Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

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

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

“But what about the lurkers?”

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

White supremacy is terrorism.

The jury literally has a bell they can ring to force Trump to show up on command. Greatest thing ever!

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

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

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / A Woman's Place Is In The House / Profiles In Courage, Continued

Profiles In Courage, Continued

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Christine Blasey Ford and her family have had to move out of their house.

The New York Times has a very short article saying that she may not come to the hearing on Monday. It was much longer before, and included this paragraph. It may grow again, or they may do a separate article on the attacks on Blasey. According to the previous version of the article, she prefers using her maiden name professionally. There were lots of problems with the earlier version that I spotted, starting with introducing her as “the woman,”  but I lack the patience to go into them now.

Mark Judge, who Blasey has said was in the room when Kavanaugh attacked her and who has written two books about being a teenage alcoholic, has said he will not testify to Congress.

This was, of course, entirely predictable. Christine Blasey Ford is a brave woman. I hope the police can bring her harassers to justice.

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    TaMara (HFG)

    [[Looks at B-J]].
    [[Looks at FB]]
    [[Looks at Twitter]]
    [[Turns on Maddow*]]
    [[Shuts off everything and walks the dogs]]

    ETA: *DVR-ing Clinton, will watch when I’ve decompressed

  4. 4.

    B.B.A.

    Kavanaugh wants this, the disgusting sociopathic piece of shit. I bet he remembers everything and his only regret is that he wasn’t amoral enough to do it himself 35 years ago.

    …I should lie down.

  5. 5.

    James E Powell

    Harassment, hacking, and death threats are pretty much the reflexive response of RWers to everyone and everything they hate. But it’s also done to deter any other victims from coming forward.

    Was it orchestrated by the Republicans? No. Their mob has been trained & rewarded for this kind of behavior for years. The Republicans know they will do it without marching orders.

  6. 6.

    TenguPhule

    Mark Judge, who Blasey has said was in the room when Kavanaugh attacked her and who has written two books about being a teenage alcoholic, has said he will not testify to Congress.

    I vaguely remember when testifying before Congress wasn’t optional. I believe they were called the Clinton years.

  7. 7.

    Chetan Murthy

    Jackals,

    I’m a guy, and this is sickening. I’ve called my rep/senators (all women, huzzah!) I’ve called Sens Gillibrand, Hirono (huzzah, again!), McCaskill, to thank them for what they’re doing in this godforsaken shitstorm.

    But it doesn’t seem like there’s anything I can do. So I’m asking: is there something else I should be doing, to support Dr. Ford? Yes, donate $$. Yes, get involved in campaigns. But this is a -person- who’s sticking theirself and their family into the buzzsaw, for all of us. I feel like, if there’s something we should be doing, it’d be nice to know.

    I’m at the point where I want to start calling GrOPer senators’ offices, to shame the staffers (“What do you think your mother things about the man you work for?”; yeah, there are a few women there, but hey, it’s pretty high-accuracy even as it is).

    Gah.

    Anybody have any advice? [I emailed the law firm and offered my support, suggested that if it ever becomes relevant, they should tell us as a people what we could be doing ….]

  8. 8.

    Amir Khalid

    This is horrible. It’s yet another shameful instance of the victim in a sexual assault being stigmatised more than the wrongdoer. The only good I can hope for out of this is that Brett Kavanaugh comes to be widely seen as unfit for the Supreme Court, which he plainly is; and that Dr Ford, who was very brave in coming forward knowing gets as much of her life back as possible.

  9. 9.

    TenguPhule

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Grassley scheduled the public hearing expecting her to testify “at the same table” as Kavanaugh.

    Its almost as if they want to make her suffer as much as possible.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    @Cheryl Rofer: Christ. I knew Grassley wanted them to testify on the same day, but having them sit right next to each other? What’s next, determining truth via trial by combat?

  11. 11.

    TenguPhule

    White House officials engaged in a two-hour practice session, known as a murder board, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with Kavanaugh, where he answered questions on his past, his partying, his dating and the accuser’s account. Participants included McGahn, deputy chief of staff Bill Shine, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Raj Shah, who is leading communications.

    This can’t possibly end well.

  13. 13.

    TenguPhule

    @dmsilev:

    What’s next, determining truth via trial by combat?

    Ted Cruz will use a sandbox and a plastic toy dog to demonstrate that Kavanaugh lacked the necessary turn radius to cover Ford’s mouth.

  18. 18.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I find it astonishing that republicans seem to think women seek to benefit personally from making sexual assault allegations.

    That’s because Republicans think that every victim is looking for a payout.

  19. 19.

    dmsilev

    Also, quoting from her attorneys’ letter, it isn’t just being at the same table as her abuser:

    While Dr. Ford’s life was being turned upside down, you and your staff scheduled a public hearing for her to testify at the same table as Judge Kavanaugh in front of two dozen U.S. Senators on national television to relive this traumatic and harrowing incident. The hearing was scheduled for six short days from today and would include interrogation by Senators who appear to have made up their minds that she is “mistaken” and “mixed up.”

    As we all well know, the GOP Senators have already made up their mind about this assault, and they’re clearly trying to just hold a farce of an “investigation”. I’m glad that Prof. Ford’s advocates are saying as much explicitly.

  21. 21.

    Aleta

    Judge can say whatever; he should be called anyway and made to plead the 5th. If there were a hearing, and if witnesses were allowed that is. Which Republicans cannot afford to risk, because Kavanaugh might appear to have lied again. Especially if a witness were to say that he was probably there, or that the description matches his neighbors’ house or something.

  22. 22.

    Omnes Omnibus

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Given that Republicans lie all the time for their own personal benefit (“the Trump tax cut primarily benefits the middle class!”), I’m astonished that you’re astonished. They assume everyone acts the same way they do.

  30. 30.

    Amir Khalid

    @TenguPhule:
    Murder board is the term of art for this kind of practice session. Its use here is not in itself suggestive of anything untoward. But if the White House needs to coach Kavanaugh on ducking awkward questions about past behaviour, maybe President Stable Genius should have vetted his potential appointee in the first place — you know, to avoid someone with questionable behaviour in their past.

  31. 31.

    eemom

    It’s neither there nor here, really….but I wonder how many of the mouth-foaming morons threatening her have the slightest idea what they’re outraged about, or what a Supreme Court confirmation is all about, or who the fuck Kavanaugh even is.

  32. 32.

    Cheryl Rofer

  33. 33.

    Aleta

    @dmsilev: Grassley has denied it. I hope the negotiations alone bring about the end of his tenure and leave him permanently stained, thanks to his support for Trump.

    (CNBC) Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Tuesday canceled a crucial committee meeting where members were expected to hold a vote to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.
    The announcement is a win for the committee’s 10 Democrats, who called for a delay in Kavanaugh’s proceedings.

  34. 34.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    they don’t want to alienate women, want to protect Kavanaugh’s rep., want to keep majority.

    Can’t get ’em all. Like my ex-brother-in-law, the architect, always said: “budget, schedule, quality: pick two.”

  37. 37.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @eemom: I got nothin on this whole thing, beyond outrage. But I’ll take the under on about 150.

  41. 41.

    TenguPhule

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Like my ex-brother-in-law, the architect, always said: “budget, schedule, quality: pick two.”

    I thought that joke was downsized to “Pick one. And pray.”

  42. 42.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    I seriously wonder what McCain would be saying about this farce of a process if he were still alive. As much as a piece of shit he was, he cared a lot about procedure and process and this has been a total shitshow from start to finish.

    On Wikipedia’s entry for the 115th Congress, this quoted paragraph perfectly encapsulates the modern GOP over the last 18 months:

    “Despite unified party control…, House and Senate GOP majorities struggled to legislate: GOP fissures and an undisciplined, unpopular president frequently undermined the Republican agenda. Most notably, clashes within and between the two parties strained old ways of doing business. In response, Republicans dodged, bent, or reinterpreted several institutional constraints in pursuit of their party’s legislative priorities.”

    This is what you get with minority rule. Absolute chaos and authoritarian dysfunction. The GOP has not only been undermined by their own pathologies but also by their more numerous opponents using every tool at their disposal because they rightly know that their rights and way of life are under threat.

  44. 44.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Gin & Tonic: it’s actually sequential. They can’t keep their majority if they alienate women. And they can’t avoid alienating women unless they can rehabilitate Kavenaugh without being assholes about it.

    So basically they can’t keep their majority.

  45. 45.

    debbie

    What does it say about this country that the first reaction is always to issue a death threats? And heaven forfend any conservative speak out against this.

  51. 51.

    TenguPhule

    @debbie:

    What does it say about this country that the first reaction is always to issue a death threats?

    Be grateful the nuts are still giving us advanced warning?

  54. 54.

    TenguPhule

    Chinese officials in Beijing said they would meet the 10 percent tariffs that Trump announced Monday on nearly $200 billion in imports with similar measures on $60 billion in U.S. products. If that occurs, Trump has said he will “immediately” begin the process of applying tariffs to all Chinese items entering the United States.

    The showdown comes as Chinese officials were preparing to travel to Washington for new talks aimed at resolving the months-old trade dispute. Negotiations earlier this year failed to make much progress and it remains unclear whether Chinese officials will resume bargaining in the wake of the president’s latest escalation.

    As hopes dim for an early end to the conflict, the likelihood grows that the two countries are moving toward some sort of commercial divorce. Some analysts anticipate an economic partition reminiscent of the globe-splitting divide between the United States and the Soviet Union following World War II.

    “We’re probably talking about a world with two centers: a China-centered economic domain . . . and another centered on the United States,” said Aaron Friedberg, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University, who handled China policy as an aide to Vice President Richard B. Cheney in the George W. Bush administration. “It’s heading toward a bifurcated global economy.”

    Such a fundamental reshaping of the U.S.-China commercial relationship after nearly four decades of growing interdependence would ripple through the global economy, shaking financial markets, reordering business supply chains and perhaps even raising the danger of military conflict, analysts said.

    New U.S.-China tariffs raise fears of an economic Cold War

  56. 56.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    Another stray observation:

    McConnell said many years ago of the Dems that they overreached when they passed the ACA. However, they the Democrats had a broader popular mandate than the GOP could ever claim, considering all of the structural advantages they enjoy that make it easier for them to command a majority without winning a majority of votes. Would McConnell ever admit that he has overreached?

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    God Fucking DAMN! This upsets me so much, I can hardly focus. I hate these god damned fucking excuses for protoplasm. What a fucking waste of oxygen they are.

  62. 62.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @TenguPhule:
    I probably should have asked, “Would he ever think, should his party lose the midterm elections, that the Republican party has overreached and that is why they lost?

  63. 63.

    TenguPhule

    Man who ate 100 plates of sushi banned from all-you-can-eat buffet

    German triathlete Jaroslav Bobrowski knows how to get his money’s worth.

    A few nights ago, he went out to enjoy an all-you-can-eat buffet in Landshut, Germany. He follows a special diet, fasting for 20 hours at a stretch. So when he sat down to enjoy the $18.49 meal, he was ready to eat.

    And eat.

    And eat.

    In a matter of minutes, Bobrowski polished off 100 plates of food. Eater estimates that he consumed as much as 18 pounds of sushi, or 4,000 calories.

    The restaurant’s owner said that Bobrowski’s consumption was “not normal” and that he ate as much as five diners normally would. (He also declined to buy any booze, a blow to the restaurant’s bottom line.)

    “I myself am dead after 13 plates, but he always took five or seven plates at a time,” said the owner, who gave his name as Tan, according the Local, a news website. “So there was a gap on the sushi carousel and the other guests asked if we had skimped on the fish. I want to win customers and not offend any guests. But … we only earn money on the drinks and he only consumed one tea the whole evening.”

  64. 64.

    Chetan Murthy

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    This upsets me so much, I can hardly focus.

    And what’s even more crazy-making, is that there doesn’t seem to be *anything* we can do, to help this woman, who’s being nailed to the goddamn cross for our sins. I mean, yes, it’s already crazy-making that she’s being nailed up there, but dammit, can’t we -do- something to help her? She’s doing it for all of *us*. All. Of. Us.

  65. 65.

    Martin

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    But, lawmakers are balancing several GOP goals as they plod forward: they don’t want to alienate women, want to protect Kavanaugh’s rep., want to keep majority.

    Holy fuck, that ship sailed 2 years ago. My daughter is 17 and is now in a 1-on-1 private school, because among other things, the harassment by the boys in her middle and high school was so bad it was a major contributing factor to her attempted suicide. She’s watching everything from Trump to Kavanaugh and everything in between and all she wants is to be treated with respect. I’d put her odds of ever voting for a Republican in her entire life at about 0%. She views the GOP the same way my black friends view the GOP – as an existential threat.

  68. 68.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @TenguPhule:
    Boy, Xi, that red-carpet treatment for Trump really paid off didn’t it? /s

    These fools are no different than R officials claiming they could control or manipulate him. They’ve been played too and Trump can’t be trusted because he’s not a good faith rational actor.

  71. 71.

    Chetan Murthy

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Uh, I wouldn’t assume that Xi is a chump. Did you read about China, Russia, Iran and (ding ding ding ding) Europe (not just “Europe”,but the EU) setting up a non-dollar payment system, not run by the US, thru which payments could be routed?

    None of that matters, unless some of Europe, JP, SK, Australia are in it. And guess what? Europe is onboard.

    Someday we’re going to have to learn what it means to live in a world without our “exhorbitant privilege”. It’ll be a rude awakening for us all. Dammit. Dammit.

  74. 74.

    Chetan Murthy

    Florida Jackals, I have another bleg.

    I tried to find a mailing address for Bill Nelson’s campaign, so I could send him a check. And failed. Do any of you have any idea what the address would be?

    Yeah: I really procrastinated here. But I’m lining up to send out, like 19 checks tomorrow, and would really like to send one of them to Sen. Nelson. So if any of you know somebody who knows somebody ….

  76. 76.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Nah, they’re much smarter than Trump, they tried the honey first, now come the vinegar. Trump’s used to having folk(organized crime either Italian or Russian) pull his ass out of the fire when things get hot. There’s no one there to do it this time. Vlad? Nope,he’s back in Moscow laughing his ass off.

  77. 77.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Chetan Murthy:
    Why the fuck is the EU working with Russia on anything? This is the same country that’s trying to destroy Europe by forcing mass migrations and exacerbating ethnic and poltical divisions. The same country that is a neo-fascist regime that is a global threat. Trump is in power in part due to Russia.

  81. 81.

    randy khan

    The idea that they’d have them testify at the same time can only be intended to intimidate her. That, plus the earlier report that the Republicans were considering having female staff question her, really shows a talent for terrible optics.

    I seriously wonder if they’ve figured out that, at this point, confirming him easily could cost them the Senate. They’re sure acting like they haven’t.

  84. 84.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    I know but I sometimes have a hard time comprehending someone as depraved and amoral as McConnell. People have to have principles that they hold themselves to and his massive hypocrisy and indifference to standards in pursuit of power throws me

  85. 85.

    randy khan

    @Aleta:

    Judge can say whatever; he should be called anyway and made to plead the 5th. If there were a hearing, and if witnesses were allowed that is. Which Republicans cannot afford to risk, because Kavanaugh might appear to have lied again. Especially if a witness were to say that he was probably there, or that the description matches his neighbors’ house or something.

    If he isn’t called, the Dems should scream bloody murder – mostly to point out that the person who supposedly can corroborate Kavanaugh’s account is scared of being questioned under oath, but also to demand that he be called to see if he really will take the Fifth.

  86. 86.

    Chetan Murthy

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: They’re not “working with Russia”. They’re trying to keep their economies running and (by-the-by) keep Iran in the JCPOA.

    B/c they understand that Iran with nukes means Saudi, Egypt with nukes. And (yeah) the Wahhabis with nukes would be bad for human life.

  91. 91.

    Chetan Murthy

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    He’s a Republican.

    Here’s a way to think of it: “respect the work”. [metaphorical aside] I have a friend who’s looking for a job. He got offers from two firms, and one of them was prima facie better. So he accepts it, tells the other firm. They “improve” the offer, try to convince him to break his other acceptance. Except, uh, their “improvement” wasn’t really an improvement: they misrepresented things *wildly*. Both the recruiter and the hiring VP misrepresented. And I mean *wildly*. When I asked him a few questions and then explained the subterfuge, he was REALLY PISSED. Spitting mad. So I said the same thing: “respect the work”.

    Yeah, they’re evil fucking bastards. But Mitch is a *virtuoso* at this shit. I mean, his stature is nearly to that of Nancy Pelosi (and she’s one of the most consequential pols of our era, FFS). Mitch is that, just …. in negative.

  93. 93.

    Ruckus

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:
    You’ve never met someone who will do ANYTHING for money have you? McConnell gets paid to be exactly the shitheel that he’s being. Not by us of course but by those who can easily afford buying someone with no morals, scruples, or principles.
    People wonder why I have posted many times about term limits. McConnell is the reason. There are over 300 million of us and McConnell was elected by less than 300,000 votes. If he were officially in the mob, he’d be the enforcer, but with a different kind of power than a gun/poison/rope/car/5th floor window….

  94. 94.

    Chetan Murthy

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    (1) whups, I meant to reply to Goku, not you, Bill.

    (2) Goku, have you read _On Bullshit_ by Harry Frankfurt? He explains that a great way for somebody to convince you that “proposition X” is true, is to be seen by you as “sincerely believing that X is true”. He explains how that basically means that you cannot derive any truth-value from Mitch McConnell’s sincere belief in “proposition X”.

    Here’s the thing: you’re expecting evil people to be either *imbeciles* or *transparent liars*, I think. But it turns out, there are really talented people who are also evil.

    Like Yertle.

  95. 95.

    sukabi

    @TenguPhule: Pretty sure Grassley’s “cluelessness” is by design. If the conditions for her testimony are as uncomfortable as they can make them and she opts out they can dismiss her as a crank. Grassley was all “she’s not responding to our emails” on the same day they were sent. Think I saw somewhere yesterday he was trying to set up a conference call between them (Dr. Ford and Kavanaugh) so they could “work it out”.

  96. 96.

    Chetan Murthy

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    You’ve never met someone who will do ANYTHING for money have you?

    Goku, have you watched _Glengarry Glenross_? I think it’s worth watching. I spent 10+ years working with I/T salesfolk in Ye Olde Gynormous IT Company. And the best of them are like Al Pacino in that movie. It was …. amazing watching them work. Also, I learned a healthy respect and disdain for the entire process. But really, you should watch it. And remember that those techniques can be used to sell *anything* from vacuum cleaners, to computers, to software, to traitorous pussy-grabbing Putinfelchers.

  99. 99.

    Gravenstone

    @Cheryl Rofer: It’s like the old joke, ‘on time, on spec, on cost – choose any two of the three’. Only thing is, the Republicans are really going to struggle to pull off even one of their troika.

  102. 102.

    Chetan Murthy

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Bullshit.

    Bill, maybe you’re right. But nobody ever lost an existential fight, for overestimating their opponent. And this is an existential fight.

    Also, I think the way he stymied the Dems and Our President, was brilliant. He held together his caucus like a champ. It’s ok (even, *healthy*) for us to disagree on this point.

  104. 104.

    Chetan Murthy

    @OldDave: I went thru to the last page, wherein it asks for a credit card. 3% fees. Over 18 Governors and Senators, that’s about half a Senator. Over 70 Reps, that’s a lot more.

  105. 105.

    rekoob

    The version I’ve heard is “Good/Fast/Cheap — pick two”. Things that are good and fast won’t be cheap, things that are good and cheap won’t be fast, things that are fast and cheap won’t be good.

  110. 110.

    Jay

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    They are doing it for their freedom and soverignity.

    In the past decade the US has gone from using financial sanctions as a scapel, to a club, beating Allies and Enemies alike, and not careing.

    Now that the US has proven itself to be governed by Madmen, and will always remain one election away from another bout of insanity,

    The World now sees a need for a financial system for international trade that the US is not part of and cannot sanction.

  111. 111.

    Llelldorin

    I know Obama kept exhorting us “Don’t get mad, vote,” but I’m fucking doing both at the same time. I’m just hoping I don’t dig the pen right through my ballot and wreck the voting booth.

  112. 112.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Jay: Jay is right. And [IIRC} he’s a Canadian, so he’s even being patriotic. As an American, I must grieve. I sure don’t ask the citizens of other countries, no matter how stalwart ally they are, to do so: that’d be STUPID.

  113. 113.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Jay:

    and will always remain one election away from another bout of insanity,

    I dispute how long this will last. The GOP will be destroyed.

    international trade that the US is not part of and cannot sanction.

    What do you mean, “not part of”?

  115. 115.

    Jay

    “I dispute how long this will last. The GOP will be destroyed.”

    Nope. While by 2040, the majority in the US population will be “blended”, 15 States will have 70% of the population. The “empty” States will have 70 Senator and the Electoral College majority.

    “What do you mean, not part of?”

    Not part of. Not a member, no US Dollars involved, no US Banks involved, no US Data networks involved.

    As an example, Chinese trade with Canada is getting hit big time by the US Trade War with China. That’s because as a low volume importer on most items, it used to be cheaper for Chinese goods to enter US Ports, then head north to Canada. Until we set up different shipping routes to avoid the US, Canadian imports of Chinese goods will be affected by the US Tariffs. It takes a few years to set up new Supply Chains, but the Insane Clown POSus has shown us that the extra cost is worth it, as the US is no longer a rational actor.

  116. 116.

    Chetan Murthy

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    What do you mean, “not part of”?

    Just to add some detail to what Jay said: For many companies in many countries, even if they don’t want to trade with a company in the US, they need to convert -thru- dollars to convert the currency in which they’re paid into their home-country currency (or some currency in which they can pay their creditors). This is a big deal, and is part of why American can run massvie trade deficits year-after-year: b/c everybody needs dollars at some point in their trading workflow.

    Here’s a real-life example (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/barack-obama/obama-era-license-aimed-let-iran-convert-money-dollars-n880506):

    The report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed that under President Barack Obama, the Treasury Department issued a license in February 2016, never previously disclosed, that would have allowed Iran to convert $5.7 billion it held at a bank in Oman from Omani rials into euros by exchanging them first into U.S. dollars.

    Y’see, the market in rial->Euro is pretty thin, so you can’t get a good rate. But the market in rial->$$ and $$->Euro? Those are much, much deeper. So the spreads are much, much thinner.

  117. 117.

    S. K. Fay

    @Chetan Murthy: Hi, delurking to give you the address–since this is a dead thread, will try again in a more recent thread:

    Bill Nelson for U.S. Senate
    Attn: Greg Goddard
    2655 S. Bayshore Drive, #101
    Miami, FL 33133

    Took me a while, and two emails, to get this address.

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