Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Let there be snark.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

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

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

This fight is for everything.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The words do not have to be perfect.

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

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

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

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / PSA: Debunking Social Media Rumors About Christine Blasey Ford – Open Thread

PSA: Debunking Social Media Rumors About Christine Blasey Ford – Open Thread

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I just now had to debunk some garbage on Facebook and found this, which is very helpful. The New York Times gets it right sometimes. It debunks five rumors circulating on the right about Blasey Ford. There will be more, I suppose.

Claim: Dr. Blasey’s students left negative reviews on her RateMyProfessors.com profile, calling her “unprofessional” and citing her “dark” personality.
Verdict: False.

Claim: Judge Kavanaugh’s mother once ruled against Dr. Blasey’s parents in a foreclosure case.
Verdict: False.

Claim: Dr. Blasey made similar sexual assault accusations against Justice Neil Gorsuch during his nomination process.
Verdict: False.

Claim: Dr. Blasey is a major Democratic donor with a long history of left-wing activism.
Verdict: Mostly false.

Claim: Dr. Blasey’s brother worked at a law firm with ties to the Russia investigation.
Verdict: Misleading.

Also, from former Republican Bruce Bartlett:

And, since you’ve made it this far, Ric and Zooey helping me with the laundry this morning.

Reader Interactions

251Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    And people wonder aloud (usually in bad faith) about why she was reluctant to come forward publicly. This is why.

  5. 5.

    debbie

    Whatever damage they try to do to Blasey Ford will come back to bite them very, very badly. Though Trump is certainly egging them on, the GOP should heed Bartlett.

  7. 7.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    Ric and Zooey were clearly a great help! I suspect Dr. Blase has a pretty good idea of what she’s in for, and will b be prepared. To the extent one can, for that kind of horseshit abuse.

  8. 8.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    Claim: Dr. Blasey is a major Democratic donor with a long history of left-wing activism.
    Verdict: Mostly false.

    “But she’s a professor from California! She must be a radical libturd!”

    I was in my car today and I had decided to tune to the local AM radio station. Some Jack Something Show. Total mistake. The guy cast doubt on Ford’s story by trying to say she didn’t remember significant details, etc. He thinks it’s a ratfuck is the impression I got. He also seemed to think the #MeToo movement is bullshit, judging by his credulous tone when talking about Moonves etc and how they got away with misconduct for years.

    Later, he and some dork were talking about Beto and they both claimed he was exclusively using “platitudes” like Obama did and has never discussed policy. Apparently he and Obama do this to hide their “radical socialist agendas”. I LOLed at that. And Cruz doesn’t use platitudes or use questionable rhetoric? What about that crack he made a few weeks ago about Beto bringing boob jobs and hair dye or something to Texas?

  9. 9.

    jl

    I don’t know whether this is part of the peak wingnut issue, or something different, but, geez, every week it gets weirder, darker, more depraved with the GOP.
    So, by now the evidence that this woman was assaulted by Kavanaugh is pretty strong. So, what to do about that? Try to force an unfair and rigged investigation on her. Lie about why the FBI can’t do a proper investigation.

    Smear the victim, that’s the ticket. Some GOP bozo said it was just a rape attempt, not an actual rape, and they were teens, so, hey, no harm no foul. I mean, what the hell, she wasn’t raped, just had to flee in great fear of her safety. No biggie, nothing really happened. I’m a guy, but I was the victim of a violent attempt at molestation and a strong armed robbery when I was a teen. I’m a big guy, and I can do some damage, and I got away, but, those were, in fact, biggies for me. But maybe that is just crummy little liberal snowflake me.

    And to their crooked perjurous ruthless little GOP operator confirmed, apparently it is OK to smear some innocent guy, threatening to ruin his life and get him legal trouble.
    But we don’t know that. Could be this Garrett guy is in on the plot. I don’t know which alternative is worse.

    Just mind boggling filth coming out of the GOP. Trump and federal level GOP both utterly rotten. Depressing.

  10. 10.

    WaterGirl

    There’s a lot of time between now and Thursday.

    Do we know anything more about the conversation between Kav and someone at the firm that Sen. Harris was alluding to at the last hearing?

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: They rated it mostly false because she did make some donations to Democratic candidates, but they were small dollar donations. She’s not cutting six and seven figure checks to SuperPACs. She’s not even cutting five figure checks to candidates. If I remember the list someone published the other day as part of debunking this, she was basically making donations of less than a hundred dollars.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    @JPL:

    I think she is a tough lady, and I think she has good lawyers. Even so, I cringe every time I think of what she will be facing this week. I plan to watch every minute and will be sending every good vibe I possess in her direction.

  13. 13.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:
    Oh and he didn’t understand Senator Hirono’s statement that men should “shut up and step up”. He stated he thought that in this country, stepping up meant speaking up passionately about something. How can you do that if you have to shut up? Also, it was against all men or something.

    It goes without saying this guy’s a moron. She meant that men need to shut up and listen when women complain of abuse/discrimination and step up to stop it when it happens.

  14. 14.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @debbie: I’m wondering which Republicans are willing to win this battle (Kavanaugh) and lose the longer war (2018 and ’20). I’m not making any predictions, Dems have to run the table to take the Senate this year, but I fervently hope people stay mad for two years

  15. 15.

    WaterGirl

    Totally OT, but today i added my nym to my address book along with the email address I use for Balloon Juice, and it does pop up now when i start typing and offers me the ability to select WaterGirl and then fills in my email address.

    That makes the nym/email address situation slightly less annoying. Slightly.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    Open thread?

    (venting mode activate)

    Dammit dammit dammit. Just dug an exploratory hole to find where an underground pipe leak is in landlady’s yard. Thought it would be a quick repair using a slip fix T connector, turns out there’s more than one break and also a related crack in the PVC; more extensive a job than I expected.

    Too old and the back too iffy to be digging trenches anymore, which has to be done as not only a length of pipe but also a shutoff valve further uphill needs to be replaced, so need to call in a plumber.

    (venting mode deactivate)

  18. 18.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    @jl:

    geez, every week it gets weirder, darker, more depraved with the GOP.

    Rats, cornered, etc. It’s horrible, and it may briefly get even more so, but they are terrified and on the defensive.

  20. 20.

    hells littlest angel

    Could Republicans really be foolish enough to behave like complete swine during Ford’s testimony? Will they even be able to make the choice?

    The least damaging thing they can do is withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination. I don’t know just how stupid they are, but they’re definitely not smart enough to do that.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I fervently hope people stay mad for two years

    Somehow, as long as we remain under a Trump-Pence (mal)administration, I don’t think “staying mad” will be a problem.

  24. 24.

    Ohio Mom

    @NotMax: I am always impressed by what a good tenant you are, and also always reassured by everyone here’s house problems. Because sometimes I feel like the world’s biggest chump by picking out this cute house with a bad basement but really, every house is always breaking.

  25. 25.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal:
    Staying mad is a problem only in that it isn’t good for my health. But on the other hand, neither is anything that conservatives want to do to the country. So, stay mad for a couple of years, or stay mad for hopefully a lot longer. Hmmmmmm. Not a tough choice.

  27. 27.

    debit

    I’m taking this with a grain of salt, but Avenatti claims Dr Ford “is not alone” and advises Mark Judge to “buckle up.” I may need some popcorn.

  30. 30.

    debit

    @debit: And upon hitting “post comment” I realized that was in really bad taste. This is not entertainment and I’m really ashamed for posting that.

  32. 32.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    this is from a few days ago

    Sanai told the committee leadership that “there are persons who work for, or who have worked for, the federal judiciary who have important stories to tell about disgraced former Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, and his mentee, current United States Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. I know that there are people who wish to speak out but fear retaliation because I have been contacted by more than a half-dozen such persons since Judge Kozinski resigned in disgrace.”

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    @Ruckus:

    Indeed. If I’m going to be mad (all signs point to YES), I’d much rather be mad and motivated than mad and despairing.

  36. 36.

    jl

    @debit: Ii think Grassley has demonstrated that he has no decency behind his smarmy unctuous public facade and vast majority of his fellow GOPers don’t either. So, wouldn’t make any difference. How many GOP Senators have made any objection at all to just ramming this through with a crooked process? I know of only two: Murkowski and Flake, but unclear they will follow through and do anything to stop it.

    I think Whitehouse is doing a good job with his procedural objections and points of order, in getting Grassley on records that the hearings are crooked and cooked, and that his attitude is that since his party is in the majority, they can do what they damn well please. That might do some good in the future. Grassley is softening a bit now in weaseling around trying to get Blasely to appear at a hearing that won’t outrage the country by its brutality and ruthlessness, but only because he is forced to by fear of damaging his party’s chances in the midterms.

  38. 38.

    Ohio Mom

    What I hope doesn’t get overlooked is that Kavanaugh is a liar about not only his assault of Blasey Ford but also about some very questionable financial dealings.

    In my more tin hat moments, I wonder if Republican senators aren’t happy to have the spotlight on what Kavanaugh did to Blasey Ford instead of on his bank account.

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @hells littlest angel: Could Republicans really be foolish enough to behave like complete swine during Ford’s testimony?

    If I’m Mitch McConnell, I’m politely suggesting to Orrin Hatch that he sounds a little raspy lately, maybe he should avoid speaking for a while before it becomes full-blown laryngitis. But there may be Senators as arrogant and sanctimonious as Hatch, I doubt there are any who surpass him.

  41. 41.

    Ken

    They left out the one about her being a witch and drinking the blood of Christian babies as part of her evil rites. Oh, wait, it’s only Saturday.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debit: It is, unfortunately, an accurate statement. The President and his enablers have turned the US government in specific, and the entire country in general, into his own highly public reality show. There are people turned in who do so because they’re thrilled (his supporters), there are people turned in who are hate watching, and there are people turned in to ensure they have enough information everyday in order to survive. A lot of overlap in those two groups. And I would guess that there are people that aren’t tuned in at all because they are always tuned out for a variety of reasons.

  43. 43.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @A Ghost To Most:

    Tarana @ TaranaBurke
    We believe Dr. Blasey Ford. We believe survivors. Join us for a national walkout in solidarity w/ survivors of sexual violence on Mon., Sept. 24 @ 1PM EST by wearing black and posting a message to say #BelieveSurvivors #MeToomvmt

    there’s a facebook link at the original tweet

  45. 45.

    Cheryl Rofer

  46. 46.

    oatler.

    I’ve already seen the “Nancy Pelosi’s/Hillary’s penis” schtick trotted out; how long before they mention Ford’s genitalia?

  48. 48.

    Ken

    @jl:

    his attitude is that since his party is in the majority, they can do what they damn well please. That might do some good in the future.

    Certainly provides all the justification Baud needs to fulfill his recent campaign promise to build a pyramid of the skulls of his political enemies. (Modesty forbids mentioning who suggested the idea.)

  49. 49.

    Adam L Silverman

    @JPL: Beto has a shot. How good a shot, I don’t know. Turnout is always a problem for Democrats in Texas. Even when there’s a wave year.

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    @JPL:

    I agree. Before she actually sits down before the Judiciary Committee, the Republican members (via Fox and the rest of their puke-funnel) will have done everything in their power to slime and slander and shame her. I hope, I trust and believe, that she has a really strong support system.

    And public opinion is NOT on Kavanaugh’s side. That’s got to rattle him and the Rethugs, I hope.

  51. 51.

    namekarB

    Every time I hear the comment about the good ol’ days, I remind the commenter that “Oh, you mean when the owners of this country only owned half of it instead of most of it?”

  53. 53.

    Adam L Silverman

    @oatler.: Apparently someone, on Fox or conservative social media, has started juxtaposing Ford’s high school picture with one of Hillary from the same time period claiming they look almost identical. They don’t. I overheard some dipshit, middle age, overweight (and not in more muscle than fat way) white douche in a doo rag gleefully telling his wife/girlfriend about it yesterday. They were on the rowing machines behind the Arc Trainer I was on. And even with noise cancelling ear buds in, I could hear him.

  56. 56.

    StringOnAStick

    I’m currently in Buenos Aires and I have to say that even as bad as I know the economy is here (15% devaluation last week on top of 40% so far this year), people know how to keep their spirits up and they know how to protest. We were told that on September 23 there will be a nation -wide general strike a nd one person told of a strike last week where people just sat down in the middle of the highway and shut down traffic.

    This place also leaves me with a sense of deja vue. Once one of the top 10 most wealthy countries in the world with gorgeous mansions and signs of former great wealth, decades ago bought up for embassies and fancy hotels, now going to seed from careening from one economic crisis to another. The next economic crisis (debt) is on deck. Gorgeous country and lovely people about to be squeezed hard in the international debt vice.

    We’ll be hiking in Patagonia when the general strike happens and I am curious about what it will be like. There is definitely a sense of anticipation.

  60. 60.

    JPL

    @debit: True. It didn’t occur to me that the White House leaked it in order to have him withdraw. I bet your correct because the article mentioned that he did not plan on withdrawing.

  61. 61.

    TS (the original)

    @jl: This hearing is happening because despite the comments from McConnell, Grassley knows he does not have the numbers to confirm Kavanaugh without Dr Blasey being heard.

    Whether he has the numbers after she is heard, has yet to be decided. I live in hope that there may be “a few good men/women” among republican senators, but that may be wishful thinking.

  62. 62.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    Too old and the back too iffy to be digging trenches anymore,

    Somebody here posted the “recipe” for some vile concoction with black pepper, Sambuca, and vodka. I think it’s drain-worthy, but he seemed to think it was good stuff. You might try that.

    [Yes, I remember who posted the recipe.]

  63. 63.

    dmsilev

    @TS (the original): At least one Republican Senator (Murkowski) has said that she will vote no on Kavanaugh if his nomination is brought to the floor of the Senate without Dr. Blasey having had a hearing. There are probably at least one more saying the same thing behind the scenes; as you say, if the votes for confirmation were there and were hard-set, Grassley and McConnell would have pushed things through already.

  65. 65.

    JPL

    @debbie: Who knows. What I do know is when it looked like turnout for Handel was going to be low against Ossoff, she had nasty mailers and white powder. It did happen and they never identified where it originated.
    The fact that Ossoff had to hire security for his parents for months was never mentioned. So it could be real.

  67. 67.

    SFAW

    @oatler.:

    how long before they mention Ford’s genitalia?

    Would not surprise me if they dusted off the “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty” thing. If Ed Whelan fails at his suicide attempt, I’d expect that he’d be the one to try it.

  68. 68.

    eemom

    I think it needs to be pointed out that there’s a big difference between the first three items on that list — which are flat out false representations of fact — and the second two, which are meaningless innuendo.

    The negative student reviews were about another professor with the same name.

    Kavanaugh’s mother did sign an order in a case involving a foreclosure action against the Blaseys — an order DISMISSING the action after the Blaseys refinanced their mortgage.

    First I heard about the Gorsuch thing but that would take about 10 seconds to disprove.

    That’s the point — that those 3 “rumors” are simple lies that anybody with two brain cells to rub together and the slightest shred of intellectual honesty would take the fucking 10 seconds to check out before hitting “publish”. Needless to say the liars, in their pants pissing eagerness to find something — ANYTHING — to smear Ford with, weren’t interested in doing that.

    The second two assertions are different, because they have jack shit to do with the matter, regardless of whether they’re true or false.

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    @SFAW

    And bitters.

    ‘Twas yummy and a more than pleasant change of pace. Of course not everyone likes a hit of licorice taste, so YMMV.

    Sun not due over the yardarm for a few more hours yet. More’s the pity.

    ;)

  70. 70.

    SFAW

    @debbie:

    Do you know if there is any truth to Kavanaugh’s wife getting death threats?

    He must be getting desperate, if he’s threatening his own wife.

  71. 71.

    TS (the original)

    @debit: From your link

    In one key call, Kavanaugh told Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) that Ford had the wrong guy in mind, saying he had not attended a party like the one she described to The Washington Post.

    Some other dude defense hasn’t worked too well. This looks certain to be part of the discussion.

  72. 72.

    Mnemosyne

    @debit:

    I think we’re all hoping that the Republicans willl publicly humiliate themselves without further injuring Dr. Ford.

  73. 73.

    cynthia ackerman

    Sixty or so years after Joe McCarthy, one big difference is the immediacy of social media.

    I do not see the Reflexicans coming out ahead on this.

    Their awful agenda is too transparent.

  75. 75.

    Kent

    If they are at all smart. They will politely listen to her, thank her for coming, and then just gavel the hearing closed without asking any questions.

    Then walk out in front of the cameras and express how they didn’t find the testimony convincing and are moving forward with the vote.

    Let all the surrogates go crazy.

  76. 76.

    SFAW

    @TS (the original):

    Some other dude defense hasn’t worked too well. This looks certain to be part of the discussion.

    In the run-up to Iraq, W’s Maladministration put forth myriad (and ever-changing) reasons why invading Iraq was necessary. Seens like that’s “a thing” with Rethuglicans.

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    @debbie

    Haven’t been keeping up with every zig and zag, however the only thing did see was that she received a message that she and her children were on the path “to go to Hell.”

    Nasty and uncalled for, still not exactly what one would describe as a death threat.

  80. 80.

    JPL

    @NotMax: Still no idea where it came from also. I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but I am saying it’s likely it came from a supporter. Casting doubt helps.

  81. 81.

    Ken

    @SFAW:

    Ed Whelan fails at his suicide attempt,

    Joy! My first meme!

    (Not counting the old USENET days. What happens on talk.origins stays on talk.origins.)

  82. 82.

    SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal

    @debbie:

    Do you know if there is any truth to Kavanaugh’s wife getting death threats?

    I hadn’t heard this, and I hope to FSM it isn’t true. Death threats are absolutely, unquestionably beyond the Pale no matter who makes them or to whom they are directed.

  84. 84.

    Elizabelle

    @Another Scott: Keep me posted on any potential rallies Thursday morning in DC. I would be most amenable to showing up in my pink hat, with a sign.

    Let us know about any street action you hear of.

  85. 85.

    Gelfling 545

    @hells littlest angel: I think the they’ll be like Trump bursting out with his appalling tweet. They won’t be able to help themselves. They’ll start put trying to wct like decent, empathetic humans but their natures will prevail.

  87. 87.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibue:
    If my car radio didn’t work, I’d never know. The entertainment system, that’s different. I listen to music or nothing. Sorry, not even the Packers.

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    People who claim to be educated and yet think “mentee” is a word should have their armpits tickled until they say uncle. The word is “protege” for a male and “protegee” for a female.

  95. 95.

    Patricia Kayden

    @debbie: As long as they get an ultra Rightwing Justice on the Supreme Court, I don’t think Republicans worry about any backlash. 538 gives Republicans 70 % odds to keep the Senate.

  96. 96.

    japa21

    If the GOP gives Blasey Ford a hard time, the lose the Senate, period. Doesn’t matter if Kavanaugh is confirmed or not.

    All the close races will go Dem. Dems will pick up AZ, NV, MT, TN (looking good already in those states) and TX. Will keep MO, FL. May still lose IN.

  97. 97.

    TS (the original)

    @Ruckus: @Ruckus:

    As Adam has stated in the past, if you have the votes, you vote. If you don’t you hold hearings.

    Very succinct way to say what takes me many more words. Presumably what follows – if you still don’t have the votes you withdraw. I would love the vote to fail rather than have Kavanaugh withdraw.

  98. 98.

    dmsilev

    Annals of WTF, global communications network edition. I just got an email from a colleague of mine in Japan. One of the students in the lab down the hall from me wrote to him asking to borrow the physics lab equivalent of a cup of sugar (200 liters of liquid nitrogen. Yes, we’re weird.). My colleague, who reasonably enough does not keep track of my nitrogen stores from halfway around the world, forwarded the email to me, and I sent it on to my minions since they’re the ones who actually use the stuff.

    Is this really what ARPA had in mind when they funded the first computer communications networks?

  99. 99.

    Steve in the ATL

    @debbie: of course there have been no actual death threats to Kavanaugh’s wife. Just as there were no actual threats to Karen Handel.

    Now the threats to Dr. Ford and to the Ossoffs? Those were real. Because right wingers are violent nutjobs and left wingers are not.

  102. 102.

    Chris T.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    suggesting to Orrin Hatch that he sounds a little raspy lately

    I read that as “a little bit rapey” at first.

    The entire R party is sounding that way, what with them assuring us that they’ll ram it in I mean through…

  103. 103.

    B.B.A.

    @L85NJGT: NIPSCO is the corporate parent of Columbia Gas, whose poor maintenance caused those explosions in Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago. So the wingnut rants are already pre-written for them.

  106. 106.

    NotMax

    Just a big ol’ slush fund, in their minds.

    John Dowd, the former head of President Trump’s special counsel legal team, reportedly wanted to transfer thousands of dollars from a White House defense fund to help Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, who both worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign.

    The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Dowd, who left Trump’s legal defense team earlier this year over disagreements on its direction, told officials that Manafort and Gates were in immediate need of funds for their legal defenses against charges brought by the special counsel. Dowd wanted money transferred from a fund set up to pay legal costs of current Trump administration officials.

    The idea was rebuffed by White House ethics advisers, the Journal reports, who said such a transfer to Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, or Gates, a campaign adviser, would look like an attempt to stop their potential cooperation with authorities. Source

  109. 109.

    Dan B

    @SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal: I hope (and pray?) that more witnesses and women come forward, please! I don’t care if they testify just get in the MSM, especially TV. It’s so difficult to get traction all alone. She’s done a great job so far but there are hundreds of thousands of creeps out there. Each additional woman diminishes the creeps.

  110. 110.

    Dan B

    @NotMax: Feel your pain about sprinklers. When PVC gets old you chase the cracks sometimes until you give up and install a new line, ugh!

  111. 111.

    dmsilev

    @Adam L Silverman: I can’t imagine them pulling the plug before the hearing. Even by the standards of the Trump administration, that’d be a catastrophic and humiliating defeat. After the hearing, well I guess it depends on how Susan Collins is feeling.

  112. 112.

    clay

    @japa21: Also, if the GOP fails to confirm BK, I think there’s a good chance they’ll lose the Senate as well — it’ll depress their base.

    The Repubs have a very tricky line to walk, here. And I am not convinced of their dexterity.

  113. 113.

    NotMax

    More rough water for you-know-who.

    The Trump White House has yet another legal headache—and this time, the other side brought paddles. The Canoe Cruisers Association of Greater Washington filed a lawsuit in Maryland Thursday against members of the administration, alleging defendants Karl L. Schultz, the commandant of the US Coast Guard, and Kirstjen M. Nielsen, the secretary of Homeland Security, failed to properly notify residents and surrounding businesses of a policy that locked them out of a 1.6-mile stretch stretch of the Potomac River.

    Paddling and boating enthusiasts have been at odds with the administration for the better part of a year, after the Coast Guard implemented a then-temporary shuttering of a stretch of the river nearly 30 miles upriver from Washington, adjacent to Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. Thursday’s complaint challenges the Coast Guard’s regulation, which it says “revokes the public’s legal right to access and enjoy a popular section of the Potomac River whenever President Trump visits Trump National.”

    The Canoe Cruisers Association further charges that the DHS neglected to address or act on over 600 public comments from impacted individuals, violating processes required by agency regulatory rules. They additionally claim that the established boundary is “arbitrary and capricious because it is overbroad, fails to provide adequate notice to the affected community regarding when it will be in force, lacks an end date, and exceeds the scope of DHS’s statutory authority.”Source

  114. 114.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NYCMT: The question is, since Kavanaugh has stated there was no party and he wasn’t present, why contact Ford’s friend? And if there was a party and Kavanaugh was present, how did anyone on the Judiciary Committee GOP majority’s staff know who the friend was who was at the party?

  116. 116.

    Ruckus

    @TS (the original):
    You won’t see a vote if they aren’t sure they have the numbers. Delaying the vote looks a lot less crappy than losing it. Losing a key vote would be very, very bad for them because it means they couldn’t keep all their members in line, they will have lost control. They have the slimmest of margins to began with, and other choices in the bull(shit) pen. This is their guy. And they just decided that all his baggage was not a problem. I’m hoping they got that entirely wrong. I hope everyone with a republican senator is calling their offices every day and complaining bitterly about the possibility of their careers cratering if they vote for this ass. Hell if I had a timid or shitty dem senator I’d be calling them every day. But I have two women senators, Feinstein and Harris, who hate this ass BK, and I’d bet far worse than I do.

  117. 117.

    jl

    @Adam L Silverman: As Lil’ Newtie said ‘there are many intersections at several levels” (of the lies and BS and bad faith).
    I think you need tot take Lil’ Newtie’s widsom seriously if you are going to figure it out.

  118. 118.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: They’re in a vise. The Evangelicals, specifically the professional ones that run the movement, have already told the President and McConnell that if Kavanaugh isn’t confirmed as soon as possible, they’re pulling their support and will sit out the midterms. So they can’t pull him, but they also know things are going to get worse between now and next Thursday. And remember, even if Grassley holds a vote for Kavanaugh on Friday and votes him out of committee, it’ll be several days until McConnell can bring the vote on the floor. And McConnell has made it clear that he’s going to schedule that vote even if the Judiciary Committee votes no on the nomination. There’s about 7 to 10 days or so before McConnell can bring a floor vote. That’s a lot of time for things to from bad to worse.

  119. 119.

    Ken

    @Adam L Silverman: I think you missed one or more of the retcons in this, ahem, evolving story line. Easy to do, since there are so many writers and they don’t seem to be coordinating worth a damn. (I’m never going to say a nasty word about DCU continuity again.)

  120. 120.

    Dan B

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Fantastic! I hope there are women willing to step forward and would be glad for some male witnesses, or victims. It would be great to have the strughle be anout decent people vs creeps in addition to women (with bad memories from long ago, of course//) vs “family” men.

  121. 121.

    Another Scott

    @dmsilev: Presumably there’s going to be a “witness list” (or whatever the proper term is) announced before the hearing before the Judiciary Committee. Presumably the GOP can deny Democrats requests to have various people on the list (friendly people, and people like Judge). If that happens, and the Democrats make a stink about it, or have a press conference the day before with, say, friendly witnesses who were denied the chance to testify, or similar things, then I could very well imagine Brett deciding to withdraw before having to appear before the Committee.

    tl;dr – Lots of things can still happen that might make Brett withdraw. But he might not.

    And even if the Committee were to vote him down, or not give him a positive vote, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if McConnell didn’t try to find some way to force him through on the floor. Maybe some sort of kickback for Susan and Lisa?? He’s not going to give up as long as he thinks there’s any chance of winning – he won’t let a little thing like the JC stand in his way.

    I’m hoping that no matter how McConnell figures he can win this fight, that he will eventually lose the way he did on Obamacare. But we’ll have to see.

    We’ve got to keep up the pressure!! Make the Teabaggers sweat!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  122. 122.

    Kay

    @Ohio Mom:

    What I hope doesn’t get overlooked is that Kavanaugh is a liar about not only his assault of Blasey Ford but also about some very questionable financial dealings.

    And his prior testimony. I feel like that’s “priced in” to this thing- he’s less credible than he might have been had he not had other problems.

    This is an extreme example but there will come a time when Donald Trump will NOT be guilty of any one high crime and misdemeanor. But no one will believe him. If a woman came forward today and said Trump molested her in the White House 75% of the country would immediately believe it. They should.

  125. 125.

    dmsilev

    @Adam L Silverman: Of course, that could be a bluff of sorts from the professional evangelicals. They know just as well as McConnell does that a Democratic Senate and a bigger-than-expected Democratic House majority would slam the gates completely shut on their glorious plan to remake the country.

  131. 131.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Geoff Bennett @ GeoffRBennett
    42m42 minutes ago
    Republican and Democratic staff on the Judiciary Committee and attorneys for Christine Blasey Ford have reached a tentative agreement to hold a hearing on Thursday where Ford and Kavanaugh would testify, three sources tell NBC News.

  132. 132.

    catclub

    @Adam L Silverman:

    have already told the President and McConnell that if Kavanaugh isn’t confirmed as soon as possible, they’re pulling their support and will sit out the midterms.

    That seems like the least credible threat in the world. Are the ones living in states where there is a competitive senate race going to do that, when they know that losing the senate means the line of conservative judges going onto the federal judiciary stops?

    I can only hope it is true. I can also hope that Flake and Corker vote against Kavanaugh

  133. 133.

    Ken

    @Cheryl Rofer: McConnell said no such thing, in fact the whole thing was McConnell’s fault, Trump was dubious about Kavanaugh from the beginning but took his advice, with the consequence that the tow cable was cut, which was not at all Trump’s fault but all part of the pattern of insubordination and inefficiency which he has been facing since he took charge, with all the cabinet officers conspiring against him, as he has now proved with mathematical precision after this incident with the Kavanaugh nomination.

    (Trump channelling Queeg doesn’t quite work, does it? The paranoia and neurotic certainty fit, but the vocabulary has too many big words.)

  134. 134.

    Fair Economist

    @Adam L Silverman: I don’t see why the Evangelicals will turn on the Republicans if they cut Kavanaugh lose and go with any of a number of wingnut alternatives. I have heard the rumor but I suspect deceit by the White House or Kavanaugh’s allies.

  136. 136.

    NotMax

    @catclub

    Another to keep an eye on and keep up the pressure on is Kyl, who has zip to lose as he’s a seat warmer.

    Maybe he’ll replicate the McCain’s thumbs down?

  138. 138.

    Gin & Tonic

    @StringOnAStick: Oh, man, I just love Buenos Aires, despite everything. Enjoy your time there. We’re probably going to be there in January, and heading down to Patagonia as well.

  140. 140.

    Adam L Silverman

    @catclub: Who knows. I try not to comment on people’s religious beliefs, but especially among the professional white Evangelicals I’m convinced they’ve gone completely off the edge.

  141. 141.

    TS (the original)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And McConnell has made it clear that he’s going to schedule that vote even if the Judiciary Committee votes no on the nomination.

    Which encourages my thoughts on the vote going down (I know it is unlikely) – but – is this yet another Senate norm/rule/guideline disappearing from the congress? Is it usual for a no vote in committee to continue to the floor?

  144. 144.

    burnspbesq

    @L85NJGT:

    If someone tells Trump about a major electric utility planning to dump all of its coal-fired generating capacity, the tweets should be awesome.

  145. 145.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Fair Economist:

    The New York Times reported on Thursday that evangelical leaders have threatened to stay home and not vote in the upcoming midterms if the GOP doesn’t get Kavanaugh seated.

    “One of the political costs of failing to confirm Brett Kavanaugh is likely the loss of the United States Senate,” warned Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed, who added, “If Republicans were to fail to defend and confirm such an obviously and eminently qualified and decent nominee then it will be very difficult to motivate and energize faith-based and conservative voters in November.”

    Sorry Ftnyt

  146. 146.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Ken: Ken, you don’t give yourself enough credit. It was lovely, and until I read “the tow cable was cut” I was believing that you were serious. *grin* Seriously, lovely.

  147. 147.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: Um, they’ve been off the edge, and off the map, for a long time.

    Repost – Jill Lepore at the New Yorker – Birthright (from 2011):

    Abortion wasn’t a partisan issue until Republicans made it one. In June of 1972, a Gallup poll reported that sixty-eight per cent of Republicans and fifty-nine per cent of Democrats agreed that “the decision to have an abortion should be made solely by a woman and her physician.” Fifty-six per cent of Catholics thought so, too. Blackmun clipped the Washington Post story reporting this survey and put it in his Roe case file.

    Nixon was reëlected in November of 1972. Eight days after the Supreme Court issued its ruling on Roe, in January of 1973, a right-to-life amendment was introduced to Congress. “This poses real strategy problems,” a former president of Planned Parenthood said in an interview, “because to the degree that any of us fight to keep that out of the Constitution, it brands Planned Parenthood as pro-abortion.” Gerald Ford’s wife and his Vice-President, Nelson Rockefeller, supported abortion rights. In 1976, the year Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, Ann Richards ran for office for the first time, and Cecile Richards was a student at Brown. She got her birth control at Planned Parenthood in Providence.

    In the late nineteen-seventies, the Republican strategists Richard Viguerie and Paul Weyrich, both of whom were Catholic, recruited Jerry Falwell into a coalition designed to bring together economic and social conservatives around a “pro-family” agenda, one that targeted gay rights, sexual freedom, women’s liberation, the E.R.A., child care, and sex education. Weyrich said that abortion ought to be “the keystone of their organizing strategy, since this was the issue that could divide the Democratic Party.” Falwell founded the Moral Majority in 1979; Paul Brown, the founder of the American Life League, scoffed in 1982, “Jerry Falwell couldn’t spell ‘abortion’ five years ago.”

    “White Evangelicals” are just a branch of the Republican Party. They’re not a religious group – they’re a political one that twists the tax code and the First Amendment to further their goals.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  148. 148.

    Mike in NC

    Just got back from the most impressive, most lavish wedding celebration we’d ever been invited to, held at the charming Siasconet Unity Chapel on Nantucket. Scores of people literally came from all over the world for this thing. Heading back to the mainland on Monday afternoon to resume our humdrum lives.

  149. 149.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I love this guy. I can just hear Nixon gossiping like this with his cronies

    Richard M. Nixon @ dick_nixon
    Whatever else he may have done I don’t think there’s a question Kavanaugh drinks. Look at him.

    The, you know, his coloring. The rosy cheeks. That’s not health. All Irish get that way after a fashion.

  151. 151.

    Adam L Silverman

    Here’s some good news:
    https://www.rawstory.com/2018/09/comcast-outbids-fox-39-billion-offer-british-broadcaster-sky-auction/

    Comcast (CMCSA.O) beat Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox (FOXA.O) in the battle for Sky (SKYB.L) after offering more than 30 billion pounds ($39 billion) for the British broadcaster, in a dramatic auction to decide the fate of the pay-television group.

    U.S. cable giant Comcast bid 17.28 pounds a share for control of London-listed Sky, bettering a 15.67 pounds a share offer by Fox, the Takeover Panel said in a statement shortly after final bids were made on Saturday.

    The quick-fire auction marked a dramatic climax to a protracted transatlantic bidding battle waged since February, when Comcast gate-crashed Fox’s takeover of Sky.

    It is a blow to 87-year-old media mogul Murdoch and the U.S. media and entertainment group that he controls, which had been trying to take full ownership of Sky since December 2016.

    It is also a setback for U.S. entertainment giant Walt Disney (DIS.N), which agreed a separate $71 billion deal to buy the bulk of Fox’s film and TV assets, including the Sky stake, in June and would have taken ownership of the British broadcaster following a successful Fox takeover.

    More at the link.

  154. 154.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TS (the original): No, but it is always up to the Majority Leader. He sets the calendar. McConnell stated from the day Kavanaugh was nominated that he would hold a floor vote regardless of what happened with the committee vote. That was largely because there was talk that Senator Flake would vote no because he’s offended by the President.

  158. 158.

    dmsilev

    @YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S): I can neither confirm nor deny…

    Actually, it’s used as a filter. We have various loops of piping carrying high purity gases (a specific isotopic mixture of helium), and any leakage of air into the mixture would be bad. So, we run the loop through a charcoal filter cooled to LN2 temperatures; the charcoal scrubs the nitrogen and oxygen out of the mix. Keeping the scrubbers cold takes 25-30 liters of LN2 per day, so a 200 L tank is about a week’s worth of consumption. There are other uses for the stuff (including making ice cream…), but that’s the main one.

  160. 160.

    Dan B

    @TS (the original): I keep wondering if we will soon have difficulty remembering when the GOP was violating norms instead of breaking laws. It feels like obvious scorn for the rule of law and the Constitution is their only way to achieve their goals.

  163. 163.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: I wrote part of my doctoral dissertation on anti-abortion terrorism. I am intimately familiar with the history of abortion as a political and/or medical issue in the US.

  167. 167.

    Millard Filmore

    @Dan B:

    Hopefully the good new attorney (and Avenatti?) can get these witnesses on camera and point out that Grassley refused to hear them.

    I am just a nobody that everyone ignores but it is inconceivable that Bromwich quit his high paying high status executive position to coach a nice lady through a few hours of Senate questioning. Bromwich was Inspector General around the time Kavanaugh was rat-fvcking the Clintons with Vince Foster and Monica Lewinsky. He has seen the type of man that Kavanaugh is Up Close And Personl. I suspect Bromwich is going for the throat and would like to see if Kavanaugh can perform his Supreme Court duties while confined to a prison cell. Help with the upcoming interrogation, sure. But that will not be the end of his involvement.

  169. 169.

    Jay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    There was a in depth Politico article on an Ohio Teabag Senator who after going to jail on corruption charges, losing his son to suicide, changed his racists beliefs, ( maybe).

    The interesting part of the article, aside from the machine depth of corruption in Ohio, was that the Evangelicals, Libertarians and Establishment ReThugs in Ohio, are “at war” with each other and The Party.

    The God Botherer’s are pissed that the ReThug’s keep losing the Culture War.

    I can see them staying home.

  173. 173.

    Marcopolo

    Always take polls with a grain of salt but the NYT/Sienna is doing the first poll of KS-3 and they have Sharice Davids (we did a fundraiser thread or two for her) up 51-44 over Yoder about 86% of the way through.

  174. 174.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jay: The only thing these folks hate more than Democrats, liberals, immigrants, Muslims, Mexicans, LGBTQ people, Jews, people of color, and women are each other.

  179. 179.

    Adam L Silverman

    Only the best people:

  180. 180.

    Adam L Silverman

    Ooo!

  181. 181.

    Gin & Tonic

    @NotMax: Sure, beef (which is v. good.) Also great wine and, surprisingly to me, outstanding ice cream – actually an awful lot of good sweets and pastries, And, oh, did I mention the empanadas? My mouth is watering already.

  183. 183.

    Bill Arnold

    I was trying to understand her professional interests (which seem to be fairly broad(not narrow)), and dang, is Christine Blasey Ford the Christine Blasey who co-authored this recent bummer paper?:
    Attenuation of antidepressant effects of ketamine by opioid receptor antagonism (2018/8/29)
    (Seriously, I was surprised, as an interested autodidact. Keep thinking it’s somehow wrong. Very small study though.)
    (Poking through this: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=J2T7HxgAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate )

  184. 184.

    Joey Maloney

    @L85NJGT: Wow, that name is a blast from my past. In a previous lifetime I canvassed for Citizen Action in Indiana. NIPSCO’s rapaciousness was one of our easiest fundraising targets, especially after we succeeded in getting one of their most egregious rate hikes reversed. “Hi, I’m from Citizen Action. That $200 rebate check you got from NIPSCO last week? We did that. How’s about giving us twenty bucks so we can keep doing that for you?”

  185. 185.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike in NC: Sounds better than a Krispy Kreme wedding cake.

    I’ve seen cupcake wedding cakes/wedding cake displays. In some ways it makes a lot more sense. Easier to eat if people are moving around and schmoozing.

  188. 188.

    PJ

    @Adam L Silverman: Disney controls almost all of Fox (everything except Fox News and the newspapers, I believe) since the takeover was approved earlier this summer. If Disney decides to sell their 39% of Sky, Comcast’s bid essentially makes Murdoch that much richer (according to the NYT, Comcast’s bid was 61% higher than Fox’s initial bid last year: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/22/business/dealbook/comcast-beats-fox-for-control-of-british-broadcaster-sky.html). So it’s hard to say that Murdoch lost on this deal, particularly since he was already giving up control of the part of Fox that owned Sky.

  191. 191.

    NotMax

    @Gin & Tonic

    Was a long time ago (early 60s) but remember a lot of German bakeries.

    Draw your own conclusions about the makeup of the German expatriate community at that time.

  192. 192.

    Gin & Tonic

    @MagdaInBlack: “In a letter Saturday, Bromwich resigned his position as senior counsel at Washington, D.C., law firm Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber”

    Can you imagine being the poor person who has to answer the telephone at that firm? That’s f’ing unpronounceable.

  194. 194.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    This is what retired machinists in Rustberg, et cetera, et cetera

    The New York Times @ nytimes
    Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, donated $55 million to Republican electoral efforts in the last few months. That makes them the biggest spenders on federal elections in all of U.S. politics, according to campaign finance data.

    and I’d bet with their tax cut, they’re still profiting on the investments they’ve been making

  197. 197.

    dmsilev

    @Bill Arnold: Since the institutional affiliations (see pg. 8) include the Department of Psychology at Palo Alto University, where she works, I’d say almost certainly yes, it’s the same Christine Blasey.

  199. 199.

    Gin & Tonic

    @MagdaInBlack: Anyway, this leads to the question: the attorneys Dr. Blasey has seem to me, a layman, v. costly, and she is a professor at a relatively small college. How are they being paid?

  200. 200.

    Aleta

    (–snip–)
    More than a thousand women who attended Holton-Arms (–) have signed a letter that describes the alleged assault as “all too consistent with stories we heard and lived while attending Holton. Many of us are survivors ourselves.”

    Now the rest of us are learning about the hierarchy of Washington private schools—about what it meant, in the eighties, to go to Georgetown Prep as opposed to Landon or Gonzaga, and about the girls’ schools Stone Ridge, Visitation, and Holton-Arms. By all appearances, the kids from these prep schools almost exclusively socialize with one another, and that social network informs their identities for the rest of their lives. As reporters have investigated Kavanaugh’s high-school years, many alumni have expressed fear about going on the record and alienating themselves from a close-knit community.

    “I guess you could call it a fraternity between a bunch of rich kids,” an anonymous alumnus of Georgetown Prep, who overlapped with Kavanaugh there, told the Huff Post. “All this shit happens, and then nobody really wants to talk about it, because if one person crumbles, the whole system crumbles, and everybody tells on everybody.” I spoke with another Georgetown Prep alumnus, who hated high school but still didn’t want to go on the record about what it was like there. Even for those who take less pride in the institution, what happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep.

    Seven years after Kavanaugh graduated, in 1990, four students were expelled from the school for participating in a hazing ritual called “butting.” … One of the students, whose father was an alumnus, filed a lawsuit with his parents contesting his expulsion, arguing that he and his classmates had taken the fall for a common practice at the school. When a county judge rejected the lawsuit, the boy’s father, who told the Post that nineteen family members had attended Georgetown Prep, said, “I don’t think too kindly of the school,” adding that he planned to have his name struck from the alumni rolls. It was an extraordinary display of privilege, and of the protections that people think they will receive for expressing loyalty to an institution.

    During the past week, Georgetown Prep … publish(ed) a letter from its president, the Reverend James Van Dyke, to “the Prep Community.” It is a strange document. … Georgetown Prep students are framed not as citizens but as benevolent patriarchs: their good behavior is a form of service.

    What Kavanaugh appears to have been taught, as a young person, is that goodness is working at a soup kitchen or volunteering on a mission to a poorer country; it’s granted to other people as an act of charity. Meanwhile, less good behavior would be tolerated, as long as it happened under the veil of drunkenness, or as a joke. The Jesuit fathers would turn a blind eye to the yearbook, and U.S. senators would chuckle at frat-boy antics. In this world, high school doesn’t end when you’re eighteen; it’s a lifelong circle of mutual support, an in-crowd that protects itself.

    The next few days will show whether Kavanaugh was right to place his faith in this system. (NYer)

  201. 201.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Gin & Tonic: the original GoFundMe for her security costs raised a bit more than $200k before the organizer suspended it. One presumes that if more $$ is needed, she’ll reopen it, and we’ll all start contributing again.

    B/c Dr. Blasey is the hero we need, and for sure don’t deserve.

  205. 205.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    I was reading about Family Ties on TV Tropes the other day because I have nothing better to do. When I read about how popular MJF’s character was with audiences, given he was a yuppie Reagnite, I was a little surprised. I suppose it most have been MJF’s acting ability and charisma that made his character likable.

    If a show like that aired today, could a character like Alex P. Keaton even work given today’s poltical environment, even if he was played by an actor on MJF’s level?

  206. 206.

    WaterGirl

    @Aleta:

    More than a thousand women who attended Holton-Arms (–) have signed a letter that describes the alleged assault as “all too consistent with stories we heard and lived while attending Holton. Many of us are survivors ourselves.”

    Wow.

  208. 208.

    WaterGirl

    @Aleta:

    In this world, high school doesn’t end when you’re eighteen; it’s a lifelong circle of mutual support, an in-crowd that protects itself.

    Ugh.

  209. 209.

    Adam L Silverman

    @MagdaInBlack: I do not know what you’re talking about…

    I have access, as a front pager, to the site’s backend/dashboard. This includes access to every comment. You may have noticed that I’ve fixed a number of comments where the hyperlink has captured the reply button or there’s some other formatting problem.

  211. 211.

    Aleta

    @Millard Filmore: I wondered about that. He was a litigation lawyer, got appointed to head a (department? organization?) that Obama formed to try to protect the oceans after the D. Horizen spill, headed the investigation of the infamous Texas crIme lab that sent many people to prison or death row based on corrupt evidence. Is his participation a sign that false testimony or other corruption of the hearing could be used in a civil trial or other action?

    Although I assume he could rejoin his firm after? Anyway, they needed to add a lawyer with DC & gov’t skills & deep connections I guess.

  213. 213.

    Bill Arnold

    @dmsilev:

    Since the institutional affiliations (see pg. 8) include the Department of Psychology at Palo Alto University, where she works, I’d say almost certainly yes, it’s the same Christine Blasey.

    Tx, didn’t spot that, oops.
    I’ve read maybe 50+ papers in the last 6 months and I think that one was the most surprising. (To me, and also to many others.)
    She will surprise the Senators. :) (Fairly sure.)

  215. 215.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Jay:
    Not so well, thank fuck. I still can’t believe ABC thought it was a good idea to do the the reboot given Roseanne’s past.

    For that Family Ties reboot, I imagine Alex would be a white supremacist/alt-rightist Trump supporter chanting about “blood and soil” and wielding a tiki torch.

  218. 218.

    stinger

    @dmsilev:

    Is this really what ARPA had in mind when they funded the first computer communications networks?

    No, the Internet was invented so that the President of the United States could publicly insult American companies and private citizens by name. Say what you will about cats playing the piano, I think the highest outcome of instant global communications is Orange Baby ragetweeting from his gold-painted porcelain throne.

  219. 219.

    WaterGirl

    @Aleta: Someone on an earlier thread suggested that perhaps he was happy enough to part ways with the firm once he found out they had a problem with him being part of Christine Blasey Ford’s legal team.

    I think they are both interesting theories.

  220. 220.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @West of the Rockies:
    If you supported Reagan (Iran-Contra, Welfare Queens and Young Bucks buying t-bone steaks, Southern strategy, destroying the social safety net, and almost starting WW3) you were probably an irredeemable piece of shit anyway.

    IMO, I don’t care so much how personally descent someone else. Hitler was nice to his dog and hated animal abuse. He still murdered 6 million Jews and other “undesirables”.

  221. 221.

    PJ

    @Aleta: If it’s because of a conflict in his representation of Blasey Ford and the firm’s other clients that he left the firm, that’s unlikely to go away when his representation of her ends. (Of course, the clients can waive the conflict if they like, and there are chinese walls, etc., but if those were likely to work, I’d think the firm would have gone for those options instead of him quitting.)

  223. 223.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: Yep. The old saying used to be that there were girls you dated and there were girls you married. I guess with that crowd there were the girls you raped and there were girls you married.

    The way these guys are interconnected and band together — the whole thing is playing out like a disgusting episode of Law and Order: SVU.

  227. 227.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @WaterGirl:

    Law and Order: SVU.

    I have a love-hate relationship with that show.

    Deals with sexual assault victims and tries to knock down cultural myths like “if they say no they really mean yes” and slut-shaming tactics like “she was asking for it dressed like that”? Yes!

    Detectives (usually Benson and Stabler) sanctimoniously violate police procedure and perp’s constitutional rights and get away with it? Generally badmouths democratically elected leaders and restraints on their powers? No!

  228. 228.

    Millard Filmore

    @WaterGirl:

    Pro bono?

    That’s all well and good for the work that Mr Bromwich does personally, but he will need funds for court fees, copying fees, investigators, filing fees, fees to get permission to pay the fees, and on and on and on.

  232. 232.

    Aleta

    “The Republicans need women voters, but all hell will break loose (or it will be chaos) if this nomination unravels,” Dan Eberhart, an Arizona-based GOP donor, wrote in an email. “If we can’t get the nomination done, why vote Republican?”

    I think he means why donate (big) to Republicans. Money is for delivery, threats are for dicey moments.  

    Last week, Kavanaugh was calling Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and other key allies, urging them to publicly support him and determining what questions he would face in a hearing…. In one key call, Kavanaugh told Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) that Ford had the wrong guy in mind, saying he had not attended a party like the one she described to The Washington Post. He and his allies also privately discussed a defense that would raise doubts that the attacker was Kavanaugh, rather than try to dispute that an incident involving Ford had happened.

     

     

    McGahn has kept other key aides out of the process, afraid they would leak damaging material, relying on special counsel Annie Donaldson and spokesman Raj Shah. He has also talked on several occasions with McConnell, who is fond of McGahn.

     

  233. 233.

    Jay

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

    As the Rosanne Show, the death of Last Man Standing, the old sit coms based on American political divides, aimed at the White Middle Class, are dead as a doornail.

    The sit com where a minority LBGTQ youth get’s dormed with a RWNJ in the University Dorm, rapidly becomes a Homicide show, not a sit com.

    Doesn’t even last a season.

  234. 234.

    Aleta

    (WaPost) Furious about Grassley’s ­decision to limit testimony to just Kavanaugh and Ford, Democratic aides planned to find other potential witnesses — such as a trauma expert — who could help bolster their case.  If they couldn’t be heard under oath, Democrats discussed holding news conferences where those other experts would speak, aides said. A top priority, according to Democratic officials, was ensuring Ford felt supported … (and perhaps by) finding people who can speak publicly about Ford’s character. 
    …
    Democrats also planned to grill Kavanaugh on what he knew about a controversial Twitter thread from Ed Whelan.

  235. 235.

    Millard Filmore

    @Jay:

    But given the timing of his joining her team, he may be a true patriot willing and wealthy enough to go out of pocket.

    Lordy, I hope so. It also makes a difference as to what percent of “billable hours” is split between the lawyer and his helpers. With a lawyers of Bromwich’s stature, cutting out his portion of the billable hours can go a long way.

  237. 237.

    Jay

    @Millard Filmore:

    He might also have a team willing to go pro bono.

    Many, many years ago, between jobs, I volenteered my skills and time to modernize, manage and expand the Vancouver Food Bank’s supply chain.

    It was a pro-bono well worth my time and effort, and a “killer” resume add.

  238. 238.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Millard Filmore: I agree with your sentiment, but would suggest that if Dr. Blasey needs assistance with her legal bills, I have no doubt her moral debtors [and we all are] will step up. It took 4hr to raise $75k, and 2 days to raise $200k with a hiatus in there. I’m sure a few million dollars could be raised in the next week.

    It’s a corollary of “we’re in the majority”, right?

  239. 239.

    Aleta

    @jl: I guess the good part is that this one corner of depravity has been exposured, in the nick of time. And that for the moment Repubs are desperate and nervous, at least about their donors. And that the longer Kav holds out, the more it will harm him.

    What’s interesting to me is the real time exposure of how Repubs contracted out the strategizing (and trusted self-professed experts at social media who were winging it) instead of keeping in-house control.

    I think the clumsy work is because the Repubs in charge of the nominee were in a hurry, especially after Dr. Blasey’s anonymity ended. It’s also possible Trump or the donors forced a candidate and deadline on them that they would not have willingly agreed to, and there was a lot more dirt to deal with than we know about.

    I hope that CRC Public Relations is harmed by this too, and further exposed. NBC reporters seem to be the ones who looked into Ventry’s resume and connections and NC firing. I’m grateful to Wa Post reporters tonight too.

  241. 241.

    burnspbesq

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Ain’t it, though?

    Now watch the supposedly free-market-worshipping Republicans put a thumb on the scale to favor a reliable bloc of voters. They actually hate level playing fields, cuz on a level playing field they might lose.

  242. 242.

    Dan B

    @Millard Filmore: Probably a dead post but I don’t doubt Bromwich is in for a lot more than a few days of coaching Ford. I hope he sticks around even if (when?) Mc Connell votes Kavanaugh onto the court.

    Rulings will need to be invalidated.

  243. 243.

    Dan B

    @NotMax: I don’t remember the statement about the Constitution being “quaint”. Sounds like Rove, or could be Cheney…with a cute snarl.

  245. 245.

    Aleta

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: There’s a point in that article where, imo, he’s clearly lying:

    Kavanaugh told the Judiciary Committee that he had no knowledge whatsoever of Kozinski’s behavior and was stunned to learn of the misconduct allegations. “When they became public, the first thought I had: No one should be subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace ever, including in the judiciary, especially in the judiciary,” Kavanaugh said under oath during his confirmation hearing, responding to a question from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “When I heard, it was a gut punch. It was a gut punch for me. It was a gut punch for the judiciary. I was shocked, and disappointed, angry, swirl of emotions.”

    If you’ve worked closely with someone, had a special bond, had no inkling that they would ever commit such a crime, much less as an ongoing pattern for years, your first thought is not “No one should be subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace ever, including in the judiciary, especially in the judiciary;” in my experience it’s more like ‘No way, that can’t be true, I know my friend and mentor would never…”

    Though I suppose he’d believe it if the first time he heard was Kozinski himself confessing to his face. In that case his first thought might likely be “What does this mean for my career.” and “Oh god the publicity.” But instead of just answering ‘I had no idea, and I was stunned,” he had to (compulsively) recite another item from his prepared list of sterling traits to work into the record. White lie maybe. Habitual liar about who he really is seems more likely to me.

  248. 248.

    Aleta

    @WaterGirl: Oh, I thought the firm he resigned from was the one he founded but I see that’s different from the law firm. The first one is a crisis management company; it’s not the law firm.

  251. 251.

    Rebecca

    I see the claims and then the verdict you presented, but can’t seem to find the documentation used to validate them. Is there another page or a place to click, so that I can read them? Or is it just your verdict of the claims?

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