesses also be called, including Mark Judge, a Kavanaugh friend who Ford said witnessed the assault." ...

... Elana Schor, et al., of Politico: "The woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her decades ago has not yet confirmed her appearance at a public hearing the GOP is planning next week as of midday Tuesday, according to top Republican senators. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that his staff has reached out to Christine Blasey Ford's camp several times since the California-based professor came forward with her story of a high-school-era assault by ... Donald Trump's high court pick. Although Ford's lawyer said that her client would be open to 'a fair proceeding,' it remains unclear whether she would agree to a planned hearing on Sept. 24 that Republicans have set up to help save Kavanaugh's nomination." ...

... Blasey Ford Told Her Story to a Friend in 2017. Julia Sulek of the Mercury News: "In an interview Monday with this news organization, [Rebecca] White..., one of Blasey Ford's neighbors and a good friend..., 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.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Since Sen. Upchuck Grossly won't allow other witnesses to come forward, I sure hope Democrats bring up White's attestation during the hearing Monday -- if there is a hearing Monday. ...

... No, It's Not a "He Said/She Said." Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... Georgetown University law professor David Super notes, federal law explicitly says these previous statements are not regarded as hearsay, or unreliable, when they are used 'to rebut an express or implied charge that the declarant recently fabricated it or acted from a recent improper influence or motive in so testifying.' That's exactly what Republicans are implying -- often gently and without expressly calling Ford a liar. 'Calling it "he said, she said" implies that both accounts are uncorroborated,' Super said. 'But these prior consistent statements are corroboration. And with so many complaining about the lateness of the charges, they are at least implying recent fabrication. That makes her prior consistent statements not hearsay. Even a court would consider them.'" ...

... Brian Beutler of Crooked: "Facing the real prospect that their long-sought fifth anti-abortion Supreme Court justice might go unseated, and President Trump's growing legal exposure, the Republican Party is charging into election season with a two-fronted disinformation campaign, in a desperate effort to salvage conservative control not just of the Court, but of Congress and the White House as well. Specifically, they are maximizing confusion about whether Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a 15 year old girl when he and she were both high school students, and about the legitimacy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. And they are advancing both goals with naked abuses of power. In the Senate, Republicans believe the path to confirming Kavanaugh now runs through preventing the public from reaching consensus about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's allegation that Kavanaugh assaulted her in high school.... Trump has ordered the Justice Department and the Director of National Intelligence to breach Mueller's investigation by declassifying and disclosing sensitive counterintelligence information...."

Margaret Hartmann of New York: "While President Trump declassifying documents 'at the request of a number of committees of Congress, and for reasons of transparency,' may sound like routine presidential behavior, the directive announced by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday afternoon was actually a dramatic escalation of his attempts to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller.... This is the first time a president has released information about an ongoing investigation into members of his campaign and administration over the objections of intelligence officials.... The materials won't immediately be made public. In a classic Trumpian move, the administration made the announcement before giving the Justice Department specific instructions about what it's supposed to release, according to the Washington Post. The department responded with a statement saying it will review the information to ensure it doesn't release anything that would put 'national security interests' at risk."

Maggie Haberman & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Nearly a dozen lawyers now assist President Trump in contending with two federal investigations, one in Washington and one in New York, that could pose serious threats to his presidency and his businesses. But the expanding legal team is struggling to understand where the investigations could be headed and the extent of Mr. Trump's legal exposure. The lawyers have only a limited sense of what many witnesses -- including senior administration officials and the president's business associates -- have told investigators and what the Justice Department plans to do with any incriminating information it has about Mr. Trump, according to interviews with more than a dozen people close to the president. 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."

Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "In a tell-all memoir, the pornographic actor Stormy Daniels details salacious descriptions of her time with Donald Trump, wonders if he is fit to be president and claims he offered to cheat for her in his reality TV show.... [Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, I'm going there:] She describes Trump's penis as 'smaller than average' but 'not freakishly small'. 'He knows he has an unusual penis,' Daniels writes. 'It has a huge mushroom head. Like a toadstool.... I lay there, annoyed that I was getting fucked by a guy with Yeti pubes and a dick like the mushroom character in Mario Kart.... It may have been the least impressive sex I'd ever had, but clearly, he didn.t share that opinion.'"

*****

Anita Hill in a New York Times op-ed on how to get the Kavanaugh hearing right. ...

... Sheryl Stolberg & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, under mounting pressure from senators of his own party, will call ... Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of sexual assault before the committee on Monday for extraordinary public hearings just weeks before the midterm elections. Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, told reporters Monday afternoon that the chairman, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, told senators there would be an 'opportunity' for senators to hear from Judge Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, in a public setting where senators would be able to ask questions. Both have said they are willing to testify.... [The move] effectively delay[ed] a planned committee vote on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination, which had been scheduled for this Thursday.... Mr. Trump on Monday vigorously defended his nominee, calling him an 'outstanding' judge with an unblemished record, and dismissing as 'ridiculous' the prospect that Judge Kavanaugh might withdraw his nomination. Nevertheless, he told reporters that he was willing to accept a delay in the judge's path to confirmation in order to air the new information.... Senator Susan Collins of Maine ... told reporters that if Judge Kavanaugh lied, it would disqualify him." ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Sen. Orrin Hatch (Troglodyte-Utah) told reporters he does not believe Ford. He said, "this woman, whoever she is, is mixed up." ...

... Babysitting Donald. Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump’s routine reaction to allegations of sexual assault is to deny, retaliate and repeat. He has dismissed accusations against himself as 'phony' and 'false,' and when presented with claims against other men, the #MeToo-era president tends to side instinctually with the accused. But in the case of federal judge Brett M. Kavanaugh -- whose Supreme Court nomination is suddenly endangered after a woman accused him of sexual assault when they were in high school -- Trump on Monday was uncharacteristically muted. White House aides said they persuaded the president to refrain from tweeting a defense of Kavanaugh in the accusation's immediate aftermath and deliberately worked to keep him from meeting personally with the nominee, even though the two men spent most of the day in proximity. Kavanaugh was hunkered down in the West Wing office of White House Counsel Donald McGahn, strategizing to save his nomination and calling senators to deny the claim against him.... Trump's advisers calmed him by giving him space to vent privately about Senate Democrats...." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: The best part of the story is how Mitch McConnell was all upset that no one in the White House had briefed Fox "News" on the messaging the Trump network should push. I'd say the message is "I'll dump Brett in a New York minute if that's what works best for me." ...

... Chris Strohm & Shannon Pettypiece of Bloomberg: "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...." ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "Although neither the conservative federal judge nor the White House has given any indication that Kavanaugh intends to drop out, the path to his confirmation now looks much more challenging, and it is one that contains great peril for the Republican Party.... The real question is: Will the White House and Republican leaders actually allow a potentially sensational set of hearings, with all the political risks that would entail, just weeks before the midterm elections in which they are already struggling mightily to attract women's votes in key suburban districts? Or will they decide to cut their losses and withdraw the Kavanaugh nomination? We'll find out soon." --safari ...

... ** There's More. Ryan Grim of The Intercept: "The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee were both approached in July by an attorney claiming to have information relevant to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The attorney claimed in his letter that multiple employees of the federal judiciary would be willing to speak to investigators, but received no reply to multiple attempts to make contact, he told The Intercept. Cyrus Sanai made his first attempt to reach out to Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in a letter dated July 24.... Sanai said that he did not hold Kavanaugh responsible for Kozinski's behavior, but rather that his claim of ignorance was not credible and could be contradicted by witnesses." Read on. --safari...

... ** Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "This will be a story about Alex Kozinski, the disgraced former federal judge that Supreme Court nominee for whom Brett Kavanaugh clerked. Yet it is also a story about Kavanaugh himself. It is a story about Kavanuagh's repeated denials that he ever witnessed Kozinski 'engaging in inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature.' It's a story about why these denials are almost certainly lies.... 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." --safari ...

     ... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: To read Grim & Millhiser is to know that the Liar-in-Chief has nominated another practiced liar to the Supreme Court. There cannot be any question about it. Brett Kavanaugh has no moral compass, and his false sworn testimony is all the evidence necessary to disqualify him from the job he holds now & the one he aspires to hold. ...

... Mark Stern of Slate: "It is entirely reasonable to feel uncomfortable holding 17-year-olds strictly liable for their misdeeds for the rest of their lives. Fortunately, that is not what's happening here, which makes this argument around age a red herring. Kavanaugh is not asking for absolution; he is denying Ford's allegations outright. The real question, then, is ... whether he is telling the truth about those actions all these years later.... It is perfectly consistent to believe that nobody's life should be ruined for committing a crime at age 17 -- and that any adult who lies about that crime should not be elevated to the Supreme Court. Rejecting Kavanaugh's confirmation on this basis wouldn't be dolling it punishment, but rather withholding a privilege." ...

... Charles Pierce: "The Categorical Denial is a two-edged sword, which is why politicians and those nominated for seats on the Supreme Court avoid the Categorical Denial.... Throughout his hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Brett Kavanaugh ... managed to dodge the Categorical Denial. He was not as slick at it as was Neil Gorsuch. He stammered and blathered and came off like someone who hadn't learned his lines very well.... Here's the thing about Categorical Denials.... If you're mistaken, or you've forgotten, or you did it but you were too sockless hammered to recall the events, you're just as done as if you were flat-out lying about the whole matter.... Brett Kavanaugh is standing by his Categorical Denial because that's another thing about Categorical Denials. You can't walk them back." ...

... What Mazie Knew. Mrs. McCrabbie: Pierce -- not to mention Grim & Millhiser -- reminds me that this is more out there on Kavanaugh: "The strange questions from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse about gambling. And a line of inquiry from Senator Maizie Hirono...: '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?'... All of these curious questions were a direct result of those documents that the committee members have seen that are nonetheless kept secret from the rest of us. They know what's in there, and Kavanaugh knows that they know, but they can only vaguely hint at the material in open session.... Kavanaugh took full advantage of the protection this policy offered him." Maybe this week's delay will give reporters a chance to ferret out some of the stories behind the "curious questions." ...

... I'll See Your 65 & Raise You 200. Amanda Terkel & Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post: "A group of women who went to Christine Blasey Ford's high school are circulating a letter to show support for the woman who has alleged that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh tried to sexually assault her while they were in high school. 'We believe Dr. Blasey Ford and are grateful that she came forward to tell her story,' says a draft letter from alumnae of Holton-Arms, a private girls school in Bethesda, Maryland.... The women also say that what Ford is alleging 'is all too consistent with stories we heard and lived while attending Holton. Many of us are survivors ourselves.'... More than 200 women had signed the letter as of late Monday morning, said Sarah Burgess, a member of the class of 2005. Burgess said she and some of her schoolmates wrote the letter because hearing Ford's story felt 'personal.'... Susanna Jones, the Holton-Arms head of school, put out a statement Sunday night in support of Ford. 'In these cases, it is imperative that all voices are heard,' Jones said. 'As a school that empowers women to use their voices, we are proud of this alumna for using hers.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ariane de Vogue & Eli Watkins of CNN: "... Brett Kavanaugh said Monday that he would be willing to speak with lawmakers to refute an allegation of physical and sexual assault.... Kavanaugh's statement came shortly after his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, said through her attorney that she would be willing to speak with Congress to tell her side of the story.... According to multiple sources, Kavanaugh has hired Beth Wilkinson, of the law firm Wilkinson Walsh and Eskovitz, to be his attorney.... Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins, one of the chamber's most closely watched votes, said on Twitter that she wanted both Ford and Kavanaugh to testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... John Wagner & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement early Monday afternoon that Ford 'deserves to be heard' but stopped short of committing to a public airing that would likely force a delay of a planned committee vote on Thursday.... Democrats are insisting that the FBI handle the matter by reopening Kavanaugh's background investigation rather having committee staff make calls.... Underscoring the uncertainty Kavanaugh faces, four senators considered swing votes on the nomination issued statements Monday calling for a thorough review of the allegations by Ford, a professor in California": Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) & Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Megan Garber of The Atlantic: "What [Christine Blasey] Ford is talking about -- what she has been talking about, for years -- is not the behavior of kids simply being kids, boys simply being boys. What she is alleging, instead, is cruelty; it is entitlement; it is violence; it is assault.... Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court was already, in the profoundest of ways, a matter of norms: It will determine, almost inevitably, whether the women of America maintain autonomy over their bodies. Here, though, in Christine Blasey Ford's claim that a young Brett Kavanaugh compromised her autonomy in another way, another norm is being litigated: the way we talk about sexual violence. Whether such violence will be considered an outrage, or simply a sad inevitability. Whether it will be treated as morally intolerable ... or as something that, boys being boys and men being men, just happens." ...

... Paul Krugman: "The very process that brought Kavanaugh to the brink of a lifetime Supreme Court appointment was saturated in bad faith.... Republicans wouldn't even give President Barack Obama's nominee a hearing, claiming that because Obama was late in his second term the process should wait, leaving a court seat vacant for more than a year, to let voters weigh in.... Why the rush [now]? Because there's a chance the G.O.P. will lose the Senate soon. That whole thing about letting the voters have their say was dishonest from the beginning.... Bad faith takes a moral toll on Republican politicians, too. We keep seeing people who once appeared to have some sense of decency turn into abject apparatchiks.... Instead of attacking those activists back in Maine, [Susan Collins] should be thanking them, for giving her one last chance to save her political soul." ...

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "Over the years, Republicans have reminded women over and over again that they don't take sexual assault seriously. Regardless of what you think about Brett Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford's allegations, we're getting a good reminder of the fact that they still don't.... What we are about to witness when it comes to Kavanaugh is a lot of pearl-clutching that is not only dismissive of the trauma of sexual assault, it is about how boys make 'mistakes' when they're young and grow up to be men of fine character. The problem is that all too often that kind of compassion is only extended to white boys who went to fancy prep schools." ...

... What Republicans Mean by "Law & Order." Eric Levitz: "In the United States, juvenile drug offenders are routinely tried as adults, 13-year-old murderers can be (and have been) sentenced to life without parole, and teenagers who text naked pictures of themselves regularly get arrested for child pornography, and forced to spend the rest of their lives as registered sex offenders.... The American right played a central role in bringing [these laws] into being.... The president regularly refers to teenage gang members as 'animals,' and has, in the past, called for imposing the death penalty on alleged teen rapists. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, meanwhile, has actively made the criminal justice system more punitive toward juvenile offenders.... But in the past 24 hours, the right's thinking on juvenile justice appears to have radically changed: Where conservatives once believed that people who commit violent crimes as teenagers do not necessarily deserve the opportunity to ever reenter free society, many now contend that such people should not (necessarily) be denied the chance to serve on the nation's highest court.... One 'outside Trump adviser,'... suggested that Kavanaugh's behavior was such a relatable example of boys beings boys, Democrats could suffer politically for stigmatizing it.... [But it seems likely] that conservatives are merely clarifying, yet again, that 'law and order' means 'using the law to reinforce a social order that protects those at the top of class, race, and gender hierarchies, while suppressing those at the bottom.'" ...

... Michelle Goldberg: "If the Kavanaugh nomination goes forward, it's because Trump and his allies believe that a certain class of men accused of sexual assault deserve impunity. The question now is whether any Republican senators believe otherwise." ...

... Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel: "I'm all in favor of having [Christine Blasey] Ford testify. After all, Brett Kavanaugh thinks a 17-year old must jump through extraordinary hoops before she can terminate an unwanted pregnancy; surely he thinks young men should similarly bear the consequences of their actions? But she shouldn't testify alone. Mark Judge should testify along with her. After all, according to her letter and the WaPo account, he was a witness to the event.... And while he currently claims he doesn't recall the event, she says that the one time they crossed paths afterwards, he exhibited discomfort upon seeing her.... Virtually all the people attacking Ford's story are utterly silent on Judge's presence as a witness. I suspect that's because both his own descriptions of his social life at the time, and his professed inability to recall the event, might suggest that Kavanaugh, too, was simply too drunk to remember this attempted rape." --safari

... Here's what "Kavanaugh character witness" Mark Judge wrote in the Washingtonian about his family's reaction to his 1997 memoir, and what his brother Michael Judge wrote in response. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Were You Wondering What Donnie Jr. Thinks about All This? Tasneem Nashrulla of BuzzFeed News: "Donald Trump Jr. posted an image on his Instagram account that appeared to mock the woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by the president's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.... The image — titled 'Judge Kavanaughs sexual assault letter found by Dems...' -- was that of a note scrawled in childish handwriting which read, 'Hi Cindy will you be my girlfreind [sic]?" The note had two checkboxes marked 'yes' and 'no' and was signed 'Love Bret [sic].' In his Instagram caption, Trump Jr. wrote: 'Oh boy... the Dems and their usual nonsense games really have him on the ropes now. Finestein [sic] had the letter in July and saved it for the eve of his vote... honorable as always. I believe this is a copy for full transparency.'" Mrs. McC: Besides three misspellings in this short but grate wirk of litterchur, Donnie calls the recipient of the letter "Cindy," which is not a common nickname for "Christine." The nut doesn't fall far from the tree. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... MEANWHILE. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "Right-wing media personality Matt Drudge on Monday completely crashed and burned in his latest attempt to smear Christine Blasey Ford.... Specifically, Drudge promoted an article at Grabien News claiming to show that Ford got poor ratings from her students, some of whom purportedly described her as having a 'dark personality' on the Rate My Professors website.... In fact, the RateMyProfessors page refers to a Christine A. Ford, who taught at the social work department at California State University Fullerton, and who actually received only five reviews -- two of which rated her as 'awesome,' two of which rated her as 'average,' and only one of which rated her as 'awful.' Christine Blasey Ford, meanwhile, is a professor of clinical psychology at Palo Alto University who has never worked at Fullerton. In addition to Drudge, Trump-loving conservative pundits Mark Levin and Kurt Schlichter also shared the false claim that Ford's students gave her extremely negative ratings on RateMyProfessors." Mrs. McC: Grabien has since retracted its fake story.

** Warning. Ian Millhiser: "'People don't have to believe in the judiciary,' Justice Elena Kagan warned at an event styled as a conversation between her and Slate's Dahlia Lithwick. 'You can lose that belief,' the justice warned. And then she made what may be her most important point -- that it is up to Supreme Court itself to prevent this outcome. 'I think that, on the Court, it's incumbent upon us to be aware of that,' Kagan said. 'And to not do the things that where people will reject the Court and say, you know, we don't view it as legitimate anymore.'.... Such a public and explicit warning that the Court may be an imminent threat to its own legitimacy is unusual from any justice, but it is especially alarming from Justice Kagan. As dean of Harvard Law School, Kagan earned praise from conservatives for brokering a compromise between liberal and conservative factions within her faculty that led to three prominent conservatives being hired. She is widely viewed as one of the Court's deal-makers. --safari ...

... Matt Ford of the New Republic: "The Supreme Court's only real power is its legitimacy in the eyes of the American public, and forcing through another justice who's been accused of sexual misconduct is a surefire way to damage it. The Senate, meanwhile, could claim that voters gave them a mandate in 2016 to confirm judges like Kavanaugh, but the message it would send to many Americans is that women's traumatic stories still don't matter to them."


Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump on Monday ordered the Justice Department to declassify significant materials from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, threatening to spur a high-stakes showdown with federal law enforcement officials resistant to publicizing information from an ongoing probe. In a statement, the White House said Trump was ordering the department to immediately declassify portions of the secret court order to monitor former campaign adviser Carter Page, along with all interviews they conducted as officials applied for the order. Trump also instructed the department to publicly released the unredacted text messages of several former high-level Justice Department and FBI officials, including former FBI director James B. Comey and deputy director Andrew McCabe. For months, conservative lawmakers have been calling on the department to release Russia-related and other materials, many of them believing law enforcement was hiding information that might discredit the investigation now led by ... Robert S. Mueller III." ...

... Sonam Sheth of Business Insider: "Adam Schiff, the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, slammed ... Donald Trump's decision Monday to order the release of a slew of sensitive documents related to the Russia investigation.... Schiff called the president's move a 'clear abuse of power' meant to 'intervene in a pending law enforcement investigation by ordering the selective release of materials he believes are helpful to his defense team and thinks will advance a false narrative.' Schiff also revealed that the FBI and DOJ had previously told him that they would consider the release of some of the materials Trump wants declassified a 'red line that must not be crossed as they may compromise sources and methods.'" Schiff said on MSNBC that top officials should resign if Trump releases the sensitive documents.

Useful Idiots. Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast: "[B]efore Manafort enters a new phase of his criminal career, Mueller filed a new superseding criminal information document in federal court listing new details of the man in the ostrich skin jacket's infamous political resume.... [O]ne of his tactics ... was to get what Manafort described 'in a contemporaneous communication [as] "[O]bama jews"' to pressure the Obama administration in October 2012. The scheme was to tie [Yulia] Tymoshenko to antisemitism through association. Manafort got 'a senior Israeli government official to issue a written statement publicizing this story.' That's a reference to a statement from then-Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, a hardliner who is now defense minister.... The story was published by Ben Shapiro at Breitbart[.]" --safari ...

... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Special counsel Robert Mueller's Friday plea agreement with Paul Manafort took unusual and possibly unprecedented steps to undercut President Donald Trump's ability to pardon his former campaign chairman. The plea deal Mueller struck with the former Trump campaign chairman contains several provisions that appear intended to discourage the former Trump aide both from seeking a pardon and to rein in the impact of any pardon Trump might grant. Legal experts with sweeping views of executive power and attorneys who advocate for broad use of clemency criticized what they call an effort by Mueller's team to tie the president's hands." --safari

Tom Winter & Adiel Kaplan of NBC News: "Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to set a late November sentencing date for ... Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, according to a court document filed Monday by federal prosecutors. In a joint filing to the court, special counsel Robert Mueller's team and Flynn's attorneys requested that sentencing be set for November 28, or any of the following seven business days after that date. Flynn pleaded guilty last December to lying to the FBI about his communications with Russian officials and agreed to cooperate in the special counsel's investigation."


David Lynch & Damian Paletta of the Washington Post: "President Trump threw his biggest punch yet at China, imposing tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese imports and gambling that American consumers are willing to pay more for popular products to wring trade concessions from Beijing. With Monday's announcement, roughly half of the $505 billion in goods that Americans buy annually from Chinese firms will face new import levies. Unlike the $50 billion in Chinese products that Trump hit in the first tariff wave in July -- which fell mainly on industrial goods -- Monday's action will affect consumer products such as air conditioners, spark plugs, furniture and lamps. Starting Sept. 24, American importers will pay an extra 10 percent tariff for the affected items, rising to 25 percent at the end of the year, according to senior administration officials, who briefed reporters on the condition that they not be identified by name. China has vowed to retaliate for the latest U.S. tariffs with new import taxes on $60 billion in American products. If that happens, the president said he would immediately begin the process of approving tariffs on a further $267 billion in Chinese imports — effectively taxing everything Americans buy from China." ...

... Stuart Leavenworth of McClatchy DC: "The tariffs President Trump has slapped on imports from foreign countries -- including duties on $200 billion of Chinese goods announced Monday -- are almost certain to raise costs on homeowners in the Carolinas hoping to rebuild and refurnish after Hurricane Florence. While prices naturally rise after a natural disaster, given the spike in demand for building materials, Trump's trade war has already boosted costs for imported plywood and lumber, which jumped 30 percent in the six months after the Trump administration announced tariffs on Canadian softwood timber in December." --safari

Julie Davis: "President Trump plans to cap the number of refugees that can be resettled in the United States next year at 30,000, his administration announced on Monday, further cutting an already drastically scaled-back program that offers protection to foreigners fleeing violence and persecution.... The number represents the lowest ceiling a president has placed on the refugee program since its creation in 1980, and a reduction of a third from the 45,000-person limit that Mr. Trump set for 2018.... It is ... the culmination of a quiet but successful effort by Stephen Miller, the president's senior policy adviser, to severely restrict the number of refugees offered protection inside the country."

Rebekah Entralago of ThinkProgress: "Some undocumented immigrants living in the United States have received fake documents, ordering them to arrive at the courthouse at midnight, on weekends, or on dates that don't exist, such as September 31, according to a report by The Dallas Morning News.... According to the Morning News, reports of fake court dates have sprung up in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Atlanta, and Miami. Neither the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, nor the Justice Department have offered a clear explanation for why undocumented immigrants are being handed fake court dates." --safari

Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the Senate overwhelmingly passed on Monday evening a sweeping package of bills aimed at addressing the nation's deadly opioid epidemic. The vote was 99 to 1 with only Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) dissenting.... The House passed a similar measure in June, and the two chambers will need to negotiate a few differences before sending the package to Trump's desk."

Election 2018

New York. Shane Goldmacher & Lisa W. Foderaro of the New York Times: "Representative Chris Collins, the New York Republican indicted on insider trading charges last month, reversed course on Monday and planned to announce he would seek another term, according to two Republicans familiar with his plans. Mr. Collins opted to stay on the ballot on the advice of lawyers who said his removal -- a Byzantine procedure governed by New York's complex election laws -- would most likely face a Democratic lawsuit, and would muddle the election for his replacement, ultimately leaving the Western New York seat vulnerable to Democrats, according to one of the Republicans." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)"


E.A. Crunden of ThinkProgress: "A second breach was reported at a coal ash landfill site in North Carolina on Monday according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the latest impact from Hurricane Florence's heavy rains. That update comes amid a state of emergency declared at a nuclear power plant overseen by the landfill's operator, Duke Energy, as the extent of the damage from Florence — now a tropical depression — slowly becomes apparent.... Coal ash ... landfill sites can contain toxic mercury, arsenic and lead, among others, and pose a danger to human health as well as the environment. The initial breach over the weekend spilled roughly 2,000 cubic yards of coal ash...." --safari

Way Beyond the Beltway

AFP: "Germany has rolled out the world's first hydrogen-powered train, signalling the start of a push to challenge the might of polluting diesel trains with costlier but more eco-friendly technology. Two bright blue Coradia iLint trains, built by French TGV-maker Alstom, on Monday began running a 62 mile (100km) route...in northern Germany -- a stretch normally plied by diesel trains.... Hydrogen trains are equipped with fuel cells that produce electricity through a combination of hydrogen and oxygen, a process that leaves steam and water as the only emissions. Excess energy is stored in ion lithium batteries on board the train. The Coradia iLint trains can run for about 600 miles (1,000km) on a single tank of hydrogen, similar to the range of diesel trains." --safari

New Lede

Weather Channel: "Hurricane Florence, now a post-tropical cyclone, began its second week of impacts Monday with much of the same -- flooding that cut off entire towns, water rescues in parts of the Carolinas that have been inundated, and more death. The storm is responsible for at least 32 deaths -- 25 in North Carolina, six in South Carolina, and one in Virginia when a building collapsed during a tornado near Richmond on Monday afternoon." ...

... The Weather Channel has numerous Florence-related stories linked on its front page.

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Sunday
Sep162018

The Commentariat -- September 17, 2018

Afternoon Update:

Senate Judiciary will hold a hearing with both Professor Ford and Kavanaugh on Monday. This Thursday's committee vote has been postponed, according to a Republican briefed on the plans. Story TK -- Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times, in a tweet Monday evening ...

... I'll See Your 65 & Raise You 200. Amanda Terkel & Arthur Delaney of the Huffington Post: "A group of women who went to Christine Blasey Ford's high school are circulating a letter to show support for the woman who has alleged that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh tried to sexually assault her while they were in high school. 'We believe Dr. Blasey Ford and are grateful that she came forward to tell her story,' says a draft letter from alumnae of Holton-Arms, a private girls school in Bethesda, Maryland.... The women also say that what Ford is alleging 'is all too consistent with stories we heard and lived while attending Holton. Many of us are survivors ourselves.'... More than 200 women had signed the letter as of late Monday morning, said Sarah Burgess, a member of the class of 2005. Burgess said she and some of her schoolmates wrote the letter because hearing Ford's story felt 'personal.'... Susanna Jones, the Holton-Arms head of school, put out a statement Sunday night in support of Ford. 'In these cases, it is imperative that all voices are heard,' Jones said. 'As a school that empowers women to use their voices, we are proud of this alumna for using hers.'" ...

... Ariane de Vogue & Eli Watkins of CNN: "... Brett Kavanaugh said Monday that he would be willing to speak with lawmakers to refute an allegation of physical and sexual assault by a woman who has come forward publicly with the accusation.... Kavanaugh's statement came shortly after his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, said through her attorney that she would be willing to speak with Congress to tell her side of the story.... According to multiple sources, Kavanaugh has hired Beth Wilkinson, of the law firm Wilkinson Walsh and Eskovitz, to be his attorney.... Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins, one of the chamber's most closely watched votes, said on Twitter that she wanted both Ford and Kavanaugh to testify under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee." ...

... John Wagner & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement early Monday afternoon that Ford 'deserves to be heard' but stopped short of committing to a public airing that would likely force a delay of a planned committee vote on Thursday.... Democrats are insisting that the FBI handle the matter by reopening Kavanaugh’s background investigation rather having committee staff make calls.... Underscoring the uncertainty Kavanaugh faces, four senators considered swing votes on the nomination issued statements Monday calling for a thorough review of the allegations by Ford, a professor in California": Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) & Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). ...

... Were You Wondering What Donnie Jr. Thinks about All This? Tasneem Nashrulla of BuzzFeed News: "Donald Trump Jr. posted an image on his Instagram account that appeared to mock the woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted by the president's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.... The image -- titled 'Judge Kavanaughs sexual assault letter found by Dems...' — was that of a note scrawled in childish handwriting which read, 'Hi Cindy will you be my girlfreind [sic]?" The note had two checkboxes marked 'yes' and 'no' and was signed 'Love Bret [sic].' In his Instagram caption, Trump Jr. wrote: 'Oh boy... the Dems and their usual nonsense games really have him on the ropes now. Finestein [sic] had the letter in July and saved it for the eve of his vote... honorable as always. I believe this is a copy for full transparency.'" Mrs. McC: Besides three misspellings in this short but grate wirk of litterchur, Donnie calls the recipient of the letter "Cindy," which is not a common nickname for "Christine." The nut doesn't fall far from the tree. ...

... Here's what "Kavanaugh character witness" Mark Judge wrote in the Washingtonian about his family's reaction to his 1997 memoir, and what his brother Michael Judge wrote in response.

Shane Goldmacher & Lisa W. Foderaro of the New York Times: "Representative Chris Collins, the New York Republican indicted on insider trading charges last month, reversed course on Monday and planned to announce he would seek another term, according to two Republicans familiar with his plans. Mr. Collins opted to stay on the ballot on the advice of lawyers who said his removal -- a Byzantine procedure governed by New York's complex election laws -- would most likely face a Democratic lawsuit, and would muddle the election for his replacement, ultimately leaving the Western New York seat vulnerable to Democrats, according to one of the Republicans."

*****

John Wagner of the Washinton Post: "A lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who said Judge Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when the two were in high school, said Monday that Ford is willing to testify about the allegations before the Senate Judiciary Committee. 'She is. She's willing to do whatever it takes to get her story forth,' lawyer Debra Katz said on NBC's 'Today' show when asked if her client would speak publicly about President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court.... The White House indicated Monday that it is continuing to stand by Kavanaugh but expects Ford will offer testimony to the Judiciary Committee. 'This woman should not be insulted and should not be ignored,' White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said during an interview on Fox News's 'Fox & Friends.'" ...

... ** Emma Brown of the Washington Post interviews Christine Blasey Ford, a research psychologist affiliated with Stanford University, who says Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape her when they were in high school. She told no one the story in any detail until she discussed it with two therapists, beginning in 2012. Mrs. McC: Either Ford, whose professional name is Christine Blasey, is a loon or a drunken Brett Kavanaugh attacked her while laughing "maniacally" and would not release her. He's either lying about it now or he decided to "forget" the incident. You be the judge, because evidently the Judiciary Committee won't bother. New Rule? -- Attempted rape IOKIYAR? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update. Evidently So. Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "However, Republicans on the committee planned on Sunday afternoon to move forward with a scheduled Thursday vote on the nomination, barring additional corroboration of Ms. Ford's account or the emergence of a new allegation." Mrs. McC: Excuse me? There's already plenty of corroboration: two therapists, the victim's husband & a lie-detector test. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... CNN has published "the text of the letter Christine Blasey Ford wrote to Sen. Dianne Feinstein detailing an event in which she accuses Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. CNN was not provided a copy of the letter sent to Feinstein, but a source who had the letter read the contents of a redacted version to CNN." The letter has been redacted. ...

... Some Cracks in the GOP Wall. Julia Lurie of Mother Jones: "On Sunday afternoon, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he would be open to hearing directly from Christine Blasey Ford, the alleged sexual assault victim of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings.... Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) reportedly told The Washington Post's Sean Sullivan that the Senate Judiciary Committee should not move ahead with the vote on Kavanaugh, scheduled for Thursday, until hearing from Ford." ...

.... UPDATE. One Ringy-Dingy. Two Ringy-Dingies. Chuck Grassley thinks he can fix all this by separately phoning Christine Blasey Ford & Brett Kavanaugh & letting some "aides to top members" listen in. His spokesman is characterizing the phone calls as routine "bipartisan staff calls" that often take place for the purpose of "updating a nominee's background file." Mrs. McC: Good luck, Chuck. How come Chuck hasn't suffocated by now what with his head being in the sand all this time? On the other hand, I suppose Congressional Republicans have become so accustomed to accepting sexual predation that they consider violence, false imprisonment & attempted rape to be "routine." ...

... MEANWHILE. Sean Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House on Sunday stood by Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh after a woman publicly accused him of committing sexual misconduct decades ago, while a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee joined Democrats in urging for a delay in the confirmation process.... 'I've made it clear that I'm not comfortable moving ahead with the vote on Thursday if we have not heard her side of the story or explored this further,' said [Sen. Jeff] Flake [R-Az.], who is one of the committee's 21 members. Republicans hold a 11-to-10 majority on the panel.... The spokesman for committee Republicans, Taylor Foy, issued a lengthy statement vouching for Kavanaugh's integrity and saying it was 'disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35 years ago, during high school, would surface on the eve of a committee vote after Democrats sat on them since July.'... 'To railroad a vote now would be an insult to the women of America and the integrity of the Supreme Court,' Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement." ...

... Slime the Victim. Asawin Suebsaeng, et al., of the Daily Beast: "... the President's team and his allies on and off the Hill began to mount a vigorous defense against the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, questioning why she had identified herself only now, and framing Kavanaugh's alleged antics as almost commonplace in nature." Mrs. McC: Wait, wait. He didn't do it, but he did do it because boys will be boys? That answers my question: IOKIYAR. Just to be clear, extreme violence against a young woman is not an "antic," and it is not "commonplace in nature." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Best part of the report: "Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition told The Daily Beast, that the allegations were 'spurious' and 'false' and 'transparently a desperate, last-minute attempt by Senate Democrats to delay the confirmation of one of the most eminently qualified Supreme Court nominees in modern history.' He did not specify how he determined they were false...." Reed is an unctuous character who made millions off his ties to infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff & tried to hide his ill-gotten gains via pass-throughs.

... Burgess Everett of Politico: "And four people close to the White House said they expected Republicans to question the accuser's vague memories and why Feinstein, up for reelection in November with Democratic base hungry for anti-Trump fodder, sat on the accusation for months. 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. 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.'" ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Nothing like having the self-described sexual-predatory POTUS* attacking a victim of an (alleged) attempted rape right before an election. GOTV. As Sean Sullivan pointed out in the story linked above, "In 1992, outrage over the Senate confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas despite allegations of sexual misconduct from his former colleague Anita Hill, led to the election of dozens of female candidates." ...

     ... Everett's story has been updated to reflect Sen. Jeff Flake's opposition to a Thursday vote. AND "Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is not a member of the committee but whose vote is critical to Kavanaugh's confirmation, similarly said late Sunday that the committee should pause." Mrs. McC: These two senators, both of whom are retiring, would seem to have thwarted Chuck Grassley's plan to ram Kavanaugh through. ...

... Juan Cole: "If the GOP shoehorns Kavanaugh in (even though we are on the cusp of an election and they sidelined Merrick Garland on exactly these grounds) then all Americans will be raped by the elitist political philosophy of Kavanaugh, and half of Americans will lose autonomy over their own bodies to a Federal government in thrall to a religious minority (Evangelicals are now only about 17% of Americans, and anti-abortion Catholics are maybe 12%). Workers will lose the few rights they have left. The US will revert completely to the Robber Baron age of the late nineteenth century, and America will be about as favorable to women's rights as Mauritania, the Philippines and Honduras." --safari ...

... Mark Stern of Slate: "The Senate must pause the confirmation process and hold hearings -- fair hearings that heed the lessons of the Anita Hill disaster, during which senators downplayed Hill's alleged harassment and refused to hear from expert witnesses who could contextualize her experience.... The Senate Judiciary Committee's Republicans issued a statement on Sunday complaining about 'Democrats' tactics and motives,' implicitly questioning Ford's veracity. They appear predictably resistant to delaying the committee vote. It may thus fall on Collins and Murkowski to force their party to treat Ford with respect." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

So, to summarize, a confessed serial sexual predator nominated a man who is credibly accused of attempted rape to be the key vote to strip women of reproductive freedom. -- Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress, in a tweet

... David Atkins of the Washington Monthly: "... a Supreme Court nomination isn't a criminal trial, and an explosive allegation of this nature should instantly derail the confirmation process of a being chosen to preside over the highest court in the country, one that will have enormous power over women's bodies and their fundamental rights. It seems like outrageous hyperbole, but we must confront the dystopian reality. A president credibly accused multiple sexually assaults and who bragged forcibly grabbing women by the genitals without their consent, who was helped into office by a large number of men in powerful media positions who have also been forced out their jobs due to allegations of sexual harassment and assault as well as by the clandestine government services of a nation famous for its misogynistic exploitation of women, is nominating an accused rapist to the Supreme Court with the express intent of eliminating women's right to an abortion and other reproductive health services." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Conservatives continue to treat [Clarence] Thomas as the innocent victim of a smear campaign, despite the voluminous evidence of his guilt that emerged after his confirmation. The most likely outcome is that Republicans would confirm a second probable perpetrator of sexual assault to the high court. On the other hand, it's not hard to imagine other possibilities.... 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.... Republicans may not want spend the run-up to an election litigating an allegation that further defines their Trump-era identity as the party of unbridled male sexual entitlement. But at the moment, a question that appeared closed is suddenly very much open." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... "A Moral Abomination." digby: "I would just remind people who are thinking that Kavanaugh shouldn't be denied a place on the Supreme Court because of things he did in high school, that his professional life hasn't been exactly staid and upright either[.]... He isn't a learned jurist, he's a slash and burn right-wing activist. Drunken, privileged, rich boys are exactly the types they recruited for their dirty work during [the Clinton] period. And he's exactly the type the wingnut cabal that's propping up Trump to get the courts packed would put forth to ensure that their agenda is protected by any means necessary. He's a partisan hitman, not a judge.... He is a professional character assassin who is deeply morally compromised. His cruel and indecent behavior toward Vince Foster's family alone, despite knowing that it was wrong, disqualified him. This latest revelation just reinforces what we already know. He is a moral abomination who has no place on the court." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Saturday fired his first salvo against special counsel Robert Mueller since former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort entered a plea deal with the Russia probe's federal prosecutors. 'While my (our) poll numbers are good, with the Economy being the best ever, if it weren't for the Rigged Russian Witch Hunt, they would be 25 points higher!' Trump tweeted. 'Highly conflicted Bob Mueller & the 17 Angry Democrats are using this Phony issue to hurt us in the Midterms. No Collusion!' Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani also broke his silence on Manafort's intended guilty plea earlier Saturday, alleging in a tweet that 'sources close to' Manafort's defense team told the former New York mayor that the cooperation agreement 'does not involve the Trump campaign' and that there was 'no collusion with Russia' from within the Trump campaign. Giuliani added: 'Another road travelled by Mueller. Same conclusion: no evidence of collusion President did nothing wrong.'" Mrs. McC: Nothing new here. (Also linked yesterday.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's a similar tweet Trump sent yesterday, but with a few twists: "The illegal Mueller Witch Hunt continues in search of a crime. There was never Collusion with Russia, except by the Clinton campaign, so the 17 Angry Democrats are looking at anything they can find. Very unfair and BAD for the country. ALSO, not allowed under the LAW!" Over & above the It's-All-Hillary's-Fault aside, Trump is declaring the Mueller probe "illegal." This sure seems like a prelude to disbanding it. ...

... Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel: The prosecution's exhibits in Paul Manafort's plea deal are "there to show what Paul Manafort does when he's running a campaign. Because they show that for the decade leading up to running Trump's campaign, Manafort was using the very same sleazy strategy to support Viktor Yanukovych that he used to get Trump elected. In other words, these exhibits are a preview of coming attractions.... The criminal information provided far more detail about something we had only seen snippets of in the Alex Van der Zwaan plea: Manafort's use of Skadden Arps to whitewash Yanukovych's prosecution of Yulia Tymoshenko. It describes how Manafort used cut-outs to place stories claiming his client's female opponent had murdered someone.... And it shows Manafort seeding lies that his client's female opponent had criminal intent when he knew there was no proof to back the claim.... This propaganda effort against Manafort's client's female opponent included placing stories in Breitbart." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Daily Beast: "The amount of cash that has flowed back to the U.S. after Donald Trump's massive tax law overhaul is just 3.5 percent of what the president predicted.... [A]n analysis by The Wall Street Journal shows just $143 billion has been repatriated -- 3.58 percent of Trump's $4 trillion prediction. " --safari

Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Sen. Lindsey Graham confirmed on Sunday 'there was a point in time' when he and ... 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. The South Carolina Republican said that at the time, 'it looked like nothing was going to happen, there was no dialogue going' with North Korea about its nuclear program, adding that 'once you start moving dependents out of South Korea, that is a signal to everybody that we're running out of time.' Graham cautioned on CBS' 'Face the Nation' that 'we're not out of the woods yet when it comes to North Korea,' but he said the Trump administration's renewed diplomatic talks have de-escalated the situation and bought time for denuclearization to be achieved peacefully." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: What could be more comforting than to know Senator War Hawk has the ear of President* Impulsive-Ignoramus?

Hillary Clinton writes a powerful essay, published in the Atlantic, against Trump & what he has wrought. It "was adapted from the afterword of the paperback edition of What Happened, which will be published on September 18."

Ben Kamisar of NBC News: "FEMA Administrator Brock Long Sunday questioned the relevance of independent studies tying thousands of deaths to the aftermath of last September's hurricane in Puerto Rico, echoing ... Donald Trump's criticism of those findings as Florence continues to batter the Carolinas. Appearing on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Long defended the president for his response to Hurricane Maria last year and argued that findings from multiple academic studies were 'all over the place.' 'I think the president is being taken out of context there,' Long said. 'I mean, I talked to the president every day this week, and the secretary of homeland security, and we discuss what we're trying to do as a result of last year.' 'I don't know why the studies were done,' Long said when asked about Trump's claims that the study was 'done by Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Mrs. McCrabbie: You might want to view Long's interview as part of his attempt to keep his job. ...

... "A Smooth Running Machine." William Wan & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "As the Federal Emergency Management Agency heads into peak hurricane season, an internal investigation has imperiled its top official, sparking a growing backlash within the agency where career officials and even some political appointees are worried there is no proven disaster manager on hand to replace him. FEMA Administrator William 'Brock' Long is said to be resisting an effort by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to replace him over his alleged misuse of government vehicles. The feud among senior Trump administration officials surfaced publicly in recent days as FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security raced to prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Florence. The prospect of Long's dismissal has alarmed current and former staff at FEMA and DHS, and it has captured the attention of officials on Capitol Hill, who note that the agency's No. 2 position has been vacant for nearly two years and that Trump's current nominee, Peter Gaynor, still awaits Senate confirmation. Trump's original nominee for the post, Daniel Craig, withdrew from consideration a year ago after reports surfaced that the DHS inspector general found he had falsified work and travel records while working for the George W. Bush administration." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AND in other news about how to persuade Trump:

... Erin Banco of The Daily Beast: "In a series of conversations in July, officials from the U.S., Britain, Italy, and other countries devised plans to overhaul the way they sold the public on staying in the 17-year-long war in Afghanistan.... Several of the meetings focused on what those involved in the discussions viewed as a major hurdle: convincing President Trump to change course in Afghanistan and allow U.S. troops to stay in the country for the foreseeable future. And there was only one real way to do that, sources said. They would need to bring in Fox News.... Officials at the Pentagon and Fox News said the media outlet's correspondents did not embed with U.S. forces in Afghanistan and it's unclear if the military made a formal request with its executives." --safari

Kate Williams of the Oregonian: "A deportation officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was arrested this week on multiple counts of sodomy, Oregon State Police said Saturday. Blake V. Northway, a 55-year-old Medford[, Oregon,] resident, was taken into custody Thursday, officials said, as the result of a joint investigation between the immigration agency and state police. He has been 'relieved of all authority,' state police said in a statement and will be put on leave until the investigation is complete. According to court documents, Northway is accused of sexually abusing an underage female relative between 2009 and 2013." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Alex Horton of the Washington Post on how a Texas sex worker escaped from serial killer Juan David Ortiz, a supervisory Border Patrol agent, and led police to him. Ortiz has confessed to murdering four women & said he probably would have killed more if the woman had not turned him in to law enforcement. ...

... "All the Best People," Ctd. Opheli Lawler of New York: "Alongside the suspected serial killer who worked for Border Patrol, agents at both government organizations [ICE & the Border Patrol] have been accused of beating and sexually assaulting detained migrants." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Carol Rosenberg of McClatchy D.C.: "The military judge who got headlines for convicting a Marine general of contempt and confining him to his Guantánamo quarters has apparently found a new bench -- as an immigration judge, prompting defense lawyers to demand that all his rulings since 2014 be thrown out. Air Force Col. Vance Spath, the former judge in Guantánamo's USS Cole case, had filed to retire on Nov. 1 from 26 years military service.... It's a two-fold issue: Department of Justice lawyers are part of the Cole case prosecution team. Moreover, defense lawyers argue that given the long lead time to get a so-called administrative judge's job, Spath no doubt applied for the position while still on the USS Cole trial. So they argued that all of Spath's rulings should be overturned as compromised by his after-Air Force job pursuit." --safari

Election 2018

Georgia. Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "Georgia, the first state in the country to adopt the 'direct-recording electronic,' or DRE, touch-screen machine in 2002, is now one of only five states in which electronic voting is entirely paperless. But a federal judge ... is poised to rule by Monday whether the state must scrap its current system that utilizes 28,000 DREs and adopt paper ballots and paper audits instead. Her ruling could affect the other four states and send a rare signal from the bench about the urgency of reducing the risk of election interference from foreign adversaries.... Secretary of State Brian Kemp ... has declared the electronic system secure.... Kemp, a Republican endorsed by President Trump -- and an outspoken critic of federal election security assistance in 2016 -- is running for governor in a competitive, nationally watched race...." The system is so "secure" that in 2016 Logan Lamb, a "cybersecurity sleuth," pulled up "a file with a list of voters and the alarmed when a subsequent simple data pull retrieved the birth dates, drivers' license numbers and partial Social Security numbers of more than 6 million voters, as well as county election supervisors' passwords for use on Election Day." Although Lamb warned the company that maintains the server, six months later he could still access the files -- not by using his expert "sleuthing" skills but through a Google search. "He also discovered the server had a software flaw that an attacker could exploit to take control of the machine." ...

     ... Mrs. McCrabbie: If you are suspicious that Kemp, as secretary of state, might be planning to alter vote totals if it suited him, you have not gone off the deep end. As Carol Anderson wrote in a New York Times op-ed in August, Kemp "has a skill set that Mr. Trump desperately needed but was curiously silent about in his endorsement: He is a master of voter suppression. Hackable polling machines, voter roll purges, refusing to register voters until after an election, the use of investigations to intimidate groups registering minorities to vote -- Mr. Kemp knows it all.... A Kemp victory in November is, therefore, transactional but essential for Mr. Trump. It means that there will be a governor, in a state that demographically should be blue, who is practiced and steeped in the nuances of disfranchisement. Mr. Kemp can rubber-stamp the Legislature's voter-suppression bills that privilege the Republican Party, artificially increase the Republican representation in Congress and in the end protect a president facing mounting evidence of graft, corruption, conspiracy and the threat of impeachment."

Texas Senate Race. Nicole Goodkind of Newsweek: "Ted Cruz's Texas Senatorial campaign has sent hundreds of thousands of mailers seeking donations that are meant to look like official county summons, a high-ranking campaign official confirmed to Newsweek. 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.'"


Aron Heller of TPM: "An Israeli opposition lawmaker on Sunday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss his ambassador to the United States for failing to report sexual assault allegations against a top Netanyahu aide, ballooning an already embarrassing scandal for the Israeli leader. Karin Elharrar of the centrist Yesh Atid party said Ron Dermer should be recalled from Washington for not reporting the warnings he received about David Keyes, Netanyahu's spokesman to foreign media.... Dermer, who was perhaps Netanyahu's closest associate before taking office in Washington, confirmed he was warned in late 2016 by New York Times columnist Bret Stephens ... about Keyes' aggressive behavior toward women.... Stephens ... warned Dermer that 'Keyes posed a risk to women in Israeli government offices.'" --safari


Casey Michel of ThinkProgress: "The World Congress of Families (WCF) conference represents the most prominent collaboration between sanctioned Russian officials and the U.S. Religious Right.... [S]anctioned Russian oligarch Vladimir Yakunin is allegedly one of WCF's primary financiers. Opening rhetoric was peppered with allegations of the 'aggressive invasion of radical liberalism' and claims that modern society is akin to 'totalitarianism.'... The harsh rhetoric was only tempered by moments as ludicrous as they were entertaining.... One speaker rambled about Nietzsche and metaphors about trees.... One speaker, Australian lobbyist Lyle Shelton, compared modern liberalism to Soviet-era totalitarianism, saying, 'Thank God [liberals] are not shipping us off to Kazakhstan.'" --safari

Stephen Cunningham of Bloomberg: "North Dakota's oil production surged to a new record in July, putting the mid-western state on par with OPEC member Venezuela. Home to the Bakken shale play, North Dakota pumped 1.27 million barrels a day in July, according to state figures released Friday. That's roughly the same output as Venezuela during the month.... Soaring output from shale formations, including the Bakken, helped the U.S. overtake Russia and Saudi Arabia to likely become the world's biggest oil producer earlier this year, according to preliminary estimates from the Energy Information Administration." [Open in private window] --safari

Brian Stelter & Laurie Segall of CNN: Billionaire "... Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne Benioff ... are buying Time Magazine for $190 million from Meredith Corp."

Julia Kollewe of the Guardian: "Amazon is investigating claims that employees have taken bribes for leaking confidential sales information, particularly in China, as it battles to stamp out fake reviews and other seller scams. Employees are offering internal data, via intermediaries, to independent merchants selling their products on the site to help them increase their sales in return for payments, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sellers, brokers and people familiar with internal investigations. The practice violates company policy and is common in China, where the number of sellers is soaring and Amazon employees are paid relatively small salaries." --safari

Beyond the Beltway

Sarah Burris of RawStory: "Former Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey will be sentence Monday for a case in which he pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking and the records in the case have now been unsealed. According to News9, the documents reveal Shortey placed Craiglist sex ads, took obscene motel photos and used fake names to traffick underage boys.... Shortey was an avid Trump supporter during the 2016 campaign and served as the campaign's state chairman in the Oklahoma GOP primaries, which Trump won."

Kelly Weill of The Daily Beast: "Bart Alsbrook resigned as interim police chief of an Oklahoma town late last August, after he was revealed as the former leader of a neo-Nazi group. One year later, he has a job at a different police department 15 miles away [in Colbert, OK].... Alsbrook was named Colbert's interim police chief on August 22, 2017.... Just 10 days earlier, white supremacists had held a deadly rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, prompting the hate-tracking group the Southern Poverty Law Center to release a map of known hate groups in America. Colbert's local TV KXII found one local hate group: a neo-Nazi record label registered to the area. Calling itself the voice of the skinhead hate group Blood & Honor USA, the site sells openly neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan music, as well as Nazi and Confederate paraphernalia. The company was registered to Alsbrook, KXII found." --safari

Way Beyond

AP: "A Palestinian assailant on Sunday fatally stabbed an Israeli settler outside a busy mall in the West Bank. The victim was identified as Ari Fuld, a U.S.-born activist who was well-known in the local settler community and an outspoken Israel advocate on social media platforms." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Kate Lyons of the Guardian: "Shocking footage showing a South Korean pastor beating her followers and ordering them to beat one another has emerged as Korean police investigate claims that she ran a cult in Fiji, forcing people to work without pay and endure violent rituals. The footage appears to show violent assaults on members of the South Korean Grace Road Church. Pastor Shin Ok-ju was arrested last month along with three other church leaders when they landed at Incheon airport just outside of Seoul." --safari

News Ledes

Weather Channel: "Hurricane Florence, now downgraded to a tropical depression, began its second week of impacts Monday with much of the same -- flooding that cut off entire towns and water rescues in parts of the Carolinas that have been inundated. The storm's death toll climbed to 18 when authorities said a 3-month-old child was killed when a tree fell on a mobile home in North Carolina."

The New York Times is providing free access to its Hurricane Florence coverage. The Times front page is here. "The [Washington] Post has removed article limits on coverage of Hurricane Florence to make these stories available without a subscription." The Post has links to several Florence-related stories on its front page. the (South Carolina) State home page is here. The State is granting free access to its site during the storm. The Raleigh News & Observer home page is here.

New York Times: "Emergency workers in the Philippines recovered more than 40 bodies from the muddied wreckage of a gold miners' bunkhouse after Typhoon Mangkhut set off a landslide, burying the remote northern town of Itogon in a river of debris, officials said on Monday. Mangkhut, a super typhoon that slammed into the northern Philippine province of Luzon on Saturday, continued a path of destruction across southern China on Sunday and into Monday."

Washington Post: "Freddie Oversteegen, the last remaining member of the Netherlands' most famous female resistance cell, died Sept. 5, one day before her 93rd birthday.... Oversteegen and her sister Truus, two years her senior, were ... a pair of teenage women who took up arms against Nazi occupiers and Dutch 'traitors' on the outskirts of Amsterdam. With Hannie Schaft, a onetime law student with fiery red hair, they sabotaged bridges and rail lines with dynamite, shot Nazis while riding their bikes, and donned disguises to smuggle Jewish children across the country and sometimes out of concentration camps."

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