I just filed cloture on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. There will be plenty of time for Members to review and be briefed on this supplemental material before a Friday cloture vote.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) October 4, 2018
- Reuters: “White House receives FBI report on Kavanaugh”
- New Yorker: “The F.B.I. Probe Ignored Testimonies from Former Classmates of Kavanaugh”
- Bloomberg: “The FBI hasn’t interviewed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh or Christine Blasey Ford because it doesn’t have clear authority from the White House to do so. … FBI Director Christopher Wray is documenting what’s happening behind the scenes in order to help ensure the bureau’s activities in the politically charged investigation are captured and perhaps made public one day.”
don’t count your donkeys yet. remember Aesop’s turtle and rabbit tale.
NY Times: Planning to Vote in the November Election? Why Most Americans Probably Won’t
[…]
This year’s election carries enormous political stakes, but if history is any guide, the vast majority of eligible voters will stay home on Election Day. Slightly more than a third of eligible voters turned out across the country in the last midterm elections, the lowest share since 1942, according to Michael McDonald, a political scientist at the University of Florida, who runs the United States Elections Project that tracks voting data back to 1789.
And while turnout has been higher in this season’s special elections and primaries, experts say that in November it is still unlikely to break out of the middling range it has been stuck in for nearly a century.
People typically cite one of two reasons for why they do not vote in midterm elections: they are either too busy or not interested, according to Dr. McDonald’s analysis of responses to the Census Bureau from 2000 to 2016.
[….continues…]
What is the Midterm impact of Kavanaugh getting confirmed vs not getting confirmed? My hunch is a net gain in voter turnout for the losing side.
Unfortunately, given all the leaks that have emerged, it would be putting a man on the court with a history of drunkenness, obsession with sex details of Clinton, siding with conspiracy theorists, and leanings towards corporate rights over those of citizens. And now info from some of his previous background checks. This isn’t just about what he did at Yale. It is about what he has done for the whole of his life.
IMHO
if confirmed, there’ll probably be an uptick in pro choice donor funding, perhaps an increase in dem votes and a decrease in evangelical turn-out.
if NOT confirmed and if trump nominates a woman or re-nominates (per lindsey suggestion) brett, there’ll be more opportunity for increase in rw funding campaigns as well as voter turnout on both sides.
*
meanwhile across the pond
the guardian:
Russia accused of cyber-attack on chemical weapons watchdog
Four GRU officers expelled from Netherlands after alleged attacks on OPCW, Porton Down and UK Foreign Office
So here’s my take on the FBI extended investigation – it is akin to having a fraud alert on your VISA card that you believe happened while you were in Phoenix, so you call your Lifelock rep and tell them about it – they say they’ll investigate. So they call MasterCard and ask them to check on it and call the Bank of America branch in Seattle to see if they are aware of anything. They send you an email saying their investigation didn’t turn up any reports of fraud on your VISA card.
I may again be wrong, but I believe that Kavanaught aside, IMPOTUS will have the ‘pugn base whipped up where he’s visited but that the Dems who give a shit will vote wherever they are. I think Kavanaugh’s confirmation will have a mild effect on women voters for Dem candidates – beyond what they might do today – and if he is not confirmed it may cause a slightly better ‘pugn turnout but I am not all that confident of that. My fear is that it may mobilize the ‘pugn base in the 38 currently Republican districts that are viewed as tossups. If RCP is to be believed Dems need to hold the 2 Dem seats that are tossups and steal 10 of the ‘pugn seats to gain control. The Repugs need to hold 29 of those seats.
That said, other than afternoon showers, the weather is lovely here. Highs hovering around 80, lows around 65. Not bad for October.
The oinks have it
If people have money in their pockets & a roof over their head, they rarely vote to enact change. Being selfish by nature & survival, it’s a fact of life. Always a quandary though that women, who are the majority, end up being the minority in just about everything. We could be the rudder that steers the ship but end up being docile passengers on a journey we cede to men. Curiouser & curiouser.
Kavanaugh fight has intensity numbers up for Republican voters. Wonder if confirmation makes that go away.
Flake ick
Collins ick
Markowski ick
While watching msnbc’s report on Melania in Africa, I found a great big grin on my face. Despite being in an impossible relationship, she has retained her humanity.
DiFi –report doesn’t do the job FBI was limited into what it could do
the Report is a whitewash by the whitehouse
Lindsay GRaham’s rightous indignation is laughable –like a angry mouse
McConnell doesn’t like when Democrats act like Republicans and now he is on television lying like a rug
This may incite goopers but it is going to enrage everyone else. McConnell Kentukians shold be so embarrassed
Mrs McConnell apparently doesn’t show up to work tooo often –a lot of private time on her schedule
she and Mitch big fat pigs at the public trough
Collins said a thorough examination and Flake has dismissed the allegations without noting the failure of the background investigation
losers — he had a chance to do something but he reverted to his usual asshole ways
apparently the only districts of goopers that are energized are the hard right ones where Democrats have been gerry mandered out of any chance
gee Jeff I don’t think Chris Coon is going to hang out with you any more and all those people saying nice things aboutyou over the weekend are going to hate you now kiss you presidential aspirations good bye
Hey, the fight is in the upper middle class suburbs, Is Keven Yoder driving the 45 min to Topeka to hang out with Trump? No he has a dinner engagement. His comments on Kav have been very neutral except to criticize Trump. So in my opinion the media is just using the “energize the base” stories to create their fair and balanced biases. Meanwhile Cook reports moved abunch more house district in the democrat direction.
Jack
KGC, I’m thinking more about Senate races. Especially in close red states where newly energized GOP voters could cost Dems some possible upsets. Or a held seat such as heitkamp’s.
Flatus is, was & will always be a gentleman. Thankful we have him.
I don’t think it will make up for the enraged voters on the other side
susan Collins will join her friend Kelly on the trashheap of history — she is a loser
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/04/654281925/supreme-court-nomination-process-galvanizes-republican-voters
Interesting conversation from this morning.
***********
With the apparent victory of the Judge Kavanaugh nomination, are the Democrats looked upon as the Coyote to the Republicans Roadrunner? No matter the plans, machinations, they still lose in the end. How does this play in voters perceptions of strength vs irrelevance?
Democrats are really angry and it is clear the Flake thing was just cover for himself he was always going to vote for confirmation — I predict goopers will be on the ash heap of history
And Trump’s sister will be impeached and next will be Kavanaugh
a gentleman can be defined as one who can play the Accordian—-but refuses to do so.
why wouldn’t the republicans appoint a sexual predator to the supreme court they elected one as president
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2018/10/02/feature/will-the-democrats-wake-up-before-2020/?utm_term=.7874e8d43b1e
Food for thought – ? How true does this ring? 2020 coming quickly.
Sturgeone,
😉
All flake was doing was giving the other Republicans cover. Now they can proceed the outcome has always been certain. When are you all going to quit falling for the “Susan Collins concerned centrism” She and everyone of the “rebel” Republicans always fall in line.
Jack
Jack
I think this is the last time the
Dems play Charlie Brown to her Lucy — has she ever done the right thing no!
KGC
The “sexual predator” meme is getting stale. The Democrats have gotten all the use out of it they possible can. Time for a change and a focus on things that will peel a few more vots from the Republican column.
Jack
I think the “professionalization” of politics has a lot to do with the loss of citizen participation.
When I was growing up and getting involved in politics – everyone was an amateur. No one thought of political office as a career. It was a civic responsibility
Historian and best-selling author Jill Lepore found herself wishing there was a book that covered the history of the U.S. and reminded readers that the political polarization of today is really nothing new. So she wrote it.
In her new book “These Truths,” Lepore takes on the task of tracking the nation’s story starting with Christopher Columbus’s voyage and continuing to the Civil War, the Civil Rights Era and President Trump’s election in 2016.
Partisanship and congressional in-fighting has been going on for centuries. As “CBS This Morning” co-host Norah O’Donnell pointed out, congressmen were fighting each other with canes in the 1800s. But, as Lepore explained, there is a reason today’s polarization feels different.
“I think what’s different about our contemporary moment of polarization is that the polarization we’re experiencing now was very particularly built by political consultants in the 1970s and 1980s really trying to get people out to vote over these emotional issues, guns and abortion,” Lepore said. “That was the work that was done by political consultants, for short-term, let’s win this election next week.”
The practice of building momentum around emotional issues reached a new level with the advent of the internet. It meant that what political consultants once built by hand could now be automated.
“Especially after the rise of social media, that polarization really is now done by automation. It’s very difficult to figure it. I think so many people of great good will would like the country to be less polarized, would like to have conversations across partisan divisions … But it’s very difficult to do because of the way the internet was opened up in a wholly unregulated way,” she said.
The consultants and issues she refers to are Republicans — they are the ones who have created the polarization in politics. There is no doubt the sorry state our our political affairs can be laid at the feet of the Republicans — all you have to do is look at their choice for president
Also the book spends a lot of time on the unrecognized role of women in the political history of the US
KGC
I hope so I keep getting tired of it being trotted out.
Jack
Jack
Me too. How is Mrs. Jack?
KGC
Good point,
Something I’ve noticed for a long time in both Dem and Rep campaign is reliance on outsiders who are clueless about the districts or the state. Hawley’s campaign is just the latest example. It is really obvious with the outside money groups where some of their ads do more harm than good.
Jack
Getting better everyday,
She just has to figure out how to survive that hospital night shift, seems something always happens
Thanks for asking now I have to get off here and go hang with her for a while.
Jack
I agree many campaign consultants work off boilerplate and fail to do the polling and/or research to understand the district’s foibles and are more interested in the commission on ad purchases then in a campaign that will win
The campaign consultancy business really came of age as I began working on campaigns outside my hometown. I always had another job to come back to and did not ever go from campaign to campaign but from the mid-sixies to now the scene is completely different. There is almost no role for volunteers in campaigns except for fundraising. It costs money to keep volunteers busy. And most money goes into direct mail and online advertising.
Alas, it appears that I was hoodwinked. kav shall not cave. Neither shall collins or flake.
We’ll have to hold non-stop dawn to dusk hearings, beginning in January, just to keep him away from the SCOTUS.
If you have HBO, highly recommend Jane Fonda in Five Acts. Fascinating, well done portrait of a life.
And if the goopers weren’t incredible enough — they are planning to end funding for centers for women to use when they have been the victim of sexual abuse
.
patd,
Wondering if Judge Kavanaugh actually has sympathy within certain members of the Court, considering the hubbub some went through during their nomination process. If he has good advice & heeds it, he may be more wallpaper than lava lamp at least for a few years. How much influence the Bush folks ( & the Bush Justices ) have here may be key. Everything he does will be the bug under the microscope.
sjwny, yes, in addition to the bushes, am sure he made friends at the court during his clerking years. remember the best friend of RBG’s was scalia…. so anything is possible
only possible silver lining I can see in a kav confirmation is with that (expectation of doing in roe v wade), the tax cuts for the rich, and environmental regulatory regression missions accomplished the gopers no longer need trump and can now throw the twit under the bus.
It is a closed world in Washington, eh? Why won’t I be surprised if within a month everything is as it always was ….
The world rotates on its axis, revolves around the sun. At least to most of us 😉
*******
Gotta give the protestors credit for doing what they’re doing. Will it help —- ? Maybe short term optics but in the long run, probably not. The effort though is commendable.
Amy Schumer got arrested for her beliefs – she’s got more stones than cousin Dronin’ Chuck. Maybe if they dangled a live mic in the paddy wagon he’d jump in. What a tool he is. Dems, please bring in Amy Klobuchar to the front lines. She’s proven herself to be respectable. Thanks – from someone who cares about Democracy.
xrepublican,
I’ll trade you Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand & Emperor Andy Cuomo for whomever you have in Minnesota.
Deal?
(How true to life was Fargo? Love that movie. I know some of it was based in North Dakota but the bulk took place in Minnesota. )
There’s a look — all the old white men of the goopers mansplaining how things work
.
SJ, yep that Jane piece is pretty good – I caught about half of it last weekend and will catch the rest this weekend if the time its on is right.
KC, hell, I’m an old white man and think the gooper angry old men are out of their collective minds. And they are very offensive.
Yes GOP intensity a load of claptrap. ( I will ignore it at my own peril, not a problem) there can be a whole craptrain full of loud screaming bigoted deplorables but the train will not be big enough and will come to naught this time….there’re simply not enough asses to fill the seats……Lincoln said it…all the people some, some of the people all, but not all of the people all, etc. and it’s true…..even with the rules rigged and the norms all bent to shit with foreign entities pulling the backstage ropes, the American people en masse will vote their asses out. Willie has spoken.
Courtesy of Ana Navarro
What do -The Catholic Journal –
The largest organization of Christian churches –
Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens all have in common?
They all think Kavanaugh should not be on the Supreme Court.
None of them are Liberals.
None of them are pro Roe v Wade.
Pogo….we know who the angry old white men are…..we’ve seen them all our life, and they ain’t us.
Amy Klobuchar is right at the top of potential Presidential candidates. I truly prefer her to either Harris, Warren or Gillibrand.
Give her a black or hispanic VP candidate and you would probably cover all the unity bases.
There’s a lot of wreckage, plundering, and pillaging they can do before January. They’ll do their best to make sure everything sucks for a long time.
Sturge, you betcha. Imagine being in an elevator with McConnell and Grassley. how’s that feel for you? I’m afraid I might get motion sickness – and I was a sailor for a few years and only got sick twice.
Jamie, I’m with you on the Dem front running women hierarchy. Harris’ time will come – but it’s not yet. I don’t think Warren will ever get there and I’m not sure about Gillibrand. I could see her in the Veep role, but I haven’t got that feeling that she might be attractive enough to enough voters to lead the ticket – and I ain’t talking looks here – obviously.
Jamie44,
Yes! to your ideas.
I used to wind up in weird places when i was a yoot but I can’t invision any such circumstance which would land me in the same elevator as a Knighted States Senator.
Unless, of corse,one or two of them might come to catch my Old Jewish Comedian act up in the Catskills……that could happen, it’s going to be boffo……
John Fugelsang:
The Senators who opposed The Violence Against Women Act are voting for the perjurer who didn’t want a comprehensive FBI Report so they can score a win for President Grab Em By The Pussy & one day soon start putting women who terminate pregnancies in jail. #vote
I was really put off Harris and Gillibrand Kangaroo Court condemnation and necktie party for Al Franken. It is possible the Ethics Committee would have gone against him, but they were out there trying to score points on top of his carcass.
wapo editorial board:
Vote ‘no’ on Kavanaugh
AS SENATORS prepare to vote this week on Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, they, and the rest of the country, must wonder: Which Brett M. Kavanaugh are they evaluating? Is it the steady, conservative jurist he was reputed to be before his confirmation saga? Or is it a partisan operative harboring suspicions and resentments about Democrats, with possible misdeeds in his past?
Unfortunately — and unnecessarily; it didn’t have to be this way — too many questions remain about his history for senators to responsibly vote “yes.” At the same time, enough has been learned about his partisan instincts that we believe senators must vote “no.”
We do not say so lightly. We have not opposed a Supreme Court nominee, liberal or conservative, since Robert H. Bork in 1987. We believe presidents are entitled to significant deference if they nominate well-qualified people within the broad mainstream of judicial thought. When President Trump named Mr. Kavanaugh, he seemed to be such a person: an accomplished judge whom any conservative president might have picked. But given Republicans’ refusal to properly vet Mr. Kavanaugh, and given what we have learned about him during the process, we now believe it would be a serious blow to the court and the nation if he were confirmed.
[….]
If Mr. Kavanaugh truly is, or believes himself to be, a victim of mistaken identity, his anger is understandable. But he went further in last Thursday’s hearing than expressing anger. He gratuitously indulged in hyperpartisan rhetoric against “the left,” describing his stormy confirmation as “a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election” and “revenge on behalf of the Clintons.” He provided neither evidence nor even a plausible explanation for this red-meat partisanship, but he poisoned any sense that he could serve as an impartial judge. Democrats or liberal activists would have no reason to trust in his good faith in any cases involving politics. Even beyond such cases, his judgment and temperament would be in doubt.
Such doubts feed into concerns about Mr. Kavanaugh’s independence from Mr. Trump and his deference to executive power, at a moment when fateful questions for the presidency may be winding their way to the court……
[…continues…]
So who do we prefer for Klobuchar’s Veep
Booker, one of the Castro brothers, or ????
something fun to think about other than the twit & co – here’s to fat bear week!
from the guardian:
Can a brown bear spend too much time munching on salmon?
Not in the Alaskan wilderness, where the bears at Katmai national park are unwittingly fighting for the title of the tubbiest in Fat Bear Week – the fourth annual competition to see which bear will be fattest before a half-year hibernation.
“Life as a bear is hard,” Andrew LaValle, a national park ranger at Katmai, told the Guardian in an email. “They come out of the dens in spring looking weak and hungry, and being fat in October or November is a sign of success and resilience.”
[…]
Fat Bear Week kicked off on Wednesday and continues through Tuesday, when a winner will emerge.
It is up to the public to decide which is the most rotund bear.
Each day, two bears are matched against each other on Facebook and the one to get the most likes is the day’s winner and advances to the next round of the bracketed competition.
LaValle said it is up to each voter to determine what makes a bear the most plump. He said: “Does that mean clearance with the ground? Number of rolls? Neck flab? It’s up to you!”
There are an estimated 2,200 bears at Katmai, but only 12 are featured in the competition.
This select group consists of bears who most often appear on explore.org’s live camera of one of the park’s hot spots: Brooks Camp. It’s there that people all over the world can watch the bears reach for leaping salmon in a waterfall and see cubs wrestle at the river’s edge.
Since 2012, Katmai has partnered with explore.org to share live footage of Brooks Camp to expand access to a national park that is usually only reached by plane, and sometimes by boat.
This select group consists of bears who most often appear on explore.org’s live camera of one of the park’s hot spots: Brooks Camp. It’s there that people all over the world can watch the bears reach for leaping salmon in a waterfall and see cubs wrestle at the river’s edge.
Since 2012, Katmai has partnered with explore.org to share live footage of Brooks Camp to expand access to a national park that is usually only reached by plane, and sometimes by boat.
Because of the bears’ online following, Fat Bear Week voting can be a passionate affair.
“I am beside myself with grief that my two favorite bears (Otis and Beady) have to face each other so early in the brackets,” one person commented on the day one results of the 2018 competition.
“Fun day one – a bit surprising both 503 and Walker were defeated so soundly, especially 503, what more could the poor lad do?” asked another.
Voters also had encouraging words for the bears who weren’t fat enough to advance in the competition: “He [503] is huge for a bear his age and will no doubt be the biggest and fattest bear of Katmai in the future.”
Cook report downgrades 8 more republican house seats this takes in the impact of the current move by the goops to politize the supreme court Nancy P is going to be the first woman president when Trump and Pence go
Don’t forget all of the new voters that registered when the fine, young folks from Parkland held rallies across the nation.
Let ‘em think Dem turnout will be low & sucker punch ‘em in November.
I suspect there will be a lot of folks getting turned away at the polls thanks to the democracy-hating, enemies-of-freedom, Republicans.
Do you think folks will ignore trolls on whatever social media sites this time? Not just trolls, but comments altogether?
sometimes it is hard to identify them they are usually more subtle than Gordo
Justice Stevens……..just say no to Brett Bart
Grand old prick Orrin Hatch has been caught on video advising women protesting the SCOTUS nominee that they should “grow up”. He contemptuously waves them away a couple of times. Apologies but I’m having technical issues with my laptop so I can’t add the link to the video. I saw it at Daily Kos but it must be all over twitter by now.
These people continue to find ways to disgust me.
Jamie44,
Not Senator Booker. No one could get a word in edgewise.
Would seriously consider a person of Hispanic heritage, whether male or female. As long as competent, intelligent & even keeled seems a smart move. It is time.
Orrin Hatch is 84; Charles Grassley is 85. Rather stark when put down in black & white. Insight into their reference of time, world, beliefs. Old white men defending the faith.
Old farts trying to grab hold of the past and jam it into the future through a backward looking SROTUS. Wunnerful, wunnerful.
W.O. R. M.
White old Republican men.
Dear Ms NY,
I would gladly accept cuomo, gillibrand, and Schumer in trade for Reps lewis, emmer, and paulson. I could throw in Colin Peterson to sweeten the deal. If you have a zoo, I could let you have michele bachmann, james (jessethebaldyventura) janos, and Potholes Aplenty absolutely free !
Btw, I’m sure andy cuomo was switched in the hospital at birth with the actual Cuomo kid. What a tragic accident that was. sigh
Amy Klobuchar was the County Attorney for Hennepin County, within which you will find the city of minneapolis. Amy had a lot of work. Just prosecuting the crooks and thugs on the minneapolis police force would have kept her busy.
Hennepin County is named after the French priest and internationally renowned bullshitter, Fr Louis (aka Antoine) Hennepin, the very first white man to be arrested (1680) in ‘the land of sky blue water.’ The Dakota authorities believed that the French expedition was a spying for the Miamis and Illinois, so they held the father prisoner until Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Luht came along and vouched for him as full of it, but harmless.
To add the scent of magnolia to our Klobuchar ticket, how about including Mitch Landrieu ?
GOOD NEWS !
snotter steve daines (r-MT) will miss the Saturday vote on kavanaugh !
Only one more defection is needed.
XR, don’t get too comfortable. McMertle will delay the vote until Daines gets back.
carl Hiaasen:
Rick Scott doesn’t want his Senate campaign swept away by the (red) tide
In politics, they call it bad optics.
Imagine you’re Florida’s Gov. Rick Scott, for example, locked in a tight race to unseat Bill Nelson from the U.S. Senate.
Your campaign needs you out there, visible and upbeat, for photo ops and commercials extolling your leadership qualities. But where can you go?
A pernicious red tide has affected 135 miles of prime coastline on the Gulf side of the state, while slimy blue-green algae fueled by discharges from Lake Okeechobee is sliming estuaries and waterways on the other side.
Your campaign advisers have warned that you cannot, under any circumstances, be seen or photographed anywhere near this double-whammy of ecological disasters, especially the red tide.
Piles of rotting fish on the shore? Bad optics, Rick.
Ditto for dead manatees and sea turtles.
Swollen corpses of bottle-nosed dolphins? Hideous optics. Truly awful — even worse than scenes of puffy-eyed tourists, wheezing and hacking as they retreat toward half-empty motels.
So, what do you do if you’re a polluter-friendly candidate who’s been arduously trying to reinvent yourself as an impassioned environmentalist?
Stay far away from the water, Florida’s trademark attraction. Stage your events and TV ads elsewhere — warehouses, factories, Wawa stores, whatever. Declare emergencies in the suffering counties, and send some money for research and tourism recovery.
Emphasize in press releases that you, Rick Scott, aren’t personally responsible for the red tide. It’s an itty-bitty organism called Karenia brevis, and it’s a naturally occurring phenomenon. We’re just having a really vile, stinky year.
The red tide has been blooming almost 11 months, and nobody knows how many tourists have been scared away, or how many millions of dollars the economy has lost.
In Manatee County alone, work crews have removed 289 tons of dead fish since early August. Honestly, even one ton of putrid fish isn’t great for business.
“Let’s get to work!” you chirp in your political ads.
But that’s a steep challenge for a beachfront restaurant owner beset with the reek of decomposing mullet and turtles. So maybe he serves three limes with every Corona — one for the beer, and two for plugging each customer’s nostrils.
[…]
If you’re Rick Scott, one strategy is to blame the federal government and Nelson in particular for not doing enough to fortify the dike around Lake O. Upgrading a toilet bowl is easier than cleaning the water that flows in and out of it, which would require the state to enforce a few pollution laws.
In August, candidate Scott made a rare, ghost-like appearance on Martin County’s algae-plagued St. Lucie River. It was a short boat ride, and the governor successfully avoided interacting with residents or journalists.
Even from a distance, the optics were bad.
More recently, Scott had to flee a couple of campaign events because protesters were showing up, mocking him as “Red-Tide Rick.” Another optic setback.
Soon afterward, he announced that he wants the state to create a “Center for Red Tide Research” and also revive the disbanded “Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force.”
Bold, timely action! OK, well, not really.
But, if you’re candidate Scott, it’s important to look like you’re doing something.
Meanwhile, don’t get photographed near a red-tide beach or algae-tinted river. And don’t veer off-message — you’re a job creator, remember?
Let’s get to work, people! Shovel up those dead fish.
Faster, please.
red tide rick
XR, one for you from wapo:
ROCHESTER, Minn. — President Trump mocked former senator Al Franken Thursday night for resigning from Congress so quickly after he was accused of sexual harassment and groping women, marking the president’s most recent contentious comments about the #MeToo movement.
“Boy, did he fold up like a wet rag, huh? Man. Man. He was gone so fast. I don’t want to mention Al Franken’s name, okay? So I won’t mention it. He was gone so fast. It was like, oh, he did something. ‘Oh, oh, oh, I resign. I quit, I quit.’ Wow. He was gone and he was replaced by somebody that nobody ever heard of. Her name is Tina Smith,” Trump told the Minnesota crowd to cheers.
[….continues…]
Another day arrives hinting of autumn along the Potomac. eh. It can wait another week.
Life is interesting, after spending months searching the boat for a freshwater pump, even using a scope to peer in to inaccesable places of the boat. Finally the previous owner’s brother remembered seeing it in a compartment. The PO had removed the pump a while ago, probably after the lightning hit and it smelled real bad. Now I am researching freshwater pumps so I can use the water system to do dishes, wash my hands, etc.
It is a shame we cannot flush these recent months away in the commode like we do with other nasty waste products.
Any Republican who thinks voting for KavaNope (or who continues to support the mentally deficient Bully-In-Chief) won’t result in a backlash from female voters (and enlightened men) in November, well, they are even more out of touch.
The women, young folks, and, those who don’t look like most Republican Senators are coming for all seats up for grabs next month…and every Election Day until the ass-faces are extinct.
Really, isn’t the nastiness of Hatch, etc., just a death rattle?
Al Franken took responsibility for his actions.
That’s what the Predator-In-Chief should do.
Has the FBI investigated the claims of Trump’s many, many accusers?
After calling the FBI a bunch of low life corrupt hacks for two years and releasing classified documents to attack the justice department now we see Trump hiding behind a WH-rigged FBI report the public isn’t allowed to see.
the official document* the wh sent to fbi detailing the assignment hopefully one day will be leaked/released to public… for historical purposes if nothing else
* that document which governs/limits the background check and which would be cited by an IG in any investigation of wrong doing by agent violating it
same tactic as nunes’s trying to get all those fisa documents disclosed…. maybe that’s where he got the idea
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/russias-real-goal-mueller-court-battle/story?id=58293485
What’s Russia’s real goal in Mueller court battle?
[…]
“When those indictments dropped I think it was widely assumed that it was unlikely that any of those defendants would ever appear in a U.S. court,” April Doss, a former attorney for the National Security Agency, told ABC News.
But then the Russians did something unexpected. In April, an American law firm told the court it was representing one of the accused businesses entities, Concord Management and Consulting, LLC, that wished to fight the case. Unlike cases against individuals, the American legal system allows for corporate defendants to be represented by an attorney even if no individual from that company is physically present in court. The quirk in the system meant that Concord could fight the charges from Russia without any of its officials actually standing in front of an American judge.
After pleading not guilty to a fraud-related charge, Concord, through the Pittsburg-based law firm Reed Smith, has mounted a spirited defense, challenging the special counsel’s office every legal step of the way. Eric Dubelier, the lead attorney for Concord, declined to discuss the case.
Doss, who recently served as senior minority counsel for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe, said Concord could be fighting back for “reputational” reasons — in order to clear its name — but she and other national security and legal experts told ABC News that Concord, and ultimately the Kremlin, could be up to a more concerning double game: using the U.S. legal system to gather intelligence or undercut the broader Russia probe.
In the same way U.S. officials said Russia pursued different goals in the alleged 2016 election interference campaign to set itself up for what Doss called a “win-win-win” regardless of the election’s outcome, she said it’s “entirely possible that something similar is happening inside this Concord litigation.”
An intelligence operation, run through an American court
To Matthew Olsen, a former senior official in the Justice Department’s national security section and an ABC News consultant, Concord’s legal strategy raised a concerning question: what if the Russians were attempting to force an American court to play host to an ongoing intelligence-gathering operation?
Olsen described what could be a new twist on an old espionage and legal tactic known as graymail, in which a defendant argues that their defense requires the disclosure of sensitive information. It could be a legitimate request, or it could be designed to force the U.S. government to make “hard choices” about dropping charges or pursuing them at the risk of exposing sensitive intelligence, Olsen said.
“It definitely comes into play in many if not most espionage cases,” he said. A representative for the Russian government in Washington did not respond to ABC requests for comment.
[…continues…]
Poobah, a bun’s in the oven.
trevor got serious last night.
wapo also noticed it in their story “Trump is trying to convince men they are the ‘true victims’ of #MeToo movement, says a serious Trevor Noah”
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