Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

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

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

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

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Come on, man.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

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

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

People are complicated. Love is not.

I was promised a recession.

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

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2018 / Kavanaught Open Thread: A Lot Can Happen in A Week…

Kavanaught Open Thread: A Lot Can Happen in A Week…

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There’s an old parable about a philospher, condemned to death, who obtains a stay of execution by persuading the king that, given time, he can teach the king’s favorite horse to talk. When the philosopher’s friends ask him why he would make such an outrageous promise, he says, A lot can happen in that time. I could die naturally; or the king might die, and then my sentence would waived. Or perhaps the horse might talk!

The horse (derrière) in today’s iteration would be Brett Kavanaugh. While the FBI takes a week — or whatever — to investigate the allegations against him as his victims have always asked, McConnell might find a lever to pry the nomination loose for an equally revanchist but less blatantly compromised candidate. Or King Donald might decide to demand… something that will require the GOP senators to rejigger. Or perhaps the loving family and strong band of friends that Kavanaugh cited will look at the video of his disgraceful performance yesterday and perform an intervention to get him into locked-door treatment for anger management…


 
But then again, look at the takeaway from Matt Schlapp:

Reader Interactions

190Comments

  3. 3.

    lamh36

    .Good evening BJ!

    Had to take a break because, My 2nd youngest sister is getting married tomorrow. So my youngest sister came down from Dallas via Soul Plane Airlines with the babies!!!‬. And I picked them up from the airport!

    Say hello to https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2730629a67c10daa11ef68cf3864366dfcd33faac092073b89fd26afe48bae82.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/57a740f148c57a360c6d092c65b8a6398ae9dd7ed3ab85e3f7881d5d2b6dc2d9.jpg ‪#NiecyLayla #NephewJoshua!!‬

  6. 6.

    Jeffro

    I am genuinely sorry I won’t be able to watch SNL tomorrow night. But in my defense, it’s because I’ll be having many “skis” while listening to Social D rock out live.

    I’ll change my ways when I’m 50, I promise ;)

  7. 7.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    OT:

    Why did several western NA cities keep their spanish names yet New Amsterdam was renamed New York?

    Also, what were the odds that WV could have remained apart of Virginia?

  11. 11.

    Miss Bianca

    @Major Major Major Major: Remember how tired we were going to be from all the winning? Only truthful thing Trump has ever said – I am fucking *worn out* from the latest round of winning.

    @lamh36: OMG, what cuties!! OK, *that* improved my morale!

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    @Suzanne: The show is up in Silver Spring…I’m guessing that there won’t be a Trumpov fan within 10 miles ;)

    My kids know the words to “Ring of Fire” as well as they do “Happy Birthday”.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that White House lawyers and McConnell’s staff are furiously researching the history of and rulings pertaining to recess appointments?

  19. 19.

    Aleta

    He became aggressive and belligerent when he was very drunk.
    —James Roche

    Kav this morning: Wonder how I did yesterday?

  22. 22.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    The Matt Schlapp photo puzzled me for a bit. It took clues from others to see a what he was getting at. Showing what was cropped out helped. Even then it was, who thinks like that? It isn’t quite saying the quiet parts out loud, it is more hiding in plain site. The people that get it probably get it fairly quickly. Others just don’t get it. I still haven’t tracked the states he was calling out.

  25. 25.

    Elizabelle

    @Jeffro: Have fun! I meant to see them at The National in RVA, which is a great venue, a few nights ago. (Thought about seeing The Struts earlier this week, but pretty much just canvassing and chiling.)

    I like the Fillmore. Haven’t seen Social D since they were the 3rd billed on a Neil Young show. Great band. Enjoy! Live music is good.

  26. 26.

    Suzanne

    @Jeffro:

    Silver Spring…I’m guessing that there won’t be a Trumpov fan within 10 miles

    God, that sounds like heaven. Every time I leave the house, I have a MAGAt within ten feet. Life as a Flake constituent.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    I’ll be honest, after l’affaire Comey I don’t like counting on the FBI to pry us out of this Kavanaugh litterbox.

  33. 33.

    EveryDayIHaveTheBlues

    @lamh36: awww they look awesome! My son is six and a terror… I miss the younger days /*wipes away tears of exasperated frustration */

  35. 35.

    JCJ

    @lamh36: HI Lahm! I am in Bangkok visiting family so I have only checked The Juice sporadically. I saw a thread where you mentioned needing a subject for a paper. To tie it in with your lab slant I thought about the possible impact on cancer center planning following the report at ASCO on the results of the TAILORx study. The take away from it was that many women can avoid chemotherapy for breast cancer based on the results of the OncotypeDX test. How that would affect future planning for a cancer center with less revenue from treatment might tie lab and economics together.

    Anyway, hope you see this. Boarding soon for the first leg of the flight home!

  36. 36.

    Miss Bianca

    @Aleta:

    Kav this morning: Wonder how I did yesterday?

    OK, something tells me that if I were a really good person, I wouldn’t be finding that as funny as I am.

  39. 39.

    AThornton

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

    The towns of the southwest had been around for hundreds of years when the area was stolen from Mexico. They were ‘on the map’ (literally,) well known, used, and there no reason or impetus to change them.

    West Virginia succeeded from Virginia when Virginia succeeded from the Union and the odds are 100% they wouldn’t if they hadn’t.

  42. 42.

    Amir Khalid

    Ich bin kein Amerikaner, naturlich, but the Kavanaugh confirmation process seems to me to have been way off-course rom the beginning. It should have been a debate on the kind of Justice he would be. It has instead been an inquiry into his personal conduct and possible criminal acts, a step the Trump administration apparently skipped when* it vetted him; having the kind of cloud over you that Kavanaugh has should disqualify a candidate for the lowest rank of the judiciary, let alone the highest. Poor Norm. The Trump administration has been constantly violating him since it took office.

    I am also wondering about the time limit on the FBI investigation. Investigations normally take as long as they take. If there is a possibility of criminal prosecution, as with Kavanaugh, more time is needed to gather evidence. Can/should a deadline be imposed on the FBI?

    *If it vetted him at all.

  45. 45.

    joel hanes

    My reading of the Republican agreement/maneuver :

    – the “limited investigation” will be limited to Dr. Ford’s allegations. No other woman’s claims will be looked at.
    – TheDonald will arrange a distraction, perhaps firing Rosenstein or even Mueller
    – the FBI as directed by The Donald and Sessions will “investigate”
    – arms will be twisted
    – offers that cannot be refused will be quietly made

    Shortly thereafter the full Senate will confirm Kavanaugh

  48. 48.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Adam L Silverman: @Major Major Major Major:

    I kinda just wanted to create quirky differences in the story I’m writing to show that it isn’t exactly our world. Changes, that wouldn’t drastically change history: like NYC still being called New Amsterdam or West Virgina never splitting from Virgina. The last one would probably work better in a visual medium as opposed to a written one.

    In the course of trying to make one up, I started to wonder about the actual reasons for why places were named the way they were. For example, why was Utah called that instead of Deseret, like the Mormon settlers wanted? I’m guessing the WASPs in Congress didn’t want to name the new territory that because Mormonism.

  50. 50.

    AThornton

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Not quite accurate. The primary economic flow patterns changed from North/South to East/West which eventually caused a shift in population along the railroads. Albuquerque, for example, was a nothingburger until the railraod come through.

  57. 57.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @AThornton:
    Could WV have been somehow forced to rejoin Virginia even if the war had gone similarly to OTL? What if the CSA had occupied all of WV for much of the war?

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    @AThornton

    Plenty of Dutch influence still in the immediate area. For example,

    Brooklyn (Breuckelen)
    Flushing (Vlishing)
    Staten Island (Staaten Eylandt )

  61. 61.

    Redshift

    @Amir Khalid: There’s a time limit because that’s what the Dems had to agree to for Flake to get on board. Which is kind of appalling, but since the nonstop wingnut conspiracy theory is that the Dems care about nothing but delaying the vote past the midterms, probably unavoidable

  64. 64.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @NotMax: you mean the same kind of recess appointments that they sued Obama over and the USSC ruled against Obama. I sincerely hope if the Dems take the Senate they tell Trumpov and his Russian compromised GOP senator buddies to duck off. Duck civility. They need multiple massive doses of their own medicine.

  66. 66.

    West of the Rockies

    Has Kavanaugh been seen or heard today? He’s got to have gone into major sphincter-lock today.

  68. 68.

    Jeffro

    @Elizabelle: Thanks! Wrapping up “oldies month” with the youngsters after Smokey Robinson and Elton John earlier in Sept, LOL.

    @Suzanne: I will have a cold one in sympathy and send you good thoughts, then!

  69. 69.

    Anne Laurie

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: From what I was taught in the NYC high school curriculum, the Dutch merchants of Nieu Amsterdaam weren’t wedded to ‘their’ city name, while the English newcomers very much wanted to make it known to the world that *they* were the Big Swinging Cartographers now, thankyouverymuch.

    On the other hand, in the Southwest / California, everybody had been using the Spanish saints’ names since forever. And the American conquerers / buyers of that later period didn’t have the same incentive to stamp “their” name on every new acquistion, like a kid writing THIS IS MINE in his textbook every September.

  70. 70.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I do hope the FBI agents investigating Kavanaugh are super professional but also BFFs of James Comey,Peter Strosk and Andy McCsbe.

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    Local custom/tradition, church (mission) influence and long standing usage by the time the population became majority English speaking. Also an element of the intrigue of the exotic.

    Not the West, but Baton Rouge sounds more elegant to English speakers than does Red Stick. And Boca Raton more inviting than – well, you get the idea.

    ;)

  72. 72.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @joel hanes:

    My reading of the Republican agreement/maneuver :

    If the Republicans were that smart, organized, or in control of their own people, Kavanaugh would already be on the Supreme Court. I don’t know what will happen, but there is no play. To repeat the wisest statement of the Trump years, ‘They’re not masterminds. They’re not Lex Luthor. They’re shitlords.’

  74. 74.

    Luciamia

    I remember that “horse talking” joke from the BBC series Henry the vll. Jane Seymour tells it to him.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    I do hope the FBI agents investigating Kavanaugh are super professional but also BFFs of James Comey,Peter Strosk and Andy McCsbe.

    also Strozk’s “lover, the lovely Lisa Page”??? Don’t forget about her. Trumpov sure hasn’t.

    Ew, I just icked myself out.

  80. 80.

    lgerard

    Maybe I’m not cynical enough but I think it entirely possible that trump is being persuaded that the attempt to portray the Angry Owl’s performance as “courageous” and “refreshing” is just not going to fly and he needs to start looking for someone to deliver the bad news.

  81. 81.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Yeah, just kind of a subtle hint that it isn’t our timeline. I also just thought of making Baltimore be the national capital for shits and giggles. This is the same story being based loosely on Arthurian legend.

    An obstacle I’ve run up against though, is that I’ve thought that a near-future (5-10 years from now) setting would work better than an early 2000s setting for a few reasons. One, my main villain was going to be a composite of Elon Musk, Lex Luthor, and Mark Zuckerberg. He’s meant to embody a lot of evil shit going on today. I’m also poking fun at the idea prevalent in media that benevolent billionaires are going to save us all. More topical too.

    I’m also having a hard time getting around portraying the government as competent (and generally well-meaning) if the highest echelons of American leadership are full of fascist morons like now. I guess I could take a look at Putin’s Russia and substitute English for the Russian where necessary but I’m guessing I should avoid directly naming a real world political party as ruling an autocratic United States.

  83. 83.

    Major Major Major Major

    Mark Judge Can’t Believe That Fucking Lightweight Kavanaugh Got ‘Boofing’ And ‘The Devil’s Triangle’ Wrong

    BETHANY BEACH, DE—Shaking his head in frustration as he read about the testimony given by his old high school friend to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mark Judge reportedly confirmed Friday that he couldn’t believe that fucking lightweight Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh got the meanings of “boofing” and “the Devil’s Triangle” wrong. “Seriously, that’s just fucking despicable, and there’s no way that little bitch should be anywhere near the Supreme Court,” said a visibly pissed-off Judge…

  84. 84.

    TS (the original)

    @Suzanne:

    Over/under on when his wife files for divorce?

    Not willing to bet on this one – GOP wives are a little weird (best example Heidi Cruz)

    But the odds that Kavanaugh will keep coaching that basketball team – 1000 to 1.

  94. 94.

    Gin & Tonic

    @jamey: Except the Outerbridge Crossing was named after a person, it’s not a relic of a Dutch place name. Eugenius Outerbridge was the first chairman of the Port Authority.

  96. 96.

    The Dangerman

    $10 bucks say Brett Kavanaugh gets blackout drunk tonight.

    I’m in for $50 he isn’t coaching girls basketball any longer.

  97. 97.

    Redshift

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: The Constitution says that a state formed from the territory of another state need the consent of that state’s legislature. The “state legislature” that approved in this case was the leftover part that didn’t want to secede, so it seems entirely possible that an Administration after the Civil Way could have decided the whole thing wasn’t kosher.

    This article might be useful

  114. 114.

    schrodingers_cat

    From Parker’s latets
    ,

    Kavanaugh’s suffering was epic. By all accounts, he has lived his adult life as a model citizen, an exemplary husband and father, a beloved teacher and coach and an admired judge. Yet, our esteemed senators found it necessary to parse inscriptions in his high school yearbook. Read yours lately?

    Well, I was not a boastful teenage drunk.

  116. 116.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Major Major Major Major:

    ETA although since you’re going with a sort of historical forking anyway you could set it in a different 2016, with the federalists and the whigs.

    No offense, but that sounds kind of silly. I know Micheal Bishop in Phillip K. Dick is Dead, Alas did an autocratic United States in 1982 being headed by Richard Nixon in his fourth term and explicitly stated that Republicans were a higher class or something from everybody else. Also, freedom of movement across state lines was severally restricted and many counter-cultural musical icons were disappeared under the Nixon regime.

    It was an homage to Philip K. Dick, what can I say?

  118. 118.

    divF

    @Major Major Major Major: The problem with Dutch names is that you have to have enough spit to pronounce them. We were schooled on this by a Dutch colleague who informed us that we were pronouncing Huyghens (as in Huyghens’ Principle) all wrong.

  122. 122.

    Aleta

    @schrodingers_cat:

    (The hearing) … was a testament to the corroborative effects of power: the ease with which those who chair committees and run countries can rearrange the facts of the world until they conform to, and allegedly confirm, the tales told by the powerful.
    (–snip–)
    (His is) drinking that will go unpunished in a world that will gaze upon a young man who is, as a matter of habit, “stumbling drunk,” and “sloppy drunk,” and “incoherently drunk,” and slurringly drunk, and foolishly drunk, and aggressively drunk, and belligerently drunk, and, then, smiling benevolently at his antics, wrap him in its warm protections.

    Wash Post

  123. 123.

    Mary G

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Yep. The name Los Angeles comes from the Spanish language, and it means “The Angels”. The name is an abbreviation from the original name of the place. The original name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula” (in English, “town of our lady the Queen of Angels of the River Porciúncula”).

  125. 125.

    2liberal

    OT: I always enjoy hearing from efgoldman but he has been silent lately. Is there any available information about his health and/or continuing existence ?

  126. 126.

    Ken B

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

    They didn’t have the troops to garrison West Virginia. They were running out of troops to man their field armies as it was, they couldn’t spare the men to hold West Virginia.

    The south eastern and southern parts of the area were never firmly held by the Union, but that was partly because they were not important from a military standpoint. The Union’s main interest in West Virginia was Harper’s Ferry, which was gradually reduced to ruins, protecting the rail lines across the state, and making certain the Ohio River was kept clear of rebels.

    Basically, West Virginia was a place to move across or to try to launch operations from rather than a place to hold for its own sake. This is why the Union held the northern and western parts of the state, to prevent the Confederates from launching attacks from there. For instance, into Ohio to link up with Vallandigham and his fellow traitors.

    So if the Confederates had held West Virginia through the course of the war, one of two more important things changed.

    Option one, the South collapsed very quickly, so quickly that any hypothetical garrison stationed there never had time to be sent to where it could be more usefully employed.

    Or option two, things went very badly wrong for the Union in the west right at the outset, and the Confederates were able to seize West Virginia and use it as a base of operations to threaten Ohio and western Pennsylvania. That would probably also require the Confederacy hang on to Tennessee (that would probably also keep the ever execrebale Andrew Johnson far away from the Vice Presidency and then the White House after Lincoln was assassinated). That might prevent the Union from being able to make its drive down the rivers to New Orleans.

  129. 129.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Whatever happened to Rod Rosenstein’s big meeting with Trumpov? It just went boof and disappeared.

  132. 132.

    Jeffro

    @schrodingers_cat: (KP’s op-ed)

    Yes, her testimony was heartbreaking and seemed sincere. She plainly has suffered. Kavanaugh, too, has suffered immensely. Nearly losing control throughout his emotional statement, he was as credible as his accuser. Riveted by the proceedings, I felt at times I should have looked away rather than play voyeur to the humiliation of two fine people — stripped of dignity and emotionally exposed before the world.

    While many were horrified by Graham’s anger, I found it as cleansing and refreshing as a dip in the River Jordan. His points, meanwhile, were compelling.

    “He was as credible as his accuser”. Ok then, Kathleen, just let us know: when it comes down to brass tacks, who’s lying? WHO. IS. LYING? Decide, and live with what that means.

    And why is it the “humiliation of two fine people”?!? Dr. Ford’s not humiliated – she’s elevating herself beyond anything Kavanaugh could ever hope to accomplish in his weaselly life. Who stripped her of any dignity? Not in my book.

    And finally, you clearly love Graham’s fake righteousness in defense of your boy Brett. “Refreshing as a…” oh whatever. It’s called “pounding the table”, you Federalist Society-loving sycophant.

    Her and Megan McCardle and George Will and Marc Thiessen, but the Post is a liberal rag. My. Azz.

  134. 134.

    dmsilev

    @schrodingers_cat:

    By all accounts, he has lived his adult life as a model citizen

    ‘Adult’ is doing a lot of work in that sentence, even putting aside the more recent allegations which included one from 1998.

    Or maybe, like I think Henry Hyde, ‘youthful indiscretions ‘ covers everything before the Medicare eligibility threshold.

  139. 139.

    Jeffro

    @dmsilev: and here’s the thing: if he has lived his adult life as a model citizen…then OWN IT when a ‘youthful indiscretion’ comes up and the victim has her day. This “it never happened” crap, this total abdication of any responsibility whatsoever, even a lame “I was blackout drunk numerous times in my youth and I regret it and if anything close to what Dr. Ford is describing happened, I’m sorry to the bottom of my soul” would get us halfway there, Boofer Brett.

  140. 140.

    Jay

    @AThornton:

    Yes and no, the Big Economy (mining, horses, forestry, cattle) moved east- west when the border changed and the roads and railroads went in,

    but the Small Economy, ( labour, agriculture, pottery, textiles) remained oriented north-south as economic conditions fluxuated until the late 1950’s when “Mexican Illegal Immigrants” first became exploited as a political issue.

  143. 143.

    Anne Laurie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I just read Kathleen Parker’s piece.

    Well, there’s your problem…

    I still hate-read Caitlin Flanigan and Hanna Rosen occasionally, but K-Park the Artificial Silk Magnolia is too prolific for my blood pressure.

  144. 144.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @feebog:
    I’ve read a little of the first book in his WorldWar series. I’ve really liked it so far. “Alien Space Bat” type stories get a bum rap in Alt history circles but they have their place.

  145. 145.

    FelonyGovt

    It is frightening to realize that this angry, rude misogynist is already a federal appellate judge. He should be rejected based on a lack of judicial temperament alone.

  149. 149.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Virginia originally laid claim to all territory between its northern and southern borders extending west to the Mississippi*, so by that time they were kind of used to being whittled away.

    :)

    *As did the Carolinas.

  152. 152.

    dmsilev

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

    “Alien Space Bat”

    Hah, that’s a phrase I haven’t heard in a long time. I actually remember when that was coined, back in the days of Usenet. The context was what would it take to make Operation Sealion (the WWII German invasion of Britain) an actual possible thing, rather than just a paper plan with some half-assed efforts at starting to think about implementation. ASBs were the answer.

  153. 153.

    West of the Rockies

    FBI agent Frank Figliuzzi on The 11th Hour says Kavanaugh will perhaps be asked (but not compelled) to take a polygraph exam.

    All his smirking, scowling, eye-rolling, and mugging towards the Republicans on the committee made me further loathe him. I hope tonight he is apoplectic.

  154. 154.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    @divF: I had a neighbor who complained to me once that at the grocery store they pronounced “gouda” wrong. (It’s apparently”HOUDA” with a fair amount of spit. Or so I remember.)

    The funny thing is that at this point I had no idea she was Dutch. She had a vaguely Californian accent, and seemed just a tad bit slow. I could not have been more wrong.

  157. 157.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    I was in and out of the hearing coverage yesterday, so somebody clue me in. Did Rachel Mitchell start off interrogating Kavanaugh and then the Republican senators pushed her aside so they could get to their rants, or did they start off without her at all?

    It seems strange that they would bring in an “impartial,” professional interrogator and then let her interrogate only one of the two witnesses. (I know, pointing out the bleedingly obvious.) I’m slightly surprised this has not received more coverage, although admittedly it is a small detail in the grand clusterfuck yesterday.

  159. 159.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    They started off with her questioning Kavanaugh, but then Graham came in with his rant, and after that they just gave him tongue baths. Somehow the skeptical nitpicking questions from the prosecutor ended up being only for Ford. She only got like two rounds with him.

  165. 165.

    SoupCatcher

    @Amir Khalid:

    I do wonder why the Spanish city names weren’t anglicised: San Francisco to St Francis, for instance, or San Diego to St James.

    Way late on this, but California was originally a bilingual state, per the state constitution. Many of the members of the first state Senate only spoke Spanish, and thousands of 1850s dollars were spent in translating official documents. The southern half of the state was far enough away from the gold fields that it hadn’t really seen the influx of English speakers that the northern half had seen.

  167. 167.

    eemom

    @Steeplejack (tablet):

    That’s an excellent question. Right after she started asking Kav about his July 1 1982 calendar entry they shut her up. Funny that.

    Too tired to find and link, but there’s plenty out there today about how that July 1 1982 calendar entry corroborates Dr. Ford’s testimony. I think the BlogLord posted about it this morning.

  168. 168.

    Calouste

    @Anne Laurie: Also, the English got New Amsterdam as the participation trophy for finishing second in the 2nd Anglo-Dutch War. They had some incentive to make it their own. (The prize for the first place was the island of Run, now in Indonesia, where all the world’s nutmeg came from, i.e. a license to print money in those days.)

  169. 169.

    Rommie

    @FelonyGovt: That’s why I hope he gets an offer he can’t refuse – he won’t lose his current job if he walks away from this. It’s way more than he deserves and it’s up to him to realize that.

  171. 171.

    Barbara

    @Jeffro: This was my husband’s reaction, almost exactly, that he was dishonest and lacked integrity to pretend that nothing that makes him look bad ever happened.

  172. 172.

    Lyrebird

    @zhena gogolia: @Steeplejack (tablet):

    As @ljt said, the questioner was pulled bc she was actually succeeding in shedding light on the case! I haven’t watched and will not watch, but I guess some of her questions helped identify one of the dates on the calendar as a very likely candidate, and maybe even identified another potential witness.

    Other commenters have connected some of the same dots, can’t find all the links now, but FWIW, I am glad that Sheldon Whitehouse is following the hints of truth in the piles of manure… (RawStory link)

    Now that the FBI is, may it please the Flying Spaghetti Monster, going to investigate even if briefly, more facts are out in plain sight. Maybe “facts” is not the right word. IANAL. But yes, forget the other RawStory headlines about how the prosecutor “flopped” …she actually prosecuted. And got summarily yanked.

  174. 174.

    NotMax

    @Calouste

    The prize for the first place

    Also control of Surinam as a neighbor to Berbice, which repelled an English invasion during that same conflict.

    And for a short time the Dutch retook New York and renamed it New Orange.

    Two-fer with Run. Nutmeg trees also supply mace.

  175. 175.

    Anne Laurie

    @TS (the original):

    I have serious doubts about this one – those who drink to excess are often not exemplary husbands.

    Depends on where you’re drawing your examples from. Does he (or his parents, or his rich ‘friends’) provide a comfortable living for ‘his’ family? Has he ‘given’ her children? Does he refrain from physically abusing her, or at least from leaving marks that can’t be covered? Well, by Opus-Dei-Catholic standards, that’s exemplary enough!

    I was raised in the Catholic Church, but our Church at least made some attempts to follow the Vatican II updates… unlike the Scalia / Alito / Thomas / Roberts branch of the RCC.

  176. 176.

    Mary G

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: Read any Harry Turtledove? He used to be the king of alternative history. I saw him speak years ago. He knew a ton of real history, but said he got a ton of “well actually,” letters from people who complained that his fake history was wrong.

  178. 178.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Amir Khalid: I certainly don’t know the history enough to comment on the arguments, but …

    Detroit (des etroits — “the straits’)
    des moines (the monks)

    and I’m sure lots of other towns with french-derived names in the center of the country perhaps argue that it was a matter of how long a town had been established with the pre-existing name? No idear, just throwin’ it out.

  179. 179.

    Aleta

    @Steeplejack (tablet): Don’t know if this is true, but at one point it was said that she was taken outafter she questioned him about the July 1st gathering (which he’d lied about), and made him read the legal definition of sexual assault. (The video is at Slate; John linked to it in post this am.)

  183. 183.

    Steeplejack (tablet)

    This Kavanaugh thing has been such a mess and so exhausting this week that my brain has collapsed it down to this:

    It’s a job interview. I don’t need to prove conclusively whether or not someone committed a felony. I just don’t want this colossal asshole working in my office. Not even in the branch office downstate.

    I know the Republicans have behind-the-scenes concerns—pressing their legal agenda and/​or protecting Trump—but surely they have other potential nominees with less personal baggage. There must be something particular about Kavanaugh. Maybe that will come out in the next week.

  184. 184.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Gin & Tonic: Probably a contraction of “bu-fu” which was used in the 1982 Frank Zappa song “Valley Girl,” and was popular enough at the time the Rapeanaugh and friends probably were familar with.

    Assuming that I don’t need to explain the “bu-fu” reference itself…

  186. 186.

    Momentary

    A question for Adam or other folks who know stuff: what are the odds that Kavanaugh is already on Mueller’s radar? Not for the rapey stuff, but for all those giant debts that mysteriously disappeared? I have been wondering whether McConnell and Graham know Kavanaugh is a powder keg with the fuse lit if they don’t manage to push him through. And if he is already in Mueller’s scope, would that intersect with this “new” investigation or be kept completely separate?

  187. 187.

    Elizabelle

    @Momentary: Good question. I am wondering that too. Wondering if Anthony Kennedy and his Deutsche Banking son are on the radar as well.

    So many levels of potential corruption.

  188. 188.

    trnc

    @Amir Khalid:

    It has instead been an inquiry into his personal conduct and possible criminal acts, a step the Trump administration apparently skipped when* it vetted him;

    Moot point now, but it occurs to me that the response to “He’s already been investigated 6 times” is “Yeah, but they purposely averted their eyes when they found the bad stuff.” How else to explain withholding thousands of documents, having the 65 woman letter on hand, or knowing to cut questioning short when Mitchell got to July 1 on the calendar?

    For that matter, how do we know dems will get all of the information the FBI digs up in the next week?

  189. 189.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Amir Khalid: I think it can be limited as it is not a criminal investigation (yet) but a background check investigation. If they turn up enough evidence, or one or more of the victims decides to actually press charges, a new investigation that is not time limited could be launched. I’m guessing the Democrats in either house of Congress could re-open an investigation too. W

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