Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

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

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. don’t touch it.”

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Gauntlets, Thrown

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Gauntlets, Thrown

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The usual Media Village Idiots witter about the ‘inevitability’ of Justice Kavanaugh, but full marks to our Democrats for standing up.



I’d give better-than-even odds that some new ugliness falls out of Kavanaugh’s closet before next Monday, and (if he’s got any sense, which seems to be an open question) he withdraws his name with a great display high moral dudgeon, before going on to a long career on the Wingnut Welfare Karnival circuit.

And if his fellow Repubs have any sense, they’ll be looking to pry that bad news out before Kavanaugh’s confirmation, because we know it’ll be worse for all of them when it seeps once he’s, Murphy the Trickster God forbid, seated on the bench wearing the GOP logo on his fine new robe. There are plenty of equally qualified-on-paper Staunch Constitutional Conservatives who could go about the business of turning the clock back a hundred years or so — look at Neal Gorsuch — while doing a more professional job of looking impartial and unbiased.

Of course, none of the Federalist Society’s pre-vetted choices have demonstrated the same tender concern for the feelings of an Oval Office Occupant like the current one, but then, Trump’s probably worn out his usefulness to the Greedy Old Perverts already…

Reader Interactions

200Comments

  1. 1.

    satby

    Bari Weis seems woefully misinformed about what happens to other 17 year olds who get caught doing the same thing, get prosecuted, and end up for life on sex offender lists. They have a hard time getting jobs other than dishwasher.
    The GOP is delighted to have 17 year old girls suffer lifetime consequences even of rape if they get pregnant as a result. Lifetime consequences for thee, not me. Not when “me” is a preppy white boy of wealth.

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “What about the deeper, moral, cultural, like, the ethical question here? Let’s say he did this exactly as she said. Should the fact that a 17 year old, presumably very drunk kid, did this, should this be disqualifying?”

    Let us say, for the sake of argument, that he did it and that one does not find this disqualifying. Shouldn’t the fact that he is lying about it be disqualifying?

  13. 13.

    Chyron HR

    Let’s say he did this exactly as she said.

    “Ha ha, you know, just as a hypothetical. (mops sweat from brow)”

  14. 14.

    p.a.

    You know if they weren’t worried about losing the Senate (pretty amazing given ’18’s map) they would just pull Kav and replace him with any number of other FedSoc hacks. Any of them would be a secure ‘can’t prosecute the (Rethug) President’ vote. Waiting for female Rethug Senators to do the right thing? Color me skeptical (of course the onus is on the women. The Rethug men? Fuggedaboudit.)

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:

    The GOP is delighted to have 17 year old girls suffer lifetime consequences even of rape if they get pregnant as a result.

    Wait a minute, hasn’t the GOP conclusively (to them anyway) shown that it is impossible to get pregnant thru rape?

  24. 24.

    rikyrah

    @satby:
    Just ask the 17 year old undocumented immigrant that Kavanaugh wanted to force to carry a rape pregnancy to term. This wasn’t 5 years ago. This was THIS YEAR ??

  25. 25.

    Chyron HR

    You know, I’m pretty sure I never tried to rape anybody when I was 17 or at any other point in my life, and I still haven’t gotten nominated for the Supreme Court. How is it fair that I have been “disqualified” for no reason from something that is–to hear Kavanomeansyes’s defenders tell it–the inalienable right of every red-blooded American?

  28. 28.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize:

    I teach sexual assault in my criminal law class

    So… Inquiring minds want to know… Do lawyers actually need instruction on how to sexually assault someone? Or is it just they need to learn the lawyerly way to do it? Because I’ve been fucked by several lawyers.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    I don’t see how the GOP can ditch Kavanaugh when their party is headed by a leering pig like Trump. They’ll brazen it out and continue to pretend that this (absurd and unfair) offer to allow Dr. Blasey to testify Monday ticks the “due process” box.

  30. 30.

    different-church-lady

    Is this really what America wants in its next Supreme Court Justice?

    There’s abundant evidence it’s what 40% of America wants. Because there’s now abundant evidence that 40% of America is rotten at the core.

  31. 31.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    Y’know, I’m old enough to remember how the GOP was in high dudgeon at the height of the great Clenis hunt because our kids were all hearing about icky sexy time stuff. Now we got President stumpy toadstool and Judge Rapemaugh (not to mention Governor naked pictures blackmail, Senate candidate jailbait, and probably a dozen more I could mention) and they’re going to the matresses for both. No mewing at all about how awful this all is for the kids.

  33. 33.

    different-church-lady

    @satby:

    Bari Weis seems woefully misinformed about what happens to other 17 year olds who get caught doing the same thing, get prosecuted, and end up for life on sex offender lists everything.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    @Susan_Hennessey
    More Susan Hennessey Retweeted andrew kaczynski ?
    This is why it is entirely reasonable for Dr. Ford to request time. She’s about to come up against a highly sophisticated, very effective machine designed to destroy her credibility. The faster they can make her do it, and the fewer facts available, the harder it will be for her.

    @Susan_Hennessey
    He’s got an army prepping him for every question, every angle. His wife is handing out cupcakes to reporters. She is facing death threats and hiding away from her home. But the suggestion she needs more than 6 calendar days to prepare is obviously evidence she’s lying.

    I hope she doesn’t do it. They just want to use her so they can say she was “heard” and they’re all going to vote for him anyway. They get political cover, he gets his lifetime political patronage job and she gets followed around and harassed by Right wing nuts the rest of her life. I hope she looks out for herself- none of these cynical, conniving douchebags give a shit about her.

    Just for the record though- gross sexual imposition is a serious crime for juveniles. While rape and sexual battery require (specific) sexual contact, gross sexual imposition does not. All it requires is a “touching” – it was intended to reach exactly this type of behavior. For a 17 year old it could mean incarceration for a year or up to the time the offender is 21 years old- it’s discretionary with the judge. Here, the offender could end up in a special (locked) treatment facility for sex offender juveniles where they receive intensive counseling and behavior modification- that’s best case- there aren’t a lot of beds. That’s considered a privilege. The other (and more common) route is DYS- Department of Youth Services. It’s a jail.

    It’s really nothing like the minor juvenile infractions- underage drinking, petty theft, fighting in school, curfew violations, chronic truancy, those are grouped under an “unruly child” analysis and considered partly due to immaturity.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    I didn’t think that the Congressman would be so harsh with little Susie Collins. More of this ??

    Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) Tweeted:
    Boo hoo hoo. You’re a senator who police will protect. A sexual assault victim can’t sleep in her home tonight because of threats. Where are you sleeping? She’s on her own while you and your @SenateGOP colleagues try to rush her through a hearing.

    https://t.co/bnhtkM9HGy https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1042675860975677440?s=17

  43. 43.

    Kay

    The sex crime juveniles are prosecuted the most for is “sexting”. Sending photographs of a sexual nature to one another. It’s a lower tier felony. A felony. They can be and are prosecuted for sending a photo of themselves to a (willing) recipient. It just has to be transmitted.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    The bullshyt about how a youthful indiscretion shouldn’t be allowed to ‘ruin’ Kavanaugh’s life.
    This line of thought has pissed off real victims of assault:

    Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) Tweeted:
    Yeah I can’t let this false narrative be set without significant pushback. My life was almost ruined but I put the broken pieces of my broken soul back together. My rapist? Literally living his life and pretending he’s a good guy. Life not ruined in any way.

    https://t.co/wwv3w5HOfx https://twitter.com/ZerlinaMaxwell/status/1042406877768896512?s=17

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    She’s on her own

    That’s what bothers me most- how they have set this up as “Senators and the President and the Judge versus this citizen”

    It’s disgusting. They no longer know what their role is. They’re not the advocates for Kavanaugh versus an ordinary citizen. Fuck them. She should never take part in this phony show trial. She did her civic duty. Now she needs to take care of herself.

  48. 48.

    Mark

    The GOP isn’t sending their best. Their sending rapists, pedophiles, pathological liars, and tax cheats.

  50. 50.

    Tony Jay

    “Don’t recall Lying Dems screaming for open ended FBI witchhunt when Al Franken attacked those INNOCENT women! Deep State Dems in Senate kept decision to themselves. Hypocricy? You Decide! GOP Senate offering to hear ALL sides. What’s the problem? Compare and Contrast! #Justice4Kavannagh4Justice.@realdonaldtrump”

    You know it’s coming.

  52. 52.

    TS (the original)

    For once MJ is quite entertaining – talking about trump disowning people he praised as top members of his admin back during the transition.

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    The usual Media Village Idiots witter about the ‘inevitability’ of Justice Kavanaugh, …

    This is what really bothers me. You see it a lot on Brian Williams’ show (I see you, Phillip Rucker of the WaPost and others).

    BriWi is the NBC Conventional Wisdom Establishment Hour. He fawns over his “Pulitzer-winning” guests — literally fawns (I think it signifies he’s even more “elite” in their presence) — and they vomit up the conventional wisdom, whatever the (particularly GOP) CW is at the moment.

  54. 54.

    JPL

    IOKIYR. I wish it weren’t true, but you only have to tune into the morning shows to know that it is.
    triple blech

  56. 56.

    Gin & Tonic

    @debbie: Yeah, well at least he served every day of his 15-year sentence for that, and he’s been in prison on unrelated charges since 2008.

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    You jackals are all the same. Cry me a river, snowflakes.

    According to person of note Jennifer Braceras*, writing in even-the-liberal-Boston-Glob, we should not take accusation as truth, solely because they are made by a woman, because the woman might be lying, because there’s so much to gain for her. Or at least, that was the lede that appeared in the e-mail about Today’s Headlines. I did not read the article, because I’m too cheap to give fucking asshole John Henry any more money. His destruction of the Glob is enough to make me hate the Sox.

    Besides, I heard that Dr. Brasey Ford has granite counter tops in her kitchen. Or HAD them, since she’s had to flee her house. But, still.

    Fuck the Boston Glob, by the way.

    *I did not recall her “cred,” so I done Googled her. Apparently she’s another Federalist Society fascist.

  59. 59.

    Gin & Tonic

    @NotMax: I’m going to need a nap later, probably. Had the shingrix vaccine (first dose) yesterday. Fever, chills, aches, up half the night. Plus I feel like I got punched in the arm

  60. 60.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SFAW: The Glob is the only on-line newspaper I’ve encountered that detects if you’re trying to load their page in incognito mode, and refuses.

  61. 61.

    randy khan

    I’m kind of wondering if Trump would pull this nomination, or if he’s expecting the GOP to vote on it regardless. If that’s the case, then it really would be up to Kavanaugh to withdraw if things continue to deteriorate.

  62. 62.

    different-church-lady

    @Mark:

    The GOP isn’t sending their best. Their sending rapists, pedophiles, pathological liars, and tax cheats.

    That is their best.

  63. 63.

    Kay

    @SFAW:

    I didn’t “take it as truth”. I had problems with the judge’s credibility prior to the allegation. He lied to Congress on several occasions. Since I;ve had some opportunity to evaluate his credibility (lacking) and none hers, along with the fact that she revealed this well prior to his nomination I lean “her”.

    Also- it’s a show trial. He’s not charged with anything. There’s no “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard here. In fact, it is a privilege to serve on the Supreme Court, not his “right”. The standard for that job is higher.

  64. 64.

    MomSense

    @Betty Cracker:

    This is exactly the problem. The president is the mushroom head of the GOP and they have decided to provide cover for him. I think we all know that this is much more widespread in the Republican Party. The freaking chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee made a comment about hoping he wouldn’t wouldn’t have to deal with things from 35 years ago. Wasn’t Grassley about 50 and a Senator then? Wealthy white guys have “youthful indiscretions”. Black kids get summarily executed for not walking on the sidewalk.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    My husband went to a fancy private school – the same school Justice Roberts attended, in fact, so he always takes this opportunity to tell me how decadent and spoiled they were. The worse thing he did is take a motorcycle without permission- which is theft, of course. It would definitely come up if he were up as a judge, depending on what he was mandated to reveal.

  67. 67.

    Hill Dweller

    WaPo has a good fact check of Kavanaugh’s claim he unwittingly received stolen documents when working in Dubya’s White house. He obviously lied(repeatedly) under oath, and should be disqualified for that alone.

  69. 69.

    Just One More Canuck

    @SFAW: jumping German Jesus Christ- what does any woman have to gain from coming forward? Sm goddamn head

    I guess it would never occur to Braceras that Kavanaugh might be lying because he’s a man and that there’s a lot to gain for him

  71. 71.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I just tried to post and thought I killed the site. Let me try again.

    A woman from Ford’s HS says the assault was talked about at the time. I hope a bunch of reporters are on that. Maybe Ronan Farrow.

    Who are these people who think of course 17 year old boys assault girls? Boys will be boys etc. Do they know any 17 year old boys? Would their sons do this?

    And another question. Senator, have you ever been sexually assaulted? If you were assaulted in HS, would you have come forward right away?

  72. 72.

    Elizabelle

    @Hill Dweller: And the FBI should take a microscope to his finances. The credit card bill and the $200,000 payoff. None of it sounds normal, or explained, to date.

    Let’s all burn up the phone lines. Call our Senators, whether from our state or not. They don’t always ask, and it would be evidence this isn’t going to go away nicely for them.

    I liked the suggestion of publishing Dr. Blasey’s statement in the WaPost, including requesting a full FBI investigation, and demanding that other witnesses be called. Otherwise, it’s just GOP Senate Judiciary trying to intimidate her.

    Dr. Blasey is more powerful than she knows, and the GOP is nervous.

  74. 74.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    Yes. I commented more to drag the Glob than anything else. We used to subscribe to it, but about 2 or 3 years ago I came to the conclusion that they were trying to be “Herald-lite,” and so we cancelled our sub. [The Boston Herald has been a right-wing rag since I came to this area, lo these 45 years (shit! How’d I get so old so fast?) ago.] The Glob no longer has any dyed-in-the-wool liberal columnists (such as David Nyhan was, may he RIP), and Jeff “I never met a fact I couldn’t ignore or pervert” Jacoby is getting to be “centrist,” relative to the rest of the rag.

    Fuckem.

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    @Just One More Canuck:

    I guess it would never occur to Braceras that Kavanaugh might be lying because he’s a man and that there’s a lot to gain for him

    Well, she’s a Federalist shill, he’s a Federalist shill, why would he lie, right?

  78. 78.

    Nora

    The hurry is so obscene. These are the same people who had NO problem leaving the Supreme Court with only eight justices for almost a year after Scalia’s death, because Obama was President and they wouldn’t show him the respect of even CONSIDERING his nominee. Now, Kennedy retires suddenly and it’s this disgusting rush as if the whole Supreme Court will collapse if Kavanaugh isn’t appointed and confirmed before the midterms.

  79. 79.

    SFAW

    @Elizabelle:

    And the FBI should take a microscope to his finances. The credit card bill and the $200,000 payoff. None of it sounds normal, or explained, to date.

    Absolutely. I’m appalled that this issue has not gained any type of momentum/notoriety. Perhaps it’s because the Rethugs all believe that Shitgibbon was/is mobbed up, and they’re worried someone will start looking into that? [No, I don’t really believe that’s why — I think the MSM is just lazy/willfully ignorant, and the Rethugs are also working the refs — but it would be irresponsible NOT to speculate about Shitgibbon’s and Kavanaugh’s ties to organized crime.]

  80. 80.

    Amir Khalid

    Trump will not withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination, let Kavanaugh stand down, or let the Republican Senate leadership give up on Kavanaugh. Quite aside from his need for Kavanaugh to shield him from prosecution, he is determined not to lose face by yielding on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Trump understands nothing about fitness for office, but he understands plenty about, and fears, losing face.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I just don’t think it’s fair. Not any specific process or protections, no real rules, the jerk-off President calling her “the woman” and all of them fawning over the judge. No. I don’t want her in that. I always feel sorry for normal people when they enter this insanity alone and since the Senators and the President have decided they are advocates for the judge and not the citizen, well, if you can’t win don’t play.

  82. 82.

    JPL

    @Hill Dweller: In the olden days, lying under oath would automatically disqualify you.
    I hope that the hearing occurs, if only to see Kamala Harris ask Kavanuagh why we should believe him when he’s already lied under oath? Grassley can shit in his pants for all I care.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    Don’t know (and don’t care to know) who the woman is appearing in those “Kavanaugh is the best thing since sliced bread” ads, but would be willing to lay out some serious folding money that the bulk of her calls to female friends are suddenly going to voice mail

  86. 86.

    Kay

    Erick Erickson
    ‏Verified account
    @EWErickson
    Follow Follow @EWErickson
    More
    If Ford was assaulted, she’s mixed up the identity of the assailant. That’s why Democrats cannot afford to put her under oath. She’d perjure herself and they think Trump would charge her with a crime.

    The conservative brain trust have adopted Trump’s idea that the president charges people with crimes. They’re just sledding down that hill to the bottom and picking up speed with each passing day. It’s horrible how they are so vulnerable to peer pressure- how they immediately adopted and internalized Trump’s rock bottom standards.

    We better win in November or they’ll happily go along with the president charging people with crimes. There’s no bottom.

  87. 87.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: I know every parent wants to think their kid is a good kid, but the Immp (17) really seems to be a good kid. And the world he grew up in would never tolerate drunk teenage boy assaults. The kids would tell these days. Parents and friends are more trusted? And if the kid didn’t report being assaulted, their friends would. I really do think things are better for many (not all) girls these days.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    @NotMax:

    Does it bother her that this moral leader just cavalierly lies to Congress when it benefits his career goals?

    Maybe she admires that. He has a problem with telling the truth. That’s apart from the alleged assault.

    What happens if your character witnesses are all very poor judges of character? Should we take their word for it? They show poor judgment. They admire bad people. What am I relying on here? Her judgment? Why would I do that?

  89. 89.

    NorthO49

    Here’s a thought, further on the the James Hohmann tweet: IANAL, but possibly more than anything, the GOP doesn’t want the FBI involved and investigating because they don’t want Kavanaugh getting the third degree. What happens if he’s caught lying to the feds?

  91. 91.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    I really do think things are better for many (not all) girls these days.

    I do too. All the “political correctness” conservatives make fun of has raised the bar for kids. They’re kinder to one another. They’re better. It really wasn’t better when you could beat the shit out of a classmate with no consequences. It was worse. That’s bad behavior. It shouldn’t have been accepted. At the root of all these school initiatives is the idea that they have to treat people decently. That’s not too high a bar. They can do it and they are doing it and they’re all better for it.

    Opposing this is insane. What are they opposing? That people have to treat one another decently? WTF? Why do they have such low standards?

  92. 92.

    Kay

    @Immanentize:

    When the bullying programs started at our public school about a decade ago they were inspired by an incident where a kid with special needs got his nose broken by thugs on the bus. We can demand they don’t hurt each other. No. None. In fact, when we do, they stop hurting each other. We should have demanded it decades ago. They rose to the higher standard. I knew they would :)

  94. 94.

    Aleta

    Republicans’ outrageous bullying is a message to anyone else who might come forward with a story of their own about Kavanaugh, or in support of Dr. Blasey. — Don’t do it. This is a well-practiced familiar technique.

  96. 96.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Of course, his “logic” falls apart immediately when you consider that Dr. Blasey wants an FBI investigation knowing that lying to the FBI is a crime. Erickson reminds me of the dumb, pious hypocrites who ran the Southern Baptist churches I was compelled to attend in my youth. It’s always a race to the bottom with those smug, sanctimonious shit-stains.

  97. 97.

    Another Scott

    @SFAW: We dropped the WaPo in the W years. We don’t miss it.

    Vote with your dollars. That’s the only way business will listen.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: A google search of Kavanaugh’s finances shows the MSM reporting on this. The first page the WaPo, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, Yahoo, CBS, CNN, CBN, Market Watch, USA Today, and Vox. His finances are being reported on but getting beyond the very superficial financial disclosure forms with out subpoena power is very difficult to say the least. Even then they have made some progress.

    The Mother Jones piece is a good bit of reporting.

    Kavanaugh’s finances are far more mysterious. During his confirmation hearing last week, he escaped a public discussion of his spending habits because no senator asked about it. But on Tuesday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent Kavanaugh 14 pages of post-hearing follow-up questions, many of which involved his finances. On Thursday, Kavanaugh supplied answers, but he dodged some of the questions and left much of his financial situation unexplained.

  99. 99.

    Wapiti

    @Kay: Yup – she has done her duty. Imho she should take her story to the press, just as they are doing. If they want her to testify, they can subpoena her. They won’t because that would show that they could also subpoena Kavenaugh’s prep freinds who were at the party – if they wanted the truth.

  100. 100.

    Ladyraxterinok

    1 thing I clearly remember from Anita Hill hearing. The senators seemed to be suddenly thinking ‘OMG maybe those comments/those jokes I made–maybe the women present didn’t really think they were OK!’

    You could just see them re-examing their past interactions with women and worrying that there might be some women in their past who did not think they were so wonderful.

  101. 101.

    Immanentize

    Why did these lyrics (from when I was less than 17) just jump into my mind?

    Back to the howling old owl in the woods
    Hunting the horny back TOAD
    Oh I’ve finally decided my future lies
    Beyond the yellow brick road

  102. 102.

    zhena gogolia

    @Another Scott:

    I’m actually finding the WaPo better than the NYT these days, and I do sort of rely on it.

    Today there’s a front-page story in the NYT about Russian meddling in the election. A couple of years too late.

  105. 105.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Surjit Malhi always imagined that violence against American Sikhs was something that happened to other people. Yes, he wears a turban, a long unshorn beard and bright clothing, which mark him out as different from the European American majority in Turlock, the farm town 90 miles east of San Francisco where he has made his home since 1992. Yes, he’s aware that random attacks against Sikhs and other south Asian Americans are on the rise.

    In his mind, though, he is also a pillar of the community, a staunch Republican who counts the area’s elected officials among his friends and can be sure, in an emergency, that the district attorney, or the Turlock mayor, will answer his call.

    Malhi is a man loved and admired for his fundraising efforts on behalf of the families of fallen police officers, his appearances at community festivals and the convoys he’s organized through his trucking company to help the victims of California’s wildfires and last year’s devastating floods in Houston.

    We are five times more likely today to be targets of hate than before 9/11
    Valarie Kaur, activist

    None of that helped, though, when, at the end of July, two white supremacists jumped him and showered him with baton blows as he was out erecting lawn signs and banners in support of Jeff Denham, the local Republican congressman locked in a tight re-election fight in November’s midterms.

    “I felt sand being thrown in my eyes,” Malhi recounted from his office, which is decorated with a five-panel photograph of the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar and several shots of himself with congressman Denham at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.

    Next thing he knew, he was being pummeled by wooden sticks on his head and back. His assailants were wearing hoodies, but he could see their blue eyes and white skin from between his fingers, which he’d raised to protect his face.

    “They were cursing and shouting ‘go back to your country’,” he said. They spray-painted a similar message on his truck along with a Celtic cross, a white supremacist symbol, before taking off.

    A dazed Malhi groped in the dark for his cellphone and called for help. If it hadn’t been for his turban – three layers of fabric tightly wound around thick swirls of hair – he’s not sure he would have survived. “My warrior turban,” he said, pointing at more pictures on his office wall of Baba Deep Singh and other founders of Sikhism, “designed so you can be hit with a sword and still not get hurt”.

    Many Sikh civil rights groups believe that the Trump presidency is to blame for a 17% spike in anti-Sikh violence since the 2016 election, as well as a deluge of other discriminatory incidents in the workplace, in housing, in schools, at airport security checkpoints. The president’s inflammatory language about immigrants and foreigners, they say, has made official profiling more prevalent and emboldened racists to speak and act more openly.

    The challenges exist not just in California’s Central Valley, which boasts the oldest Sikh temple in the US, and other parts of the country where Sikhs have settled in considerable numbers. They also extend to the border, which has seen a recent surge in Indian Sikhs crossing from Mexico to flee Hindu nationalist oppression in their native Punjab, and a surge, too, in Sikhs ending up in immigrant detention centers as they apply for political asylum in the US. Many of those Sikhs are now part of a lawsuit alleging violations of their religious rights and other forms of mistreatment.

    Malhi, however, is emphatically not part of the anti-Trump chorus. “He is a great president,” Malhi said. “The violence against Sikhs, it’s always there, but it’s not because of Trump. Every nation has bad apples. My Sikh community has bad apples too.”

    Words fail.

  107. 107.

    Kay

    Matthew Yglesias
    ‏Verified account
    @mattyglesias
    14m14 minutes ago
    More Matthew Yglesias Retweeted Dan Froomkin
    The only thing we *really* know about Kavanaugh is that he’s a liar.

    Bingo. So. Why do so many fancy and prestigious people admire him? Is it despite his lying so much?

  109. 109.

    Elizabelle

    Grassley is just braying like an ass.

    I think we can delay this. He’s lying and dissembling in real time, and when the GOP wouldn’t even give Merrick Garland a hearing ….

    Hit the phones. They’re vulnerable. Blood in the water.

  110. 110.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL: I am OK with that.

    But you leave Sir Elton and the YBRoad alone, hear? Still turn up the radio for that one. (It was a good album.)

  111. 111.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Had the shingrix vaccine (first dose) yesterday. Fever, chills, aches, up half the night. Plus I feel like I got punched in the arm.

    That was my experience too. Both times. But I’m told the alternative is worse. Hope you feel better soon!

  115. 115.

    chopper

    @NotMax:

    was that the book where bart’s wife was all “this blech is way better than the last one, the tsimmes doesn’t burn any more!”

  116. 116.

    Immanentize

    I lost a comment…. What really pisses me off about Grassley is the requirement that the good Doctor provide her written testimony by tomorrow

  117. 117.

    Kay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Someone needs to ask Kavanaugh if he knows who she is. If he knew her or remembers her in any capacity. I imagine one of the Dems will ask- it’s a central question. If he lies about that there are probably many people who can say it’s not true.

  118. 118.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Schooled tweet:

    This is like that scene in a movie where the bank robber is pumping gas and he glances at the TV behind the clerk and his mug shot is on it and then a cop comes out of the bathroom. Oh the suspense!

    I’ve been thinking that Kavenaugh’s denial of ever being at “that party” is like the scene where the suspect says “I don’t even own a 22” and the police say “who said the victim was shot, let alone with a 22?”

    I think we need all Kavanaugh related news to include a silhouette of a guy and two puppets snarking.

  119. 119.

    Kraux Pas

    @Gelfling 545:

    “For whatever reason, a very large majority of people with top-notch LSAT scores are Democrats.”

    Is this possibly because after decades of decrying intellectual pursuits, Republican ideas can no longer stand up to a rigorous thought process and application of facts?

  120. 120.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize: Could they forbid her from appearing if she does not submit the written testimony tomorrow?

    Actually, I am starting to get really angry about this. They could not give Merrick Garland a hearing, and now it’s rush, rush, rush through for the nominee of a person who lost the popular vote by millions of votes.

    We can see them. This is desperation. The “American People” are not in a rush over this, as Grassley tells us.

  121. 121.

    Amir Khalid

    @Kay:
    The fancy and prestigious of whom you speak are partisans. They may or may not like Kavanaugh the man, about whom much is known that is reprehensible, but they do appreciate that he tells his lies for the benefit of their side.

  123. 123.

    Chyron HR

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “They were cursing and shouting ‘go back to your country’,” he said. They spray-painted a similar message on his truck along with a Celtic cross, a white supremacist symbol, before taking off.

    “Some people think that the people who voted for Trump are racists and sexists and homophobes and deplorable folks. I don’t agree, because I’ve been there.” – Bernie Sanders

  124. 124.

    MomSense

    @Elizabelle:

    It’s infuriating. And McConnell knows how the media operate, so he banked on them letting him get away with it. Either the “news” shows should have banned the Republicans from spinning this or they should let them do it and then laugh at them and call them out on it in real time.
    This is why I am of the opinion that we have to deal with the media if we ever hope to make political progress.
    The Republicans would never have gotten even this far without a complicit and/or idiotic news media.

  126. 126.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @MomSense: We were recently discussing how many of our favorite songs are actually “I failed” songs and we never thought about it.

    Midnight Train to Georgia (LA proved too much for the man)
    It never Rains in California (tell the folks back home I nearly made it)
    On Broadway (all you got is one thin dime)
    And I added Yellow Brick Road. But I guess that’s kind of stretching the point, since that narrator did make it, he’s just walking away.

  128. 128.

    Leto

    Posting this here again because it’s relevant: Twelve years ago, Amber Wyatt reported her rape. Few believed her. Her hometown turned against her. The authorities failed her.

    Her name was Amber Wyatt, and she was.

    On and off over the next three years, I reviewed police documents, interviewed witnesses and experts, and made several pilgrimages home to Texas to try to understand what exactly happened to Wyatt — not just on that night, but in the days and months and years that followed. Making sense of her ordeal meant tracing a web of failures, lies, abdications and predations, at the center of which was a node of power that, though anonymous and dispersed, was nonetheless tilted firmly against a young, vulnerable girl. Journalists, activists and advocates began to uncover that very same imbalance of power from Hollywood to Capitol Hill in the final year of this reporting, in an explosion of reporting and analysis we’ve come to call the #MeToo Movement. But the rot was always there — even in smaller and less remarkable places, where power takes mundane, suburban shapes.

    There were personal reasons, too, for my investigation. I wanted to understand why it had to be as bad as it was — why she wasn’t just doubted but hated, not simply mocked but exiled — and why it had always lingered on my conscience like an article of unfinished business, something I had meant to do but hadn’t. I wanted to look directly at the dark things that are revealed when episodes of brutality unfold and all pretense of civilization temporarily fades, and I wanted to understand them completely.

    Otherwise, I thought, they could at any time pull me under. And I could watch mutely while something like this happened again.

  133. 133.

    schrodingers_cat

    @chris: Punjab the ancestral Sikh land was partitioned into two in 1947 and the bigger half along with its capital, Lahore went to Pakistan. The grudge against Muslims is real. The death toll along the Punjab border (compared to Bengal and Sindh) was the highest during partition.

  134. 134.

    James E Powell

    Not that I have any clue how to do it, but a spontaneous women’s march would be pretty sweet about now. Say, Sunday afternoon in DC? Or maybe 51 tea party style angry shouting office visits in the respective home offices of Republican senators. Cable shows might like to cover that, no?

  136. 136.

    patrick II

    @Kay: If the republicans do not relent on their on and done hearing, I hope she goes on 60 minutes along with her husband and shrink and they extend an open invitation to Mark Judge (which he would refuse).

  137. 137.

    Amir Khalid

    @chris:
    This is a socially very conservative minority community. As I understand, it’s not uncommon for such communities in America to be Republican. The gradual, only recently overt takeover of that party by white supremacists might reverse that tendency, but it will take time to happen.

  140. 140.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid: Kavanaugh is not going to withdraw. Not this close to the goal the Federalist Society has been grooming him for since law school. His ego itself is telling him that seat is HIS. He’s almost acting entitled to it at this point.

  141. 141.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Elizabelle: Any suggestions on what to say? My Sens are both stalwart, so I’d be calling GrOPer Sens’ offices. And I’m down for that, just to be clear. But I’d want a script, b/c otherwise I might start screeching at the fuckers.

  142. 142.

    Scotian

    And it is shit like this that made me decide to never enter the USA ever again, not even to visit my last surviving family once my parents pass in the next year or two. I simply do not trust your legal system any more. The kicker? I am a white male of near pure Celtic descent and look it. Yet I still fear your lack of the rule of law reality, and will not trust my safety nor that of my wife to it. I have watched as the far right took over the GOP in the last few decades, and I have watched as things like facts, rule of law, no religious test, all be undermined, subverted , and in the end turned into at most a shell mockery of what it once was.

    America has clearly lost the right to call itself the leader of the free world, and it is watching things like this so called vetting of a USSC lifetime appointment that shows why. America was held up as the gold standard for things like rule of law, freedom of speech, and lack of religious tests for office. Not so much anymore.

    While yes your media has its own responsibility, frankly I blame your centrists most of all for disengaging and figuring there was no point to politics, or nothing to worry about so long as nothing directly hurt them. It allowed the crazies of the right to have an unopposed field, since one of the core differences between the two main parties is one acts like the Borg, the other acts like a band of cats, and we all know the saying about herding cats. It was the middle that was needed to prevent this insanity from happening, but instead they disengaged, and in a society where the power to make real change really does rest with voting (as the GOP has been proving even if by augmenting it with dishonest means) in the end one has to hold citizens responsible for what your reality now is.

    The Movement Conservative Borg run the USA government and are now about to dominate the judicial branch federally across the board, thanks to McConnell, Trump, and the rest of the GOP leadership. Blaming the dems for not stopping it is dishonest, since they keep trying, they keep having to deal with massive gerrymandered districts against them, and so on and so on, etc. They ARE trying, and always have been. In 2016 HRC clearly laid out policies, she also laid out the machine the GOP were using to win with, AND she called out the Russian involvement strongly. But instead everything was EMAILZ all the fucking TIME! With her there were optics issues, with Trump there were ACTUAL issues, and yet we all saw how 2016 played out, and I include the Sandernistas as much as the right wingers for this happening, as I was saying i real time to little avail.

    What we are seeing right now could well be a tipping point of horror where your Courts are concerned, far worse than just getting Trump as President in itself can be. The way your Senate, the last supposedly sane body within the American federal elected system, has shown itself to be no better than another example of the tyranny of the majority. So much for the faith and trust in the rights and dignity of the individual which is what I thought American society itself was based on, and its judicial system was set up to protect as one of the core reasons for being.

    Yet the defence for the Federalist Society is about how they are “strict constructionists” where the US Constitution is concerned. The irony goes beyond mere tragedy to tragic and epic farce in my view.

    I remember watching the Anita Hill affair in my early 20s, in some ways though watching this has been even uglier.

    Not a shining moment for America or Americans, not really. Pity yet again it will only be after the appointment goes through that the true horror will reveal itself in rulings, as it did with Thomas, except worse I fear with this one given his history, given the level of obscuring that has gone on on his behalf by Trump and the GOP Senate. Which is why I will not trust your legal system to protect me even as a tourist visitor and a born Canadian.

  146. 146.

    gvg

    @Amir Khalid: Actually, the GOP’s overt racism has been pretty obvious for some decades and most minorities had sense enough to stay well away. From time to time when the GOP tamped down those tendencies for awhile, a few minority groups would give them a chance. It was more common for republican strategists to make pitches about how there were natural commonalities that meant say conservative (real conservatives, not the radicals we are currently not preventing from misusing the term) Hispanics were going to flock to the GOP any day now. The the bigots would get restless and do enough to torpedo the effort again. The Cuban small section of Hispanics got seduced by the GOP because of Castro hatred. that’s where Cruz comes from. Now that Castro is dead, even that is disappearing.
    Bush wanted immigration reform in a good way and his own party killed it. He hasn’t been the only one.
    They aren’t really conservatives, they are reactionaries. That’s why they end up driving away old fashioned immigrants. Calling themselves the same thing, doesn’t actually change what they really are.

  147. 147.

    chris

    @Amir Khalid:

    The gradual, only recently overt takeover of that party by white supremacists might reverse that tendency, but it will take time to happen.

    Agreed. Canada has a large and diverse Sikh community that comes in all shapes and sizes. There are hardline conservatives, social democrats like the leader of the New Democratic Party and Liberals like this guy. It’s taken generations to get to this point and there’s still a long way to go.

  149. 149.

    Elizabelle

    @Chetan Murthy: Tell them you want a full FBI investigation, and that you want other witnesses at the eventual Senate hearing.

    Tell them that a lot of voters have not forgotten Merrick Garland’s treatment, and there is no rush to confirm the nominee of a POTUS under criminal investigation who lost the popular vote by millions.

    Tell them we can see them, and that they have no idea how many women and those who respect women are fired up to turn out for the midterms and upcoming Senate elections (over the next few years).

    Personally, I will say that Trump should not get any more USSC appointments until the Mueller investigation has played out and his case is through all the courts, including the nation’s highest. We can be patient. No rush to confirm a bad nominee. We are safer with eight.

  151. 151.

    Calouste

    Next shoe

    ‘No accident’ Brett Kavanaugh’s female law clerks ‘looked like models’, Yale professor told students
    Guardian learns Amy Chua said she would advise students on their physical looks to help win post in Kavanaugh’s chambers

  152. 152.

    Kay

    Gross. Another horrible person in a position of power:

    A top professor at Yale Law School who strongly endorsed supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a “mentor to women” privately told a group of law students last year that it was “not an accident” that Kavanaugh’s female law clerks all “looked like models” and would provide advice to students about their physical appearance if they wanted to work for him, the Guardian has learned.
    Christine Blasey Ford’s life ‘turned upside down’ after accusing Kavanaugh
    Read more
    Amy Chua, a Yale professor who wrote a bestselling book on parenting called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, was known for instructing female law students who were preparing for interviews with Kavanaugh on ways they could dress to exude a “model-like” femininity to help them win a post in Kavanaugh’s chambers, according to sources.

    Maybe it’s good. We’re finding out how absolutely disgusting the elite legal world is.

  153. 153.

    chris

    @Scotian: I go twice a year to visit the very last of the old generation. Figure it’s only a matter of time before they refuse me entry. Border guards have become generally nasty.

  154. 154.

    Spanky

    Well OT, but here’s something familiar, and yet not familiar:

    Multiple people were killed in a shooting at a Rite Aid warehouse in Aberdeen, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press.

    A law enforcement source separately told WBAL-TV 11’s Jayne Miller that the suspect is a female and has been taken to an area hospital.

    Update: law enforcement source says Aberdeen shooting suspect is a woman, has been taken to a hospital..multiple dead and wounded victims, less than 10
    — Jayne Miller (@jemillerwbal) September 20, 2018

    The shooting happened at the Rite Aid distribution facility in the business park at 1501 Perryman Road.

    .@wbalradio has confirmed that the shooting happened at the @riteaid facility on Perryman Road in Aberdeen, per a company spokesperson
    — Phil Yacuboski (@WBALPhil) September 20, 2018

  156. 156.

    Chetan Murthy

    It’s nice to see that Jennifer Rubin doesn’t buy this GrOPer BS about KavENOUGH.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/09/20/republicans-be-forewarned-kavanaughs-accuser-has-options/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8fc24bd6eefa

    Ford has another option: Hold a news conference with her own experts and make the case directly to the American people. She can sit down for an interview with a respected TV journalist. … ord also might have the ability to go to local police to investigate if the White House refuses to activate the FBI. … In short, Ford has a powerful story to tell. In trying to jam her into their abbreviated, one-sided process, Senate Republicans open the door to far more dangerous options, where the American people get to judge for themselves whether she is credible. As Kavanaugh’s approval rating slides, Republicans need to consider whether it is worth unleashing a firestorm to defend a nominee who might be a further drag on their midterm races.

  158. 158.

    Elizabelle

    @Calouste: Whoa. Tiger Mom’s got a whale of a problem on her hands. Self-created, apparently.

    @Kay: Image over substance. It’s what the GOP does. What fakers.

  159. 159.

    burnspbesq

    @rikyrah:

    That tweet has apparently been deleted. Too bad. Uncomfortable truths need to be thrown in Republicans’s faces whenever possible.

  160. 160.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

    Who knew that clerkships were like a beauty pageant. We’re finding out all kinds of stuff, and it’s only been 2 days!

    It actually gets better, that story. The law professor in question is married to another professor who is under investigation for mettoo behavior himself. Layers on layers…

  162. 162.

    scav

    @Kay: I just discovered that too and was headed over for a general shudder and morning bletch.

    Chua advised the same student Rubenfeld spoke to that she ought to dress in an “outgoing” way for her interview with Kavanaugh, and that the student should send Chua pictures of herself in different outfits before going to interview. The student did not send the photos.

  163. 163.

    Brachiator

    @Kay:

    Amy Chua, a Yale professor who wrote a bestselling book on parenting called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, was known for instructing female law students who were preparing for interviews with Kavanaugh on ways they could dress to exude a “model-like” femininity to help them win a post in Kavanaugh’s chambers, according to sources.

    A caution: This story caught my eye, and in other versions I read, a woman who reported her conversation with Chua explicitly noted that Chua never specified what that special “look,” should be. Others noted that Kavanaugh made an effort to include women, and to include diversity.

    I am not defending the nominee, but just want to note that some stories are veering out of control, and seem to be designed to emphasize what might be damaging, or salacious.

    And of course, this is mild compared to the shit storm of hate and fury that has been unleashed on Ms Ford for coming forward.

  164. 164.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Spanky: I just heard about this via text. My former employer is very close to there and I’m still on their emergency alert system.

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    @Leto:

    I read that story last night, and had trouble getting to sleep after. That whole town must be eaten up with the evil, worse than I can imagine. Drugs and rape for fun, and that’s OK because those are our sons, don’t you dare accuse them of being violent rapists!!

    Must be a Republican town top to bottom… ya think?

  167. 167.

    Thursday

    Need to vent.

    So angry at so many people. Friend of a friend put up a stupid meme about the Ford accusations, so I’ve spent the last hour trying to explain to them basic fucking empathy, which one of them literally explained to me was a dirty word associated with Muslims and Democrats. Then had another friend, an annoying “I’m a centrist but I only vote Republican” explain to me how, prior to the sexual abuse allegations, the Democrats really had nothing to complain about with Kavanaugh other than nitpicks. At least he didn’t say the Ford stuff was bad though! So, you know, silver linings.

    Just so fucking angry with terrible people right now.

  169. 169.

    Immanentize

    @Kay:

    We’re finding out how absolutely disgusting the elite legal world is.

    It is completely trapped in the 1980s and dependent on the gender norms of that time. I should know. I mean, that is when judges and law professors generally came of age, if not earlier.

  170. 170.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kay:

    I hope she doesn’t do it. They just want to use her so they can say she was “heard” and they’re all going to vote for him anyway. They get political cover, he gets his lifetime political patronage job and she gets followed around and harassed by Right wing nuts the rest of her life. I hope she looks out for herself- none of these cynical, conniving douchebags give a shit about her.

    You do know these GOP senators are betting Ford will retreat to a safe spot? These same clowns even have admitted that bunch of white ghouls trying to shame a rape victim is really bad optics.

  171. 171.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Kay: I think the point Rubin was trying to make was: if you want to move forward (and not just hide), then you don’t have to go to this kangaroo court. Go to a friendly venue. I agree with you, that it’s a hell of a thing to ask her to do anything other than hide. If I were advising her, I’d counsel to stay underground until and unless 3 other accusers come forward. But if she’s gonna testify, she should pick the venue, is what Rubin’s saying. And I buy that. Pick the venue, the interrogators, the other witnesses, etc.

  172. 172.

    Kay

    @Brachiator:

    Sure, specificity is fine, but what could the special look possibly be? He prefers ..studious looking people? Did the special look apply to male applicants too, then? I get that she didn’t say “look THIS way” but there’s really no other interpretation of that remark other than “sexist”. Then her husband weighs in and specifies “model-like”? WTF is wrong with these people? This wouldn’t fly in an ordinary professional setting. Why are they behaving this way?

  175. 175.

    Scotian

    @Doug R:

    @Scotian: So what do you think of what Ford’s trying to do to Ontario?

    The same. I have been well aware of the Americanization of conservative politics in this nation too, Harper represented it, and Ford does too, although his is more the Trumpian type whereas Harper I would equate more with McConnell. In either case I find these people and their political goals to be inherently anti-democratic, anti-rule-of-law, and especially anti-equality under that same rule of law. What kills me is that by Canadian standards politically speaking in many respects I am more conservative than not. Socially as in social policy I am quite liberal, but when it comes to many aspects of process issues, I am quite conservative. It confuses people a lot when they meet me, because it is assumed I must be a far leftie because of my social beliefs and my open orientation and gender identity.

    Ford is very dangerous, but I was not surprised to see him win, the Libs had held power too long, and the NDP kept Horvath who yet again found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, a skill she passed onto Mulcair in 2015 and replicated this year yet again. Thankfully Ford does not have a judiciary that he can manipulate and mold as easily as was done to the American one, it is one of the advantages of using appointment instead of election for judges. I mean Harper tried with our Supreme Court and his own picks ended up being more about professionalism than about ideology, which I submit is something you should want to see in judges.

    Now, I’m in Nova Scotia so I do not pay a lot of attention to the political dynamics within other Provinces, but because Ontario is so powerful within our Confederation it is hard not to, for much the same reason I pay attention to American politics, to see the ripples coming and have a chance to prepare for them, to figure out which ripples to stand and fight against, and which ripples to bodysurf (I live next to the ocean, so water metaphors are very common with me). We shall see how this ripples out from there, I suspect though it will not take as root as it did in Alberta, but I assume nothing is a given until it has passed the threshold of probability into actuality.

  176. 176.

    Kay

    @Chetan Murthy:

    It is good and I don’t think she should go to the GOP kangaroo court, so I’m with you there. I just cannot imagine how this feels to the person. She’s not a senator or a SCOTUS nominee. This isn’t her thing. 3 days ago she was just a regular person with a private life. I would find it so difficult, the firestorm. I see her as so much less powerful than all these douchebags. My impulse is to protect her.

  177. 177.

    Brachiator

    @Kay:

    Sure, specificity is fine, but what could the special look possibly be? He prefers ..studious looking people? Did the special look apply to male applicants too, then? I get that she didn’t say “look THIS way” but there’s really no other interpretation of that remark other than “sexist”.

    Dunno. Could be racist, could be social-class obsessed, could involve a kink or fetish, could be a lot of things.

    People are invited to fill in the blanks with whatever they think is bad.

  178. 178.

    Kelly

    @Baud:

    I can’t even imagine how much worse Hillary Clinton’s nominee would be.

    Hillary’s nominee would still be waiting for a hearing.

  179. 179.

    scav

    @Brachiator: There is at least the little detail that she didn’t reccomend the head-shot for other judges — so it’s not exactly judicial SOP. Were males instructed to send outgoing photos to demonstrate their diversity? There’s caution, legal caution and being an eleborately credentialed ostrich.

  180. 180.

    Miss Bianca

    @Amir Khalid: Back in the day when I was in a Chicago band called The Bitter Pills, we did two sets that we called “The Incredibly Sad Music Show”. Downbound Train was one of the highlights – or would it be “lowlights”? – of that show.

    And for our Christmas version, John Prine’s

    Christmas in Prison

    .

  182. 182.

    Spanky

    @Immanentize:

    It is completely trapped in the 1980s and dependent on the gender norms of that time. I should know. I mean, that is when judges and law professors generally came of age, if not earlier.

    Excuse me, I came of age before – in the 70s – and I evolved. They’re responsible for keeping up on gender norms or not. It’s their failure, not the whole ’80s cohort.

  186. 186.

    tokyokie

    I agree wholeheartedly with Anne; this scumbag is not the guy for whom the GOP should be going to the mattresses. A vote for this miserable waste of protoplasm is a vote to be turned out of office next election, probably by a woman. Trump’s approval rating with women is in the crapper, and any dimwit senator who votes to confirm will be seen by women as no better than Trump. The GOP should toss him aside, because the Federalist Society will find somebody ideologically similar, just not as obviously horrible. (Keep in mind, the seat that’s open is the one for which Bork was nominated.)

    But what I find amazing is the lack of foresight and courage of EVERY Republican senator. Can’t any of them see John McCain’s political ploy? Vote against a Republican president every now and then and have the news media laud you as a maverick. Any Republican senator who votes against confirmation will become the odds-on choice to head the ticket once Trump is sent packing (and hopefully to a federal penitentiary). But they’re all as gutless and clueless as Ted “Rhymes With Lose” Cruz, who not only didn’t have the character to put his family before his fealty to career, he thinks pointing out that Beto O’Rourke was once in a punk band will negatively resonate with voters.

    If this asshole joins the Supreme Court, he will be the first justice impeached and removed. He’s lying now, he’ll lie under oath in his denial of having ever laid eyes or hands upon Dr. Ford, and he has lied repeatedly under oath. (You think those docs that the Trump White House refused to release, citing somebody else’s lawyer-client privilege, won’t see the light of day once the place is fumigated of all GOP parasites?) I believe Dr. Ford, and highly doubt the veracity of Trump’s nominee. Seriously, does truth-telling gain you rank in the GOP hierarchy? Recent events would seem to indicate precisely the opposite. But my main thought is that if one believes that women don’t have the sovereignty to have control of their bodies (the belief upon which all anti-abortion court decisions are based), it’s a small step indeed to figuring that they only exist for the amusement and sexual gratification of privileged white boys.

    Of course he did it. It’s who he is and always wanted to be.

  189. 189.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Chua also was big promoter of the author of Hillbilly Elegy, J. D. Vance.

    Hillbilly Elegy wasn’t that bad. JD Vance is sort of awful but the book itself was a fairly accurate depiction of that time and place. I read it. It’s one of those books where I’m convinced the people who “extoll” it never read it. They kept telling me here it was some kind of validation of their whole world view and it just isn’t that. It’s a sort of disorganized, rambly reminiscence that over-reaches and that honestly could have used an editor :)

    I would get annoyed while reading it. Does this have chapters? Where ARE we? It has like..nuggets of true things buried under a lot of mushy angst. It would have been a better article- a short piece.

  190. 190.

    Miss Bianca

    I hope you all don’t mind that I’ve been mining your excellent comments for my latest email to Senator Cory Gardner. Not that I expect it to do a damn thing, but only because I want the record to show the Republicans that there is a LOT of opposition to this nomination.

  192. 192.

    jl

    Trying to get to all the issues that disqualify Kavanaugh is like peeling a very large, and rotting onion.
    I saw a news item that the assault was widely known in his social circle at the time.
    In a sane and less ruthless environment, we don’t even have to get into issues of how long ago it was, and he was a minor when it happened.
    He lied about it. Like he has lied about many other things.
    We need a prioritized list of all the reasons this thug is unfit to hold any office in any kind of court of law.

    Honest question for BJ legal flying wedge: if there really is strong evidence he perjured himself repeatedly over the stolen Senate documents from the famous hack, why hasn’t someone filed a criminal complaint, or whatever a person does to get the law on the case. Sure, Sessions DOJ won’t do squat, but it would make the right public statement about how unfit this ruthless little operator is.

  194. 194.

    burnspbesq

    @jl:

    Materiality is an element of the offense of perjury, which the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Think for a minute about what it takes for a false statement in a confirmation hearing to be material.

  196. 196.

    Citizen Alan

    @Gelfling 545:

    I almost backed out of going to law school because I didn’t want to incur a massive student loan debt at the age of 27. And then I got a call saying that my LSAT scores had earned me a 75% scholarship. And I was by far one of the most liberal people in my class.

  198. 198.

    sgrAstar

    @Kay: that is excellent, timely information, Kay. I wish you’d write it up in an op-ed which could be distributed widely. I am so furious about this, the idea that men are so easily forgiven for ruining young women’s lives in this way. I know that my experiences as sexual prey have deeply affected the way I live my life. Let’s bring them all down, every last one. GRRRRRRR!

  200. 200.

    Dan B

    @Thursday: We’ve got the same thing going on in ‘the family’. My partner’s side are FOX people (zombies?). The siater in law is an attorney so all discussions are legal-eezed. The rest of the family go vacant eyes and spout FOX memes. The wall of talking points force field is strong. Anything that hints at empathy is deeply terrifying. Strength or the illusion of it, is the only thing protcting them from a terrifying world. They live in a very pretty small city that’s 97 percent white with a poverty rate of 10 percent. Yet they are afraid. They’ve never visited us. Our neighborhood is less than 10 percent white. The poverty rate is 15 percent but nearby it’s 25 percent. There are black churches and nightclubs, Buddhist temples, a Hmong monastery, a couple Chinese churches, a couple small Mosques and a madrassa, a big Filipino center, Vietnamese restaurants and shops by the hundreds, and more. Yet our “family” in whitesville is afraid. Our neighbors equals “empathy” to them.

    We steer conversations with them to themes of “order” and “liberal tyranny”. We don’t talk about our neighbors or our trans friends’ troubles. We wince silently when they decry eco-nazies. We do talk about our solar panels, electric car, and super insulated house. We talk about the successful PV manufacturer in their town, but, not about the state policy that’s made their success possible.

    Until FOX is brought to heel with a Fairness Doctrine with teeth any other discussions are useless. You might as well tell the fish that the water in their tank is toxic.

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