Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Criminal Justice / Open Thread – It Wasn’t Aliens

Open Thread – It Wasn’t Aliens

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The solar observatory at Sunspot, New Mexico, will reopen today. The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, which runs the observatory, released the following statement:

On September 6th the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) made the decision to temporarily vacate the Sunspot Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak, New Mexico as a precautionary measure while addressing a security issue. The facility closed down in an orderly fashion and is now re-opening. The residents that vacated their homes will be returning to the site, and all employees will return to work this week. AURA has been cooperating with an on-going law enforcement investigation of criminal activity that occurred at Sacramento Peak. During this time, we became concerned that a suspect in the investigation potentially posed a threat to the safety of local staff and residents. For this reason, AURA temporarily vacated the facility and ceased science activities at this location. The decision to vacate was based on the logistical challenges associated with protecting personnel at such a remote location, and the need for expeditious response to the potential threat. AURA determined that moving the small number of on-site staff and residents off the mountain was the most prudent and effective action to ensure their safety. In light of recent developments in the investigation, we have determined there is no risk to staff, and Sunspot Solar Observatory is transitioning back to regular operations as of September 17th. Given the significant amount of publicity the temporary closure has generated, and the consequent expectation of an unusual number of visitors to the site, we are temporarily engaging a security service while the facility returns to a normal working environment. We recognize that the lack of communications while the facility was vacated was concerning and frustrating for some. However, our desire to provide additional information had to be balanced against the risk that, if spread at the time, the news would alert the suspect and impede the law enforcement investigation. That was a risk we could not take.

As I suspected, it was a threat against personnel there. More here. And open thread!

Reader Interactions

135Comments

  6. 6.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Not OT because aliens are running DC. Hostile aliens. So Ford passed a polygraph test. Those things are apparently not all that reliable, but would Kavanaugh take one? He has a number of, shall we say doubtful statements to answer for.

  7. 7.

    Barney

    This hardly tells us anything. “A suspect” posed such a threat (what kind? Bombs? Heavily armed?) to not just personnel, but nearby residents, that the entire area was evacuated for nearly 2 weeks. Was there a manhunt going on all that time? How much of a psychopath is the suspect that they threaten an entire area? How did they find out about the threat?

  10. 10.

    satby

    @Barney: the entire area is housing for the facility’s workers and their families. One legitimately could argue that a bomb or heavily armed “lone wolf” could justify that, since it’s the same people who work there.
    I assume we’ll eventually hear the story (at least most of it) after they’re sure the criminal case is secure and that they’ve addressed the holes in security they identified causing them to take such a drastic step.

  13. 13.

    JWL

    What planet do you live on? You don’t really believe an earthling wrote that statement, do you? The first thing They always do prior to invasion is absorb and control the brains of that world’s scientists.

    You probably assume Trump was born here, too. Sad.

  14. 14.

    The Midnight Lurker

    Yeah, it’s aliens. But the joke’s on them! Wait until they land, pop the hatch and say, “Take us to your leader!”
    Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

  15. 15.

    germy

    A 2014 speech from Kavanaugh, yucking it up about booze. They love booze and think getting drunk is funny as hell. And these are the judges who lock people up for possession of cannibas.

    In April 2014 speech to the Yale Law School Federalist Society banquet, Kavanaugh reminisced about partying (‘what happens on the bus stays on the bus’) & related a story about a friend drunkenly falling, breaking a table & being given more beers by a professor. pic.twitter.com/MhzBxqtLgn— Felicia Sonmez (@feliciasonmez) September 17, 2018

  17. 17.

    satby

    @NotMax: of course, could be that too, but would that be a criminal investigation? I suppose it could be.

    Just went back to yesterday’s garden thread to get the info on that shrub Watergirl was buying because I decided I wanted one too. And I see I got good lump of coal mold options from you and Ruckus. Thanks!

  18. 18.

    noncarborundum

    @JWL:
    It would make so much more sense if Trump were some alien life form that was trying to mimic a human but hadn’t quite learned how to do it convincingly.

  19. 19.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    I’m not saying it was aliens… but it was probably aliens

    Cue X-Files intro theme

  21. 21.

    Just One More Canuck

    @The Midnight Lurker: “My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball; but tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom! “

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    David Leonhardt and Charles Blow appear to have been sharing a brain this past weekend while drafting their Monday columns, and an insightful brain at that:

    Leonhardt: Trumpov Derangement Syndrome is a Myth

    Conventional wisdom says that the middle is disappearing from American politics: The Republicans have moved far to the right, the Democrats far to the left, and woe to any moderate voters looking for politicians to represent their views.

    Well, the conventional wisdom is wrong. The Democrats have not actually become radical leftists, or anything close to it.

    You keep hearing this story partly because Republicans have an obvious interest in promoting it and partly because large parts of the news media find it irresistible. It’s a “both side do it” angle that allows us journalists to appear tough, knowing and above the partisan scrum. We love that image. But the facts don’t support the story in this case.

    “BOTH SIDES = LAZY, AT BEST” Put it on a t-shirt.

    More:

    It’s true that a few proudly left-leaning Democrats won gubernatorial primaries, like Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Andrew Gillum in Florida. But I encourage you to watch a few of their speeches. For one thing, both are strong candidates. For another, they are hardly socialists. And the list of progressive insurgents who got thumped is much longer. In New York, Cynthia Nixon didn’t crack 35 percent.

    Meanwhile, in Congress, the party’s reaction to President Trump tells a similar story. Political pundits sometimes talk about “Trump derangement syndrome” — a condition, supposedly, in which his presidency has made Democrats go crazy. Except that it hasn’t.

    To take just one example: There is strong evidence that Trump has broken the law, both by obstructing justice and by using the presidency to enrich himself. Still, Democratic leaders refuse to push for impeachment. They say the country should wait for Robert Mueller’s investigation to finish. I think that’s wise. Either way, it’s certainly not deranged.

    UPHOLDING THE RULE OF LAW =/= “DERANGED”. Put THAT on a t-shirt.

    Next up, the talented Mr. Blow: Not Deranged! Determined!

    They told us that we suffered from Trump Derangement Syndrome, an emotional and illogical obsession with opposing and unseating Donald Trump.

    They saw our principled stand against corruption and criminality, against immorality and hatred, as born of hyper-partisanship and the bruises of defeat.

    They were unable to see that our objection to Trump was an achingly particular phenomenon that transcended party tribalism and went to the core of who we are as a people and a country.

    For us, it was clear: This man was wholly unacceptable, as a matter of character. And true patriotism demanded that we say so, without equivocation, and unrelentingly.

    TRUE PATRIOTISM!

    More:

    …This constant state of chaos and anxiety has been exhausting and nearly unbearable, but it is all coming to a head in November when the defiant, the resisters, the never-Trumpers, will get to have their voices heard in a way that reaches beyond protests and rallies.

    It will be the rest of America’s first chance at the polls to show just how unacceptable and repulsive we view Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress. It will be the first time for people to shift power away from him and his cronies and toward people willing to hold him accountable.

    And it looks like people are champing at the bit for the chance. There has been extraordinarily high voter turnout in primary races across the country, including in New York, Michigan, Arizona, Vermont and Iowa.

    …Most of that energy is coming from people opposed to Trump and his corrupt administration, thereby benefiting Democrats.

    Trump’s already low approval rating has taken a hit in recent weeks with Mueller’s investigation making steady progress: the guilty plea and now apparent cooperation of Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer; the plea and cooperation of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort; the explosive new book by Bob Woodward and the damning anonymous op-ed written by an administration official and published in The New York Times.

    This is the worst possible scenario for the president and his party less than two months from Election Day.

    Wait, what? I thought things were always good news for Joh…er…the GOP?!?

    More:

    …As Gallup pointed out last week:

    “The president’s party almost always suffers a net loss of U.S. House seats in midterm elections. However, losses tend to be much steeper when the president is unpopular. In Gallup’s polling history, presidents with job approval ratings below 50 percent have seen their party lose 37 House seats, on average, in midterm elections. That compares with an average loss of 14 seats when presidents had approval ratings above 50 percent.”

    Trump’s approval rating is at 40 percent, and unlike his predecessors, he is not a normal president. He is a divisive lightning rod.

    Democrats are not only likely to win control of the House of Representatives; they also have a long-shot chance of taking control of the Senate, although the map is working against them.

    FiveThirtyEight gives Democrats a five-in-six chance of taking control of Congress and Republicans a one-in-six chance of holding it. Their average estimate for the number of seats Democrats will pick up is 39; they only need to gain 23 to take control.

    Resistance up to this point has largely been a statement of principle, but when we vote in November it will be an expression of power. We’re not deranged; we’re determined!

    Time to step on the gas, folks! Register, volunteer, donate, and then let’s vote!

  23. 23.

    Al Z.

    The Tunguska event occurred in Russia just a few years before the russian revolution and world war I. The Chelyabinsk meteor exploded over russia just a few years ago. Do I have to connect the dots for you?

  29. 29.

    Citizen_X

    Like Phil Plait keeps telling y’all, it’s never aliens. But (reads comments) nobody listens, right?

  30. 30.

    NotMax

    Rationed them to make ’em last and after six weeks tonight marked the last of the black & white cookies toted back from NY.

    On the plus side, much more room now in the fridge without the big plastic tub they were in hogging the space.

  31. 31.

    Bjacques

    And here I thought it was because they were running low on red mercury and needed cook up some more while Mars is as still bright in the sky.

  32. 32.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    .@AndrewRestuccia and I called many of Kavanaugh’s 65 female HS acquittances who signed a letter supporting him.

    Wow — journalism? Tracking down leads/information? WTF?

    I sort-of keep hoping that one or two other women will come forward about that motherfucker; that might get Jeffy Snowflake and Suzie Creamcheese to decide that it’s safe to vote against Kavanaugh. [“Sort-of” because I don’t wish sexual assault on anyone.]

  34. 34.

    Ella in New Mexico

    Hubby works at WSMR and none of them knew anything about this, although they can see Sunspot from their worksite everyday.
    He and I and the 4 kiddos spent decades camping in the Sacramentos, often just a few miles from Sunspot. We spent many a beautiful summer day there with them, touring the facility and finding the sea-creature embedded rocks that cover the edge of the peak where the site is. It’s an amazing, remote, pristine piece of heaven that inspires and uplifts you because of how cool the research is that is being done there. I’m sure its an incredible dream fulfilled or the handful of otherwise quiet, unassuming scientists and their families who live there. I’m so glad it’s been cleared so they can go back to work.

    And no, it wasn’t aliens. My guess is anti-government types (they’re around in rural NM) or some random, internet inspired Alex Jones nutjob called in a threat.

  35. 35.

    Mary G

    Yesterday I wrote postcards to the 11 Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee and got them mailed off. I also tweeted at them.

    Rebecca Traister has another great essay in NY Mag’s The Cut about women’s anger:

    But this is the way democracy is supposed to work — and the reason these men are getting so upset is that the force of female protest right now feels like it has the potential to shake our power structure to its core.

    It’s an excerpt from her book “Good and Mad,” coming out on October 2. She needs to win a Pulitizer.

    So much great stuff:

    In January 2017, the morning after millions crowded streets around the country (and the world) for the largest single-day political demonstration in US history, George Stephanopoulos didn’t even bring up the Women’s March on his Sunday-morning show. During a 17-minute interview with Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway, he lingered on the details of the president’s inaugural-crowd size, until Conway herself addressed the giant rally against her boss. Even then, Conway had to mention the Women’s March twice before drawing a direct question from her host, who asked, 13 minutes in: “What did the president think of that march?” In Stephanopoulos’s next segment, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer noted that he’d participated in the Women’s March in his home state of New York the day before, and Stephanopoulos responded with only one question, in reference to the profanity in Madonna’s speech: “Were you comfortable with everything you heard?”

    And it wasn’t just Stephanopoulos who shrugged off the political significance of this mass outpouring of female rage. On the Monday after, speaking on Morning Joe to Missouri senator Claire McCaskill, who, in discussion with Mika Brzezinski, had just detailed the marchers’ stated commitments to equal pay, women’s health care, defending Obamacare, environmental activism, and their plans to run for office and volunteer for campaigns leading to the midterms, MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin — a man who’d reported extensively on the tea party’s “huge impact on America” — asked her, with suppurating condescension, “Senator, [can I] just ask you to be a notch more specific” about how the marchers might “impact what’s going on in Washington [this week], not running for [the] school board down the road?”

  38. 38.

    Mary G

    ??? Brett Kavanaugh has just arrived at the White House. Another incredible spot by @abdallahcnn pic.twitter.com/aCyn0Bt3EZ— Allie Malloy (@AlliemalCNN) September 17, 2018

    Running scared? Withdrawing from the nomination? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

    About a year ago a woman came to me with a highly credible and deeply disturbing sexual assault accusation against a current senior government official. Over the past year, I have stayed in touch with her. She has been reluctant to come forward. Moments ago she sent me this text. pic.twitter.com/Wqo9Y818sk— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) September 16, 2018

    I don’t think that’s necessarily about Kavanaugh, but it’s interesting, and his source cites the attacks on Christine Blasey Ford in her text.

  42. 42.

    mostlygrey

    Hey folks, long time lurker(since Mr. Cole was a R). I was hoping for some advice on the pet side of the blog. I recently had a pirate kitty pulled from a shelter in Southern California where she was on the urgent list. I’m up around Portland so I need some transport advice. I’ve been looking at just getting on a plane, picking her up and then getting back on a plane and heading back up here. I’ve been hesitant because I’ve heard you have to remove the cat from the carrier to get through the TSA inspection. I don’t want a scared cat I’ve just met to have to deal with this but from the videos I’ve seen of her, she seems pretty mellow but that’s not in a busy airport. Anyone experienced in transporting kitties?

  43. 43.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Mary G:
    This is nice.

    As for Halperin, he no longer works at MSNBC, after some of his former subordinates, joining the angry female crusade against workplace sexual harassment, accused him of pressing his penis against them.

  50. 50.

    justawriter

    As a news guy I hate dealing with federal law enforcement their standard response to “It’s a nice day” is “We don’t comment on ongoing investigations.” Local cops will tell you if people need to be worried or not. But the feds, to paraphrase a certain mayor, “are not there to create panic, they are there to preserve panic.”

  51. 51.

    Mary G

    One year after alleged sexual assault, Kavanaugh’s friend and alleged accomplice (Mark Judge) thought it great to associate himself with this quote in their high school yearbook 1983:"Certain women should be struck regularly, like gongs"(h/t: @riotwomennn) pic.twitter.com/xmHHK0H7AI— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) September 17, 2018

    It’s attributed to Noel Coward, from his play “Private Lives.”

  53. 53.

    satby

    @mostlygrey: ask if the vet would prescribe a mild tranquilizer just for the trip. It could make things go much more smoothly for you both. I’m reluctant to fly with animals, so I’ve never done it.

  57. 57.

    Aleta

    Kavanaugh is the type of guy who is so OK with Trump’s sex assaults that he’ll proudly stand by him and lie and flatter him as scripted.

    The terrible thing is that if there are other women with stories, it’s likely they can’t afford the damage from talking in public.

    At least, thanks to Anita Hill and others speaking about it from time to time, we better understand how high the price is even for an exceptional woman.

    But once again it’s our country’s loss that women who can speak to the character of powerful men are threatened this way, and year after year it’s largely accepted as ‘only fair.’ A kind of brainwashing.

  61. 61.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @MagdaInBlack: I see a couple of comments about hazardous substances. Here’s a scenario that fits the official statement and the possibility of hazardous substances. Person (or alien) says that they’ve spread novichok in selected places – you’ll find out the hard way, heh heh heh. Or I think there’s a telescope with a mercury mirror – they say they sabotaged that to release the mercury at a predetermined time.

    So it could be both.

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: I thought black and white cookies were sort of a shortbread cookie, the “black” being chocolate and the “white” being the regular shortbread. I would kill for those.

  65. 65.

    SFAW

    @eric:

    how about asking McConnell if he knew of the allegations and when he learned of them?

    Suggesting that McConnell knew is as ludicrous as suggesting he resisted (in 2016) publicizing Russian interference in the election.

    I also believe wholeheartedly that getting 65 of Kavanaugh’s female high school classmates to sign a statement is the kind of thing that can be accomplished in about 90 minutes, so I would NEVER believe that Grassley and McConnell knew about the “problem” weeks ago, and had their staffs round up signatures, “just in case” some nutcase came forward with a baseless accusation. And besides, it’s DiFi’s fault because she didn’t tell her colleagues about this earlier.

  69. 69.

    Martin

    @Cheryl Rofer: The main telescope – the big tower thing has a mercury bearing in it. The telescope is one piece, about 300′ long and descends about 200′ underground. It hangs from a mercury bearing located at the top of the tower. So it’s not a small amount of mercury by any means. Possible some of the other telescopes have mercury bearings as well – they are very useful for stabilizing optics.

    Also, a convenient coverup for George Soros and the democrats to relocate their kiddie sex rings from the basements of America’s pizzerias to liberal elite run scientific facilities.

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    @Ella in New Mexico: Security threat? Naw, the aliens have landed. ?

    More seriously, if anti-government types think they can freely take over federal facilities, we got a new and serious problem in this age of Trump.

  71. 71.

    Amir Khalid

    @SFAW:
    They weren’t Kavanaugh’s classmates. He went to an all-boys high school. Several women commenters here who went to all-girls schools have said it is unlikely he knew that many girls from school.

  72. 72.

    SFAW

    @Amir Khalid:

    They weren’t Kavanaugh’s classmates. He went to an all-boys high school.

    Well, how do you know they weren’t boys in those days, but have “pursued other paths” since then?

    Anyway, thanks for the correction. I had forgotten about the all-boys thing, and I obviously didn’t listen to the news reports as closely as I should have. I blame Obama or Hitlary for that.

  76. 76.

    NotMax

    @Martin

    From, of all places, Costco. Sold there in packs of 24.

    Russ and Daughters (and the separate associated cafe) are great, but a trek to get to. Did manage to get to Yonah Schimmel for some real old-time knishes.

  81. 81.

    Elizabelle

    NPR reporting WikiLeaks has suffered a data leak. Poor babies.

    SkyNews: Leak reveals Julian Assange plan to escape Britain and flee to Russia
    Leak shows plans for the WikiLeaks founder to escape Britian and gain a visa to travel to Russia in 2010.

    A new leak of internal WikiLeaks files reveals that Julian Assange attempted to flee Britain for Russia as authorities closed in on him.

    The founder of site – which revealed secret American documents to the world – wrote to the Russian consulate in London in 2010 in the hopes of gaining a visa to the country.

    “I, Julian Assange, hereby grant full authority to my friend, Israel Shamir, to both drop off and collect my passport, in order to get a visa,” said the letter, which has been obtained and published by the Associated Press.

    The letter was leaked to the news agency along with WikiLeaks emails, chat logs, financial records, secretly recorded footage and other documents.

    On 30 November 2010, the same day as the letter is dated, Interpol issued a Red Notice seeking Assange’s arrest – essentially preventing any relocation to Russia.

    AP showed the documents to former WikiLeaks associates and verified non-public details such as bank accounts, telephone numbers or airline tickets to check the authenticity of the files.

    Assange’s relationship with Russia is of interest to America, with the FBI claiming Russia’s military intelligence agency directly gave WikiLeaks stolen emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman and other Democratic figures ahead of the 2016 US presidential election.

    I would really like Ecuador to throw that grifter’s ass out on the pavement. Shamir claims memory problems. Leaks also include advice by human rights lawyer that Assange jump bail and flee. Plus wikileaks organization strategizing how to fundraise to assist Assange.

  83. 83.

    pat

    So Kavanaugh went to a Catholic boys’ school, the Catholic church is still against birth control of any kind, so how is it that he has only two daughters?

  86. 86.

    Martin

    @NotMax: Trek? It’s 2 blocks from Yonah Schimmel. You’ll barely have your knish eaten by the time you get there. ;)

    Haven’t seen B&W at Costco, but Trader Joes does have an acceptable offering.

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    @M31: I saw that earlier, and I’m glad to see someone following up.

    But she/he needs to say how many were called. 24 declined to reply, 2 declined to comment, and only 2 stood by him. Without more information on the # called, that number could be as low as 28.

  90. 90.

    The Midnight Lurker

    “We’ve got a list of 65 women who went to High School with Brett Kavanaugh, who all say he was the ‘kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being’ they have ever known in their lives. Wait! make that 57. No, wait! Make that two.”

  91. 91.

    NotMax

    @Martin

    Yeah, but lugging a couple dozen of them around while doing other stuff in the city, especially with outside temps in the nineties, would not have been an optimal choice.

  97. 97.

    MagdaInBlack

    @pat:
    Funny, that, all these R’s with the standard 2.3 children, or none at all……Newt, Rush….
    Not that I’m not grateful they did’t reproduce, but sure makes ya wonder.

  101. 101.

    scav

    English is a big language, no need to grab for classmate when there’s congregant or friend or, well, technically some kind of neighbor or age-grade co-resident.

  103. 103.

    pat

    @MagdaInBlack:
    I had a Catholic friend who, after the 4th or 5th child, had a private talk with God. He said sure, it’s OK if you go on the pill…

    And there’s no doubt that the Catholics are using birth control. Where are the huge families?
    You can’t be a republican (or a Catholic) without being a hypocrite.

  105. 105.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy: Yes. that. What’s my brother in law line, he is sure he can find 65 women in his highchool class who will say he never sexually assaulted them, on the other hand he can’t imagine he regularly interacted acted with more than twenty women at the most in High School so what exactly is the point of that letter? Not to mention Mr Big Spender went to an all boys school…

  107. 107.

    Mart

    In five years the Ancient Alien guy will be saying; “Could it be that the Sunspot observatory in New Mexico was commandeered by…” Of course it is absolutely true that aliens overran the facility. Our lamestream fake news media, in cahoots with 17 democrats, big brother, the deep state, and the freaking aliens – will hide this shocking story from us from the basement of Comet Pizza.

  108. 108.

    PAM Dirac

    @WaterGirl: I have a Facebook friend who says she knows about 40 of the signees. First, she said she wouldn’t be surprised if they organized this in one day, these people are that focused. Second, she says she wouldn’t be surprised if this was selective memory on their part, especially since the victim wasn’t in the Catholic girls school crowd. Also a reflexive defense of someone who part of the Bethesda crowd. It still does mean that the letter has any value in determining whether the victim is telling the truth, but does suggest that people should focus on the lack of relevant details in the letter and not on the mechanics of generating it. The follow up seems to be showing that saying “He’s a great guy” is quite different from saying “I know he didn’t commit this assault”.

  109. 109.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t think they are going to make it. He’s a terrible nominee.

    Put the pressure on Lisa Murkowski and the deplorably careerist Susan Collins. Anyone else you can think of. Possibly wavering Democrats too.

    Message: we’ll take Merrick Garland being nominated. If not, no more Trump USSC nominees until the Mueller investigation has played out, including through the Courts. We are safer with 8 Justices than we are with Trump picking someone solely for his own benefit.

  110. 110.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: Also, I hope Maine can come up with a good Democratic or even independent challenger to Susan Collins. I would relish a summer and fall in Maine. (Know it gets cold early there.)

    Maine needs to step up its game WRT Senate representation. I am sick of Susie/Lucy with the football drama. Enough.

  112. 112.

    Aleta

    @M31: Wild guess at the reason: it isn’t b/c these women are reconsidering their support. It’s that they permitted use of their names because their GOP scratch-my-back network asked, and they saw benefit in agreeing, or didn’t care. To answer questions would expose too much. I’d love to see someone work out who’s at the center of the wheel, how the spokes are connected.

  114. 114.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Aleta:

    Kavanaugh is the type of guy who is so OK with Trump’s sex assaults that he’ll proudly stand by him and lie and flatter him as scripted.

    Except this Transactional Donny, Trump is going to want a judge Trump has something over, so that begs the question “How does Mr Kavanaugh behave with women as an adult, as in there anyone getting paid hush money for a a so called unfortunate misunderstanding?”

  115. 115.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: I will definitely swing by Massachusetts and meet you!

    Collins is up in 2020. May she be taken out in an even stronger blue wave than the tsunami we will see this fall.

  116. 116.

    Haroldo

    A question: has Grassley always been this much of a doddering fool or has he really fallen off the ledge?

    A statement: the only thing that will work is getting Kavanaugh to withdraw his nomination. I agree with the earlier comments stating that the Committee nonsense is Kubuki theatre. McConnell will, I think, put this to a complete Senate vote no matter what occurs in Committee.

  119. 119.

    The Midnight Lurker

    @Haroldo: “A question: has Grassley always been this much of a doddering fool or has he really fallen off the ledge?”
    Is this a trick question?

  121. 121.

    Elizabelle

    @Aleta: No idea what Manchin will do. But we should contact him, and Heitkamp and anyone else in Red State America. Although, they all now have the very best of fig leaves. Respect the women. Believe them and don’t vote for Kavanaugh.

    I think it’s sad that senators couldn’t just vote against him because he’s not qualified and obviously nominated to prop up Trump’s criminal orange ass. No profiles in courage among the Republicans. Sad!

  125. 125.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    Late to this OT as usual, but for all the CA residents here:

    Thanks to tremendous grassroots support throughout California, SB 1421 was passed out of the Legislature. It now sits on Governor Brown’s desk, for his signature.

    SB 1421 will restore Californians’ right to know whether and how departments investigate and hold accountable officers who use force, plant evidence or sexually assault civilians.

    Another major victory for advocates for police transparency and accountability was the passage of a bill that requires California police departments to release body worn camera videos of critical incidents in most cases within 45 days.

    California Legislature passes major police transparency measures on internal investigations and body cameras LA Times 8.31.18 http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-police-transparency-bill-passes-20180831-story.html

    Please Call Gov. Brown. 916-445-2841 Demand he sign SB1421 and SB1303 – They are sitting on his desk!!!

    Simple Script:

    “Hello my name is ________ and I live in ________ CA, zip code_______, and I’m calling today to urge Governor Brown to sign SB-1421 and SB-1303. CA needs and deserves more transparency into the accountability of our police and all critical incidents.”

  126. 126.

    Ellenr

    @mostlygrey: Yes, some years ago I had to get a cat from its former home in Philadelphia to Michigan. I had met this cat once. Large cat. When they told me to take him out of the carrier, I couldn’t believe it. But it was OK: the cat was so frightened by the environment, he just clung to me for safety. I’d been petting him and talking to him all the way to the airport. Got right back into the carrier after it was xrayed. So it will probably be OK, but it still seems like a ridiculous practice.

  127. 127.

    Haroldo

    @The Midnight Lurker: Well, yes and no.

    He is, of course, a Republican elected to the Senate in 1980. (I think.) But Republicans of that vintage, while vile, were not publicly bat-shit crazy. (Mind you, i was out of the country for most the 90s and I wasn’t able to follow ol’ Chuck’s trajectory in person.) But maybe they were, and I just wasn’t paying that much attention That’s why I asked.
    .
    The hatred, vitriol, and blatant, unapologetic stupidity (and cupidity) all out in the open on the part of all the Repubs is, relatively speaking, new to me.

  128. 128.

    TenguPhule

    As I suspected, it was a threat against personnel there.

    By what? All of the anti-government folks are either in or fully supporting the current regime of terror.

  130. 130.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    “How does one tell if a grinder is being used for ganja? Does it smell of the stuff?”

    Yes, and they aren’t of a design that would usefully work for most other substances. Like spicy seeds and such.

    @sm*t cl*de:

    concave lenses and can therefore focus anti-photons and let you see antimatter

    You gotta be kidding me…. wait, uh, Florida, OK, never mind…

  131. 131.

    J R in WV

    @SFAW:

    I also believe wholeheartedly that getting 65 of Kavanaugh’s female high school classmates to sign a statement is the kind of thing that can be accomplished in about 90 minutes…

    No! It is impossible for anyone to round up ANY female classmates of Kavanaugh’s high school… it was an all male school, so they didn’t have to compete with those nasty female strivers. And also so all those female students wouldn’t be assaulted by the very naughty drunken male students, too!

  132. 132.

    J R in WV

    @pat:

    …how is it that he has only two daughters?

    .

    He has only had sex with his wife twice, ever. She didn’t like it so very much with him. But now they’re stuck with each other, Catholics, so I hear, can’t get a diivorce… Sad!

  133. 133.

    mostlygrey

    @Ellenr: Thank you. I figured someone here had first-hand experience. It’s kind of looking like this is what’s going to happen. I guess a good nail trim will be in order.

  134. 134.

    Peocopius

    @Jeffro: Leonhardt is wrong. The Democratic party has not moved far to the left. They moved farther to the right. Just not as far as the Republicans. They call it “moving to the Center,” but it’s really the Right.

  135. 135.

    Peocopius

    @SFAW: Errr… Minor quibble. They weren’t Kavanaugh’s “classmates.” Kavanaugh went to a Boys Only high school. He did not have female classmates. These were girls who attended five different high schools in the same years he was at the prep school. I don’t know how far away from Georgetown Preparatory School those five schools are; how often did GPS have social affairs that invited girls from those schools; how did these girls manage to go to so many of those social affairs that they got well acquainted with Kavanaugh. How many of the girls at those schools remember Kavanaugh (who admits to having been a lush at the time) as being a pig?

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