;)
The Commentariat -- October 4, 2018
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Elana Schor, et al., of Politico: "Key undecided Republican senators are signaling on Thursday the FBI report on sexual misconduct allegations against Brett Kavanaugh may give them the confidence they need to back the embattled Supreme Court nominee. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) told reporters that 'we've seen no additional corroborating information' about alleged sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh in high school and college, and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said the investigation 'appears to be a very thorough' one. But Collins made clear that she remains undecided on Kavanaugh and wants to read more of it herself."
Trump Confirms He's a Lying, Tax-Cheating Crook. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "President Trump on Wednesday criticized a New York Times investigation into his and his family's use of dubious tax schemes over the years and the origins of his own wealth.... 'The Failing New York Times did something I have never seen done before They used the concept of 'time value of money' in doing a very old, boring and often told hit piece on me. Added up, this means that 97% of their stories on me are bad. Never recovered from bad election call!' ... Mr. Trump did not offer an outright denial of the facts in the report, such as that the money he made during his decades in real estate came from tax schemes of dubious legality, the existence of records of deception in documenting the family's financial assets, and that the beginning of the president's so-called self-made fortune dates back to his toddler years when, by the time he was 3 years old, Mr. Trump earned $200,000 a year in today's dollars from his father. Nor did Sarah Huckabee Sanders ... during subsequent briefing with reporters. Asked to identify what in the article was incorrect, she said, 'I won't go through every line of a very boring 14,000-word story.'"
John Wagner & Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "As the Senate began reviewing the new FBI report on Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh on Thursday, both Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley and the White House stood by President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, saying the investigation found nothing sufficient to corroborate allegations of sexual misconduct while Kavanaugh was a teenager. 'There's nothing in it that we didn't already know,' Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement after being briefed on the report by his staff. 'It's time to vote.'" Mrs. McC: Thanks, Chuck, for repeating verbatim what we all predicted you would say.
*****
** 1,000+ Law Professors (and Counting), in a New York Times op-ed: "The following letter will be presented to the United States Senate on Oct. 4. It will be updated as more signatures are received. Judicial temperament is one of the most important qualities of a judge. As the Congressional Research Service explains, a judge requires 'a personality that is even-handed, unbiased, impartial, courteous yet firm, and dedicated to a process, not a result.' The concern for judicial temperament dates back to our founding; in Federalist 78, titled 'Judges as Guardians of the Constitution,' Alexander Hamilton expressed the need for 'the integrity and moderation of the judiciary.'... At the Senate hearings on Sept. 27, Judge Brett Kavanaugh displayed a lack of judicial temperament that would be disqualifying for any court, and certainly for elevation to the highest court of this land.... Judge Kavanaugh exhibited a lack of commitment to judicious inquiry. Instead of being open to the necessary search for accuracy, Judge Kavanaugh was repeatedly aggressive with questioners.... We have differing views about the other qualifications of Judge Kavanaugh. But we are united, as professors of law and scholars of judicial institutions, in believing that he did not display the impartiality and judicial temperament requisite to sit on the highest court of our land." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The law professors' letter is similar to a comment Akhilleus made a couple of days ago. It is an extraordinary letter. First, to get a thousand lawyers to agree is kind of amazing, isn't it? But seriously, many of these attorneys, as they write themselves, "appear in state and federal court." As long as Kavanaugh remains on the bench -- any bench -- some will appear before him. And you can bet Brett is taking names. He's very meticulous in that way (see boyhood calendars). A guy who spent three years harassing the family of Vince Foster, who did nothing to hurt him or anyone else, will be fine with arbitrarily ruling against claimants who happen to have hired these legal experts to plead their cases. ...
... Avery Anapol of the Hill: "The nation's largest coalition of Christian churches on Wednesday called for the withdrawal of Brett Kavanaugh's nomination for the Supreme Court. The National Council of Churches, which has membership from more than 40 denominations including most major Protestant and Eastern Orthodox denominations in the U.S., wrote in a statement on their website that they believe Kavanaugh has 'disqualified himself from this lifetime appointment and must step aside immediately.' The statement cited a number of reasons for the demand, including Kavanaugh's behavior during his recent testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on sexual assault allegations against him. 'Judge Kavanaugh exhibited extreme partisan bias and disrespect towards certain members of the committee and thereby demonstrated that he possesses neither the temperament nor the character essential for a member of the highest court in our nation,' the statement read. The National Council of Churches alleged that Kavanaugh's testimony included 'several misstatements and some outright falsehoods,' including some related to Christine Blasey Ford's accusation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party in the 1980s. The group also pointed to what they called Kavanaugh's 'troubling' judicial and political record on some civil rights issues." ...
... Trump Declares Operation Whitewash a Success. Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday declared that the allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are 'totally uncorroborated' and will possibly benefit Republicans in the upcoming midterms. 'The harsh and unfair treatment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh is having an incredible upward impact on voters. The PEOPLE get it far better than the politicians. Most importantly, this great life cannot be ruined by mean & despicable Democrats and totally uncorroborated allegations!' he tweeted." ...
... White House Whitewash Is a Fait Accompli. Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "The White House sent interviews conducted by the F.B.I. to the Senate early Thursday morning and expressed confidence that none of the information collected by agents should stand in the way of the Senate voting to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The material was conveyed to Capitol Hill in the middle of the night, just hours after Senate Republicans set the stage for a pair of votes later in the week to move to final approval of Judge Kavanaugh's nomination. A statement issued by the White House around 2:30 a.m. said the F.B.I. had completed its work and that it represented an unprecedented look at a nominee." (This is an update to a story linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
We will not be intimidated by these people. There is no chance in the world that they're going to scare us out of doing our duty. -- Mitch McConnell, speaking of sex abuse victims ("these people"), in a Senate floor speech Wednesday
From the man who single-handedly delayed the filling of Justice Scalia's seat for 10 months to complain about a one-week delay to get the truth -- give me a break. It is classic diversionary, blame-the-other-person tactics when he himself is the master of delay. It is galling, appalling, to hear day after day the majority leader get on his high horse about delay, when he almost invented the word when it comes to judicial nominations. -- Chuck Schumer, Wednesday ...
... Carl Hulse & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Underscoring his commitment [to placing a lying, crazed, drunken (alleged) violent sex criminal on the Supreme Court], Mr. McConnell took the procedural steps later Wednesday to set up a key test vote on Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation for Friday." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: I happened to see part of Mitch's late-night floor speech. I got the feeling he thought Kavanaugh would not be confirmed, but that he doesn't really mind because, as Hulse & Martin note, he warned the White House before the nomination that "Kavanaugh's long history and paper trail in Washington would present complications." That said, I usually misread reptiles. ...
... But It Is a Secret Whitewash! Eliza Collins & David Jackson of USA Today: "Republicans are planning a careful choreography for the results of the FBI's background probe into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, including sending only a single copy to Capitol Hill that will be housed in a safe. The FBI report, which officials said will include interviews about Kavanaugh's conduct in high school, will first go to the White House and then to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers will read it in a secure location. Senate Republicans are planning the cautious approach amid a debate over how much of the FBI's investigation into Kavanaugh's past -- including allegations of sexual assault -- should be available for public view. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said only senators will be able to see the results of the FBI's work. A handful of Senate aides may view it as well." (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Earlier FBI Background Checks Did Not Give Kavanaugh a Clean Bill. Seung Min Kim, et al., of the Washington Post: "In anticipation of the [FBI] report's arrival, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday night teed up a key vote to advance Kavanaugh's nomination for Friday. Until that vote, senators will be rushing in and out of a secure facility at the Capitol to review the sensitive FBI report that the bureau has compiled, looking into allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh.... The developments came as Senate Democrats opened a new front in their objections to the investigations of Kavanaugh's conduct, suggesting in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) that past FBI background checks of Kavanaugh include evidence of inappropriate behavior, without disclosing specifics. The letter, signed by eight of the 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, challenged the accuracy of a tweet from the committee's Republican staff on Tuesday that said: 'Nowhere in any of these six FBI reports, which the committee has reviewed on a bipartisan basis, was there ever a whiff of ANY issue -- at all -- related in any way to inappropriate sexual behavior or alcohol abuse.'... 'If the committee majority is going to violate that confidentiality and characterize this background investigation publicly, you must at least be honest about it.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: As you may recall, in Kavanaugh's first confirmation hearings, questions by some Democratic Senators -- Mazie Hirono & Kamala Harris -- suggested the previous background checks held some dark secrets. ...
... White House Whitewash, Ctd. Leigh Ann Caldwell & Heidi Przybyla of NBC News: "More than 40 people with potential information into the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have not been contacted by the FBI, according to multiple sources that include friends of both the nominee and his accusers. The bureau is expected to wrap up its expanded background investigation as early as Wednesday into two allegations against Kavanaugh -- one from Christine Blasey Ford and the other from Deborah Ramirez.... One current and two former FBI officials confirmed to NBC News that dozens of witnesses have come forward to FBI field offices who say they have information on Brett Kavanaugh, but agents have not been permitted to talk to many of them. To the extent that any interviews have been done, the officials say, it's not clear the information will be considered as part of the FBI's limited scope inquiry." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Chris Strohm & Shannon Pettypiece of Bloomberg: "The FBI hasn't interviewed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford because it doesn't have clear authority from the White House to do so, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Instead, the White House has indicated to the FBI that testimony from Kavanaugh and Ford ... before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week is sufficient, said the people, who asked to not be identified discussing the sensitive matter. The new evidence of constraints on the FBI probe came as Republican Senator Bob Corker told reporters the FBI is likely to give senators a stack of interview reports, probably later on Wednesday. He said senators were told in a GOP meeting that a vote on cutting off debate is likely on Friday to move toward a confirmation vote on Kavanaugh." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Matt Zapotosky, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post has been able to confirm interviews with only six witnesses, five of whom have a connection to the professor or her allegation. The investigation was always unlikely to answer definitively whether Kavanaugh was guilty of sexual misconduct decades ago. But the probe's limited scope -- which was dictated by the White House, along with a Friday deadline -- is likely to exacerbate the partisan tensions surrounding Kavanaugh's nomination.... President Trump has insisted publicly he was not curtailing the FBI probe. But privately, the White House restricted the FBI from delving deeply into Kavanaugh's youthful drinking and exploring whether he had lied to Congress about his alcohol use, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Some of those involved in the case complained that the bureau did not follow leads that were offered to it." ...
... Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Investigation designed not to find anything apparently finds nothing[.]... My guess is that Jeff Flake's Very Concerned reaction will be 'good enough.'" ...
... ** Debbie Ramirez Is Not Making up Stuff. Jane Mayer & Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker: "Frustrated potential witnesses who have been unable to speak with the F.B.I agents conducting the investigation into sexual-assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, have been resorting to sending statements, unsolicited, to the Bureau and to senators, in hopes that they would be seen before the inquiry concluded.... Kenneth G. Appold was a suitemate of Kavanaugh's at the time of the alleged incident [in which Kavanaugh exposed himself to Deborah Ramirez]. He had previously spoken to The New Yorker about Ramirez on condition of anonymity, but he said that he is now willing to be identified.... Appold, who is the James Hastings Nichols Professor of Reformation History at Princeton Theological Seminary, said that he first heard about the alleged incident involving Kavanaugh and Ramirez either the night it occurred or a day or two later. Appold said that he was 'one-hundred-per-cent certain' that he was told that Kavanaugh was the male student who exposed himself to Ramirez.... He recalled details -- which, he said, an eyewitness described to him at the time -- that match Ramirez's memory of what happened.... 'I believe her, because it matches the same story I heard thirty-five years ago, although the two of us have never talked.' Appold, who won two Fulbright Fellowships, and earned his Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale in 1994, also recalled telling his graduate-school roommate about the incident in 1989 or 1990. That roommate, Michael Wetstone, who is now an architect, confirmed Appold's account and said, 'it stood out in our minds because it was a shocking story of transgression.'" Read on. If you weren't sure Kavanaugh was a degenerate ass, you will be now.
... ** James Roche in Slate: "In 1983, I was one of Brett Kavanaugh's freshman roommates at Yale University. About two weeks ago I came forward to lend my support to my friend Deborah Ramirez, who says Brett sexually assaulted her at a party in a dorm suite. I did this because I believe Debbie. Now the FBI is investigating this incident. I am willing to speak with them about my experiences at Yale with both Debbie and Brett. I would tell them this: Brett Kavanaugh stood up under oath and lied about his drinking and about the meaning of words in his yearbook. He did so baldly, without hesitation or reservation. In his words and his behavior, Judge Kavanaugh has shown contempt for the truth, for the process, for the rule of law, and for accountability. His willingness to lie to avoid embarrassment throws doubt on his denials about the larger questions of sexual assault. In contrast, I cannot remember ever having a reason to distrust anything, large or small, that I have heard from Debbie." Read on. ...
... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans are stepping up efforts to challenge Christine Blasey Ford's credibility by confronting her with a sworn statement from a former boyfriend who took issue with a number of assertions she made during testimony before the Judiciary Committee last week. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and the committee chairman, cited the former boyfriend's statement in a letter sent Tuesday night to Dr. Blasey's lawyers demanding that they turn over material that could be used to assess her veracity.... The former boyfriend told the Judiciary Committee that he witnessed Dr. Blasey helping a friend prepare for a possible polygraph examination.... Dr. Blasey ... was asked during the hearing whether she had 'ever given tips or advice to somebody who was looking to take a polygraph test.' She answered, 'Never.'... [Blasey's friend Monica McLean], a former F.B.I. agent, denied the assertion on Wednesday.... Dr. Blasey's camp also rejected the account." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Amanda Arnold of New York: "At a rally in Mississippi Tuesday night, a crowd of Trump supporters roared with laughter as the President mocked Christine Blasey Ford.... The following day, politicians from both sides of the aisle condemned Trump's offensive comments, calling them 'wholly inappropriate' and 'just plain wrong.'... When asked by [Fox 'News'] host Bill Hemmer whether she thought Trump's comments were 'wrong,' [Kellyanne] Conway shot back that the White House has been 'incredibly accommodating' -- in her opinion, too accommodating. 'She's been treated like a Fabergé egg by all of us, beginning with me and Trump,' she said, before questioning Ford's veracity. 'She provided her testimony, she still has no corroboration for her testimony ... By Ford's own testimony, there are gaps in her memory, there are facts that she cannot remember.'... During a press briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was simply 'stating the facts' during his tirade, and insisted that the president is still 'very confident in his nominee, as he has said time and time again.' Neither Conway nor Sanders -- nor Trump -- questioned the truthfulness of Kavanaugh's story, which, as many of his former classmates have claimed, appears to be replete with lies." ...
... Eric Levitz: "... the people who have the power to make or break Brett Kavanaugh's nomination like his approach to Constitutional law. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Jeff Flake are perfectly fine with Kavanaugh's jurisprudence. But they have evinced some concerns about his character. For this reason, in recent days, Democrats have focused their case against Kavanaugh on two related 'character' issues: Multiple women have accused him of sexual assault.... When Kavanaugh appeared before the Senate to respond to those allegations, he delivered an angry partisan tirade, treated several Democratic senators with abject contempt, and was evasive in response to direct questioning. He also (ostensibly) told many, many lies while under a sworn oath.... Kavanaugh's behavior last Thursday was disqualifying by long-honored -- and well-founded -- norms of judicial conduct ... [even if he] has never sexually assaulted anyone in his life -- and that he did not (definitely, clearly, unambiguously) lie under oath in any of his testimony before the Senate." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Lawrence Hurley & Chris Kahn of Reuters: "Opposition among Americans to Brett Kavanaugh ... has increased in the wake of his testimony last week before a U.S. Senate committee in which he defiantly denied sexual misconduct allegations, Reuters/Ipsos polling data showed on Wednesday. In the latest seven-day average in a survey of U.S. adults, 41 percent of respondents opposed Kavanaugh, 33 percent supported the conservative federal appeals court judge and 26 percent said they did not know." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Burgess Everett of Politico: "The U.S. Capitol Police on Wednesday arrested a 27-year-old man for posting addresses and private information of senators, according to the police department. The department reported that it arrested Jackson A. Cosko for allegedly posting 'private, identifying information (doxing) about one or more United States senators to the Internet.' Cosko has been working as an intern in the office of Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and has been fired, according to her chief of staff, Glenn Rushing.... Cosko ... previously worked for Democratic Sens. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and California's Barbara Boxer, who has since retired."
Aaron Elstein of Crain's New York Business: "... Donald Trump and his siblings could owe New York state more than $400 million in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties based on the New York Times report that their parents handed down more than $1 billion worth of real estate and cash. Based on the figures provided in the Times article, the Trumps could be on the hook for $210 million in unpaid gift or estate taxes and a similar amount in unpaid interest and penalties, according to Fred Slater, a CPA who has advised real estate professionals for more than 40 years.... Slater added that President Trump could be liable for a larger share than his sisters and brother because as trustee he signed the tax returns for the estates. The state Department of Taxation and Finance says it is 'vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation.'" ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The Times would not have devoted 18 months & significant resources to Trump's finances were he not president. So if the state (and city) follow up & impose multi-million-dollar tax levies on Trump, that would put a significant crimp on whatever unconstitutional emoluments Trump is accruing as a result of his current job.
Brett Molina of USA Today: "On Wednesday at 2:18 p.m. ET, smartphones in the U.S. were buzzing with a test of a 'presidential alert,' managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to warn residents about national emergencies. The system was put in place due to a law passed during the tenure of former President Barack Obama but didn't get its first test until Wednesday, under the Trump administration. 'The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed,' read a statement from FEMA ahead of the alert test." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Wow! It's Thrilling to Be Nuts. Will Sommer of the Daily Beast: "For most people, the [FEMA] test, which resembled a text message, passed with nothing more than a quick glance at their phones and a mocking tweet about it. But believers in the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, the moment had titanic implications. Believers in QAnon -- a conspiracy theory based on a series of internet clues posted by an anonymous character named 'Q' that posits a world in which Trump and the military are engaged in ceaseless, secret war with globalist Democratic pedophiles -- think the text could mark the start of 'The Storm,' a fantastical MAGA dream in which Trump's political enemies will be arrested and tried at military tribunals. 'That is how we will receive orders if all else fails,' wrote one QAnon believer on the 8Chan internet forum. 'We are the next generation Minutemen! Standing by Sir!'"
Andrew Kaczynski & Nathan McDermott of CNN: "Audio of radio interviews between longtime Trump ally Roger Stone and the radio host he claimed was his back channel to WikiLeaks recently came into possession of special counsel Robert Mueller's office, two sources with knowledge of the matter tell CNN. The interviews between Stone and comedian Randy Credico took place between August 2016 and April 2017 on Credico's radio show, which aired on local New York station WBAI. Stone has claimed that Credico served as his intermediary to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the 2016 presidential election. Credico has denied the claim.... CNN's KFile has obtained audio of the interviews, in which Stone and Credico repeatedly discuss WikiLeaks. In the interviews, you hear Credico ask Stone about the back channel and also cast doubt that the back channel exists. While the interviews do not rule out the possibility Credico served as the back channel, the former radio host told CNN he believes the content of the interviews back up his denials."
** Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in California temporarily blocked the Trump administration's plans to terminate the legal status of about 300,000 immigrants who fled violence and disaster in Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua and El Salvador. In a decision late Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen in San Francisco found substantial evidence that the administration lacked 'any explanation or justification' to end the 'temporary protected status' designations for immigrants from those countries. At the same time, he said there were 'serious questions as to whether a discriminatory purpose was a motivating factor' in the administration's decision, which would violate the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law. He cited statements by President Trump denigrating Mexicans, Muslims, Haitians and Africans, including his January remark about 'people from shithole countries' and his June 2017 comments stating that 15,000 recent immigrants from Haiti 'all have AIDS.'"
Stephen Montemayor of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune: "The DFL Party&'s attempt to find a law enforcement agency willing to investigate a domestic abuse claim against U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison was mired in uncertainty Wednesday, after the Minneapolis Police Department said it would seek to refer the case to another jurisdiction. Earlier Wednesday, the DFL asked Minneapolis police to investigate after both a city attorney and a county prosecutor declined to review a report the party commissioned that did not substantiate the allegation. Ellison's former girlfriend, Karen Monahan, alleges that the Democratic candidate for attorney general tried to drag her off a bed during a fight in August 2016. He denies it. 'Due to a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest, the Minneapolis Police Department will not be handling the matter involving Congressman Keith Ellison,' read a police statement. It said the department is in communication with other law enforcement agencies to which it may refer the case. Ellison's son, Jeremiah Ellison, is on the Minneapolis city council."
News Lede
AP: "Seven law enforcement officers were shot, one fatally, in a confrontation Wednesday with a suspect who held children hostage in a South Carolina home, authorities said. The suspect was taken into custody after a two-hour standoff. The gunfire erupted in an upscale neighborhood of Florence, a city of about 37,000 people still reeling from heavy flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence's strike on the Carolinas last month."
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Reader Comments (18)
Once again, Liarbee Sanders demonstrates the enormity of the distances to which servants of Mad King Donnie will go to protect him from the consequences of his own sociopathy and immoral behavior. To scold reporters asking about Mad Donnie’s astonishing attack on Christine Blasey Ford, insisting that the little king was merely “stating facts” is to assert that we’re all idiots except for her.
Blithely claiming a “stating of the facts” is to ignore an essential aspect of human communication, which is tone. Was donnie’s tone consistent with a simple repetition of facts? If so, why were the bottom feeders that filled that venue falling all over themselves with laughter? If I was calmly, and soberly reciting a litany of facts and people listening started guffawing and elbowing each other in the side, I’d have to assume they were escapees from a mental institution.
No. Trump’s tone was that of a stand-up comic. A particularly nasty one. Or one of about a gazillion right wing radio shock jocks who traffick in the worst sorts of vicious attacks.
Sorry, Liarbee, for someone whose job relies entirely on the ability to interpret and to adopt the right tone, you are a miserable failure.
Oh, unless you’re nothing but a rank liar.
When does this disgrace of a human being leave that post? Can’t be soon enough. I’m just stating a fact.
Back yesterday afternoon to the Big Country that I see is still in the hands of real Little People. Did a fine job of avoiding news from home on our sojourn. Didn't follow the fate of Manafort (tho' did check this AM and was happy to see Mueller has brought him into the Mueller fold), the Mueller investigation more generally and managed to avoid looking at a single picture of slimy Brett Kavanaugh for the better part of a month, but now I'm back and as I knew it would be, it's all still there and here.
Just one comment on Kavanaugh. For men (mostly men it seems) like him, it's all personal. The law is not a code that stands aside from self to direct and guide behavior; it's just another system to be manipulated to personal profit, whether it be power, money or payback for real or imagained slights.
People like this can't get outside themselves because they don't wish to, and to that degree anyway, Kavanaugh is a perfect Pretender analog, smarter no doubt than the Big Boob, but animated by the same dark forces with the same view of how society should be organized.
Like the party that nurtured him and like its current head with which that party is so perfectly aligned, it's all for him.
Clarence Thomas, anyone?
When did we get a country that puts enough power in the presidency that he (of course) can direct the investigation of another agency? When did we allow a bunco artist to take such control of everything that nothing we the people (and there are more Democrats than Repugnicans) say makes any difference in how our leaders lead? When did we cede all leadership to people who apparently do not believe their eyes and ears and brain? When did 40% of the electorate become so mean and nasty? It was not since 2016. A small minority of ugly actors now have control of everything but it has been building, of course, since the 80s. We can no longer depend on our leaders having any independent brain function or empathy and we are now led by a sociopath of the highest quality. Good work, America.
My Irish neighbor sent me a transcript of a piece in the Irish Times that is most intriguing by Fintan O'Toole. He starts out by saying sometimes the eye snags on minor details like a coat-tail caught in a briar and HIS eye snagged on Kavanaugh's calendar where there were numerous mentions of "Gaelic football", "Grounded go to St. Michael's" which prompted a "Sweet Jesus, this snarling, hysterical, entitled man is ONE of Us."
This detail is minor but not incidental. O'Toole believes it opens an aperture into a very large change in the U.S., one that has crept up so gradually that it takes moments like this to realize how enormous this is. He proffers that WASP has become WIC (White Irish Catholic) and says it's not the Catholic part of this that is fundamentally corrupted –-it's the Irish part.
He cites the religious affiliations of the S.C.: Three members are Jewish; but the rest are all Catholic (Gorsuch was raised as one but is thought to attend an Episcopal church). All the other possible candidates mentioned before––Barrett, Hardiman, and Thapar are all Catholic. Only one of these Catholic judges––Sotomayor––is liberal. All the rest are hard right.
O'Toole believes that a wider story here is the way US conservatism traditionally anti-Catholic, realized that it would use the "wedge issues" of abortion and later same sex marriage to lever Catholics away from their allegiance to the Democratic party. But with the Trump administration it's not just about Catholics; it is about Irish Catholics––Kavanaugh is the latest one in the Trump nexus after, among others, Bannon, Kelly, Flynn, Spicer, Conway, and Ryan.
Why is this? What does Irishness bring to this nexus that Catholic conservatism alone does not. O'Toole spells it out in one word" VICTIMHOOD. The claim that white men, rather than being (as they are) relatively privileged, are in fact victims. The right wants to grab that minority appeal (read power) for their collective suffering. You could see this on Brett's face during his testimony last week: the rage of self-pity. O'Toole, who knows well of what he speaks, tells us that the beauty of a specifically Irish Catholicism is that it has victimhood in its DNA––its history of suppression and trauma (to which I'd add Jews, blacks, women, etc.) Even if you are a privileged white boy going to an elite Jesuit school like Brett's Georgetown Prep (fees $58, 000 a year) you can claim ownership of the Great famine and years of oppression. And here O'Toole comes, at least for me, at the heart of this:
Given this Irish DNA victimization could be and should be a grounding in humility and compassion: we too were immigrants, we know what it's like to be traduced and discriminated against. But O'Toole thinks that this form of Irish- American-Catholic politics was cut off in its prime when Robert Kennedy was murdered. Not that this mindset is completely dead, but it has largely been eclipsed by a very different one that he describes as a "Toxic, whiny fusion of victimhood, of self- pity and self righteousness" and which he says is not who we, the Irish, are.
"Past oppression should sensitize us to present injustice, not entitle us to abuse privilege."
Remember how "Nightmare on Elm Street" has long been the ultimate scare film? Now there's potential sequel movie — and when it is made will surely be titled "Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue" opening segment with trump's shtick in Mississippi. (I started to watch the video on WAPO and couldn't last past 5 secs of trump's voice).
His shtick is that of an un-cute Buddy Hackett.
Everyday is worse than the one before. It's so bad that at times I even miss the wry and nasty humour of the warm, wonderful and personable Dick Cheney (:-) ). Well, no not really! But there are so many a**holes in this current administration that if I had to pick the worst they'd all be crushed into one yuge clump.
Liarbee Sanders. How does this woman look at her kids?
Don McGahn? Appears sensible and thoughtfully benign, but he's been a huge behind-the-scenes enabler.
Kellyanne? Sad ,when women have the opportunity to rise into high level positions they become just as much a jerkoff(s) as any male they might have replaced. How do you live with yourself?
Mnuchin et company: Obvious a**hole.
Willber Ross: repulsive little jerk.
Mulvaney, DeVos: mean-spirited and dumb. Toss up on who is worse.
—and how could I overlook the mean-spirited quintet of McConnell, Ryan, Barasso, Thune, and Hatch? Also the second string of Grassley and Graham!
I get so weary of reading the daily depressing news and wondering, why the hell no one out there is doing anything about any of these creeps starting with #1?
Vote. Vote Democratic*.
*Yep. We've got jerks, too...but not as mean.
Oh, PD; so true, so true! I remember when I picked up on this aspect and posted what seemed a snarky comment about the good vs. bad Irish (well more than a year ago) and wondered what happened that a people who had suffered so much, a people who finally achieved so much in the US...where were these hard-line, unforgiving SOBs coming from?
So many of us on this blog have Irish roots or connections (me by marriage!)...I like to think of us as the good Irish-Americans, and can't comprehend the narrow-minded, harshness of our opposites. Fintan O'Toole offers great insights
So let me see....an investigation that does not include interviewing the principals in the case is not an investigation, it is an "investigation". Also, it does not include any interviews with dozens who have come forward with additional important information.
Your house is broken into. You recognize the burglar, who lives down the street. But when the cops show up, they don't talk to you or your pilfering neighbor. They talk to his pals, all of whom say what a great guy he was. And then they talk to an acquaintance of yours who says she has no idea whether the guy was in the house or not. They also decline to speak to anyone who might assist in fleshing out the background of the alleged burglar and help determine whether or not he might be capable of such a crime, or if he's done anything like that before. Why bother?
Is that a standard FBI investigation? No, but it's a standard Trump-FBI investigation.
Remember long ago (a couple of weeks) when Trump was yapping about how horrible the FBI is as an institution? Guaranteed, when the report on this "investigation" comes out completing the Kavanaugh whitewash, that he'll be crowing about it as the greatest investigatory agency in the history of the world. Tremendous. Great. The best. Couldn't have done better himself. Well, HE could do better, but no one else could.
Then this report will be locked in a safe in some undisclosed location and McConnell will have his vote to put an unhinged drunken, insulting, frat boy with a history of sexual assault on the Supreme Court.
At this point there's a lot of attention being given to the possible hold-outs, Murkowski, Collins, Flake, Manchin, and Donnelly.
Writers and prognosticators shouldn't waste anymore ink.
The faux investigation will give everyone all the cover they need to vote for Trump's Rape Boy.
I will be well and truly astounded if any of them (Flake included) votes no on installing Bart O'Kavanaugh on the SCOTUS.
PD: despite Mr. O'Toole's insight, the more traditional characteristic of "Irish" is not victimhood, but begrudging.
A joke -- Irish Alzheimer's is when you forget everything but the grudge.
Maybe they're two facets of the same stone, but the best short stories of Sean O'Faolain and Frank O'Connor (my candidates for expositors of 20th century "irishness") often turn on the dramatic stupidity of tribalistic grudge-taking.
We were supposed to change after our ancestors got here. Lots of us did. When I was a kid there was no real interest in "Irish heritage" but after JFK I observed it starting to creep in to the culture (the same neighborhoods where Judge K grew up), taking the form of rugby jerseys, heavy drinking and rowdiness. But still, the only "professional Irish" that I ever encountered were the lawyers/developers/lobbyists who seemed to make money projecting that image. Most of us in this geographic area (DC suburban MD) seem to have moved on.
So lets be fair to Kavanaugh. He only sexually attacked 2 women. Trump did 12.
There was no fraudulent Kavanaugh University.
Kavanaugh didn't steal hundreds of millions in taxes.
Kavanaugh lies but not every day.
And it's true, Kavanaugh is totally unqualified for his job.
But why does Trump live under a different set of rules?
Wingers are all singing from the same page of music.
Oh, those horrible Democrats! They're trying to ruin a good man. A decent man. A GREAT man. A fine judge, and, and, he drives his kids to SOCCER PRACTICE, fer crissakes!!! Aiiiieeee! They're demons from hell!
Well, the truth of the matter is, Kavanaugh is now and always has been an unworthy, damaged nominee. He was only made a judge because of his yeoman's work under Ken Starr trying to ratfuck Bill Clinton. He's a career apparatchik. The American Bar Association gave him a rating of "just okay". Should Judge "Just Okay" go to the Supreme Court? There's a reason he was downgraded from "decent" to "just okay". He's never been "great". And all that was a long time before Ford and Ramirez and that disgraceful performance the other day.
But R's are genetically incapable of admitting error, much less doing the right thing and fixing the problem. Admitting error means they're not perfect and that just can't be right, can it? Aren't they all blessed by St. Ronald of Rayguns? Perfection and righteousness are theirs to the end of time.
Once again, this entire disgusting melodrama has been initiated by one Donald J. Trump, douchebag dramatist. He picked a loser as the hero of his latest Broadway flop, well, more accurately, the loser was picked for him by Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society, Kavanaugh's name being included on that famous list of approved future Nuremberg Trial defendants. Had Trump selected someone without Kavanaugh's baggage (and it appears now that earlier vetting indicated red flags and possible giant potholes on the road to nomination), he might have had his next Nazi judge already in the robes and ready to screw over his enemies, and protect his own fat ass.
Instead, as is his wont, he has created another completely unnecessary gigantic clusterfuck. It's instructive that the New York Times investigation into the Trump Crime Family uncovered the fact that Fred Trump didn't trust the Donald. He recognized that he was an ego-driven preener who was prone to failing miserably at nearly everything he did. Most of his last 20 or 30 years, Fred's primary occupation was bailing out his loser son.
But Trump has always had someone there to bail him out. And now he has Grassley and McConnell and Graham and an entire party full of obsequious quislings, ready to stand behind another terrible choice, and, with one voice, blame Democrats for their own rat bastard ambitions and that of their glorious leader, Mad King Donnie.
In support of Patrick's observation, I can say that begrudgement is an especially unfortunate element in the Irish personality.
In many tribes it seems that one of their own making it big is cause for general celebration. Not the Irish. You make it big and suddenly it's "Who is he, then? He knows more than his prayers, that's for sure." Or "Sure, she was nothin' at home, now look at her. A big shot, she is. Wouldn't talk to you if you fell over in front of her. I remember her sellin' papers on the streets, dressed in rags, she was, now look at her. Gucci dresses and the like. Big shot!"
Don't know what that's all about, but it's a real thing. Maybe not so much for Irish-Americans who have been here for generations, but for families like mine, not far from the boat, it's something to deal with.
Patrick,
O'Faolain and O'Connor are excellent choices, but I'd also like to toss Brian O'Nolan's (aka Myles na gCopaleen and Flann O'Brien) name into the ring as well.
His stories about "The Brother" are pure expositions of Irish demeanor and discourse. His other writings, most of which appeared in the Irish Times, include gems such as "The Man Who Buys Wholesale," "The Man Who Does his own Carpentry and Talks About It" and "The Man Who Spoke Irish at a Time When It was Neither Profitable nor Popular".
And my favorites, the Keats and Chapman stories, which, although not specifically located in Irish culture, bear many of its hallmarks such as a love for words and horribly intricate puns. There is the story in which Keats, whose dog Byrne has gone missing and is thought to be wandering the countryside, is found sawing away on his fiddle when his friend Chapman visits, wondering why Keats is not out looking for the beast. "Why" asked Keats, "should I not fiddle while Byrne roams?"
You get the idea.
(And one more bit of support for the grudging aspect of the Irish. A good friend of mine from Co. Cork has a standard expression he resorts to when that unattractive trait appears: "Fuck the begrudgers" he likes to say.)
1,000 lawyers and (according to Fortune) 100,000 churches representing 45 million churchgoers, say ix-nay to Art-bay.
What do Iitch-may and Uck-chay say?
Uck-fay Ou-yay.
It's all about power, proving they can do whatever they want to whomever they want with no concern for truth or moral or ethical standing and a disgraceful indifference to the institutions of American governance and the Constitution.
By the way, Ken, welcome back.
How nice it must have been to remove oneself from the sturm und drang and quotidian repulsiveness of Trump World, even for a little while.
And I think you're on to something. Things like the structures of governing bodies, the so-called deliberative nature of the Senate, even the Constitution, are, for people like Kavanaugh and Trump and McConnell, handy armatures on which to drape their own personal ambitions and dreams of power, control, and personal enrichment.
I hope you're re-acclimating yourself slowly. Too much of this crap all at once and there could be a reaction.
Thanks, Akhilleus, for the kinds words.
On the Irish thing. Had an Irish grandmother to whom I was close and whose influence I would like to think tempered the other three-quarters of my German heritage. Though not all would agree she succeeded, she might have saved me from taking myself too seriously, some of the time anyway.
Clearly Kavanaugh and the other Catholic jurists we rightly detest are not that strain of Irish. The difference I think is that, unlike my grandmother, they think that are "saved."
It is perhaps the light tone and genuine humor of Frank O'Connor's "My Oedipus Complex" that makes it one of my favorite stories, and while I could go on about the Irish literature I know, little of that knowledge is contemporary, so is likely beside the point.
Do remember Dennis Lehane's historical novel of the Boston police strike in the early 1900's ("A Given Day"?) well enough to recommend it, though, for its distinct political content.
And then there's Lawrence O'Donnell, a good Irish socialist.
Well kids, I hate to say I toldja so (really, I do) but Bart is practically in like Flynn (if you know what I mean).
Susan (Settled law, right?) Collins and Jeff (Man of the People) Flake have both expressed their satisfaction that the Trump-FBI quarter-assed (not even half-assed) investigation is a good one.
Yeah, and the Munich Agreement is a model of statecraft at its best.
The "investigation" is already reaping rewards for Rape Boy and his master, Fat Boy.
God help any women or liberal groups who come before this guy. This fucker will be out for his pound of flesh.
The Democrats had better start making use of the Times' exposé of the slimy, illegal, and unAmerican schemes of the Trump Crime Family and the other one percenters to stiff the rest of us while pissing on the poor and the middle class and congratulating themselves for being "job creators" as they shovel their money into offshore tax havens, as the Romneys and many other cheating billionaires do. But especially galling are the multiple and nefarious ways Trump has scammed Americans.
Here's a good start.
Hey Ken! Welcome back––I missed you and I didn't know you and I share the same heritage––German and Irish.
And hey, you guys re: Irish authors––you forgot Joyce??? I discovered Jamie O'Neill some time ago and recommend his "Two Boys at Swim"–-a take off on Flann O'Brien's "Two Birds at Swim" (I think that was the title) and what about Flannery O'Connor's notable story---"A Good Man Is Hard to Find"–––I'd say pretty damn topical today.