When "Justice" becomes "Just Us"

Coming very soon to a Supreme Court near you: Two justices, one who is a sexual assaulter and the other a sexual harasser. Now appearing on TV screens everywhere: A President who is a sexual assaulter and harasser. Sneak Previews for the coming generation: Unilateral disassembly of women's rights from a gamed government of entrenched Hard Core Patriarchs.

OK, that may sound harsh. But there's no doubt that Season Two of The Trump Show is pulling out all the stops in its quest to get past low viewer ratings and get renewed for Season Three. Placing a politically useful nominee like Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court is a bet that the Administration and the GOP-led Congress are going All In on.

Mainstream Republicans are laughing at all this He Said She Said stuff. Here's a classic example of Stupid Conservative Humor:

https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/sc-congressman-jokes-about-supreme-court-sexual-assault-amid-kavanaugh/article_aa70b77c-bcf5-11e8-a7c7-ff6a511cd2db.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share

What a knee-slapper: Ruth Bader Ginsberg claims to have been groped by Abraham Lincoln. Har! Who wrote this guy's material, Mike Huckabee? Republican Senate candidate Corey Stewart of Virginia joked, "What else did Judge Kavanaugh do - pull a girl's pigtails in 1st Grade?" Seriously... what a mindset these guys have.

Speaking of serious, how serious can these accusations really be? Speaking like the Republican Senator he is, Dean Heller of Nevada reveals a blithe attitude toward it all:

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/heller-predicts-kavanaugh-confirmation-to-supreme-court-despite-hiccup

Just a lil' ol' hiccup. Republican Party leader Ed Rollins declared, "...if this is the new standard, no one will ever want or be able to serve in government or on the judiciary." This speaks more to the quality of the GOP's well of nominees than to the deliberate pursuit of Truth. Unfortunately, this attitude pervades the Republican firmament:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/senate-republicans-tell-kavanaughs-accuser-testify-monday-or-well-move-on

You know it's really bad when failed Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore urges Kavanaugh's confirmation. And yes, Moore really is a complete slime:

https://thinkprogress.org/roy-moore-brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-republicans-alabama-53dbdd8ed223/

All this serves to remind that no Republican woman has EVER sat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. One woman who is on the Committee, Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), has just about had it with the shenanigans of her Male Republican Colleagues. In addition to telling them to Shut Up and Step Up, she calls BS:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mazie-hirono-says-its-bullshit-that-gop-has-tried-everything-to-contact-kavanaugh-accuser_us_5ba3a818e4b0375f8f9aaf7b

"That is such bullshit I can hardly stand it," declaimed the esteemed Senator. This brings to mind a great comment read from the peanut gallery this week:

"The right continually assumes that not rewarding a wealthy white man is the same as punishing him. While complaining all the time about "entitlement" in their opponents, they really do assume that they are just owed positions of power and that questioning them should be a mere formality.

Let's say that there had been no accusation of sexual assault. Let's argue instead that Kavanaugh's repeated lies and deflections in his hearing- his job interview- were acknowledged as such by Republicans. He should not be given the job. That is simple.

The hearings are a job interview, not an orientation on his first day in the job. An election is a chance to be chosen, not a mere formality before you are gifted a seat. When Republicans see a rich white man fail they treat it as though that white man is being punished. Roy Moore, Rob Porter, whatever the ludicrously named candidate Trump supported before Moore was called, and now Kavanaugh- the attitude of the right is that by being wealthy white men the rules, and the reasons for them, do not apply.

Kavanaugh is not being denied something he is owed- he is not a black person being held up in the street or shot in their own home because someone else doesn't trust them enough to afford them the right of free movement. He is not being prevented from having a livelihood, or being deprived of his rights. He is being told "you are not suitable for this job".

Nice. And from Caitlin Flanagan - nobody's fool - is a piece that reveals her own Me Too experience and why she believes Kavanaugh's accuser:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/09/me-too/570520/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20180918&silverid-ref=NDI5MTk3ODEyNzEzS0

This guy is headed for a lifetime term on the Supreme Court. Such nominees should bear an exceptional review of their life, accomplishments and their views. Even past associations should be examined, like being a member of Yale's "Truth and Courage" a charming secret society that was nicknamed "Tit and Clit":

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/09/20/a-flag-of-underwear-photo-from-kavanaughs-time-shows-dke-hijinks/

Pretty classy stuff. Well, boys will be boys. Our President knows and finally weighed in by sending out a tweet this morning that fully captures his enormous understanding of sexual assault matters and the inherent difficulties in reporting them:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1043126336473055235?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1043126336473055235&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2018%2F09%2F21%2Ftrump-on-kavanaugh-why-didnt-somebody-call-the-fbi-36-years-ago.html

So Dr. Christine Ford doesn't want to be interviewed by Republican staff without having had the FBI conduct an investigation. Sounds reasonable. Anita Hill was given one, and it took all of three days. At present, GOP-ers are screaming bloody murder that it constitutes an unacceptable delay in the confirmation process. (What would Judge Merrick Garland say about unacceptable delays in the confirmation process?) And given the tweets from Mike Davis, the Chief Counsel for Nominations by the Judiciary Committee, it is entirely understandable that Dr. Ford doesn't anticipate a fair and objective treatment from Republican staff:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/09/20/brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-furor-over-mike-davis-tweets/1366391002/

This is all just the latest episode of GOP power politics. It's amoral - yes, it's immoral and all about achieving/maintaining control of the government. If the means to a desired end are wrong, it doesn't matter if the end is won. That's the guiding principle here.

We saw it start in earnest during the 2000 Gore v. Bush debacle. There had been high media profile "riots" orchestrated by Roger Stone-led groups to make the electoral process seem ready to collapse.The Supreme Court surprisingly and recklessly took on the request from the complicit Republican Party to rule on stopping the Florida recount.  They ruled so, saying that it was in the country's best interest to cease the actions and get on with running the country. Never has one vote counted more than that day...  and of course, the "unofficial" recount continued through a number of Florida newspapers.

Later, the recount verdict was revealed: Gore won. But he really lost by one vote, 5 - 4. When called upon, the Republican-majority justices on the Supreme Court had voted in a partisan judgment that presumed the country couldn't handle another week or so of Florida vote recounts and installed the minority vote victor. And we got 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Katrina, Samuel Alito, and The Great Recession. Heckuva job, Rehnquist!

The Conservative SCOTUS majority continued with the Citizens United ruling. Corporations are people, too. And all donors can be anonymous (though this has changed - hallelujah - in a subsequent ruling this week). It opened the floodgates for oceans of unaccountable Dark Money to be used in elections. Hello there Russian/Bad Actor money through NRA/Political Action Committees to GOP candidates.

And when the GOP vowed a Zero Tolerance Policy against anything that Obama tried to do, it extended to his judicial nominations. It wasn't just Merrick Garland and the 400+ days of an open Supreme Court seat. Once Mitch McConnell became the head of the Senate, Obama's lower bench nominations came to a crashing halt, leaving numerous vacancies throughout the judiciary:

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/06/04/senate-obstructionism-handed-judicial-vacancies-to-trump/

After Trump became President (and had ridiculed Obama for creating so many vacancies), the pace of the Senate approving Trump nominees skyrocketed, even in the face of many being clear-cut thimbleheads. Mitch McConnell's Get 'Er Done Express was on track.

And now we have a major reckoning coming up over the horizon. The Mueller investigation is bearing serious fruit and there is every reason to believe it's not anywhere near being done. Trump, his family, his staff and his business organization are in jeopardy. The Republican Party (and some Democrats, too) is in for a severe prosecutorial shock. Unless... unless...

Unless the 5th Republican Supreme Court justice would rule against efforts to investigate the Chief Executive (and by extension, the GOP-led Legislative Branch). By most accounts, Kavanaugh is that guy. He is all about preventing the President from being indicted, and even having to answer Special Counsel inquiries. The Trump/GOP power axis wants Kavanaugh in to protect themselves (and to reverse Roe v. Wade, among other goals).

Beyond resolving the truth in what happened with Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh, there are other important personal matters that remain flapping wildly in the breeze. What about his lies regarding stolen documents? What about his strained-belief statement about a Mueller-related conversation with a Trump law firm lawyer (who happens to be a good buddy)? What about his public-sector ability to afford a major plush home in DC's posh NW side, and then generate up to $200,000 in debt as of last year, then POOF it goes away? Who paid it? How was it paid? What about the references to his gambling activities? Is this guy Pete Rose? Can he be extorted? Heck, I want to hear about why he was so fixated on conspiracy theories like 'Hillary Clinton killed Vince Foster' back in his Whitewater investigation days, accruing a government expenditure of over $2 million.

Hoo-boy. If this were a job interview, he'd have been shown the door early on. That he's about to be confirmed is indicative of the GOP power-lust and willingness to overlook any disqualifiers in the pursuit of One Party Rule. It's no accident that they don't take a stand against Trump's authoritarian actions. Why should they? It means they get a strangle-hold on power for the next generation. They are kindred spirits.

The Supreme Court should be the reserve of jurists of supremely good character. This guy seems like he is trying his best to avoid detection. And with the help of his powerful friends, he will do whatever it takes to grab the brass ring. He will get along well with Clarence Thomas. God bless Anita Hill and every MeToo survivor.

A Day In The Life

Morning came early in Billings, Montana last Friday, September 7. It was going to be an unusually busy day for Donald Trump. The President had arrived there the previous afternoon, and had delivered a raucous and rambling Make America Great Again rally speech at the Rimrock Auto Arena. Later on Friday, he was scheduled to appear at two fundraisers nearby, so The World's Most Powerful Man and retinue had spent the night at the local Double Tree.

The next 12+ hours would mark an excellent opportunity for the Commander In Chief to add onto his already impressive record of compiling over 4700 falsehoods in less than 600 days.

It had been a late night, or early morning for The President. At 2:56am, he tweeted, "What was Nike thinking?" as an observation of that company using Colin Kaepernick in an advertisement.

This was followed by a 3:11am tweet endorsing the Republican candidate for Senate from Montana. Then at 3:32am he vented a tweet about Bob Woodward, author of the forthcoming expose, "Fear".

Sometime between 3:40am and 5:30am, he slept.

But Trump was up and at 'em for an appearance on the early morning State TV show, Fox and Friends. Regarding the New York Times 'Anonymous' op-ed, he said, "... really, what they've done is virtually, you know, treason." Earlier the evening before, he encountered some speech problems in pronouncing the word "anonymous":

https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1037883056252694528

He also appeared on a local Billings TV station. Reading the transcript is a wild ride, in that it reveals the ongoing animus towards his "enemies". He is quite the political hatchet man. Among the crazy rhetoric, this one stood out regarding his ability to win deals for the USA:

We're going to win against everybody, and ultimately it's going to be a win for them too, I assume, because there's got to be a two-way street. But, we have all the cards. Our country has all the cards. We've never had a president that wanted to play the cards. They were willing to accept a bad NAFTA deal.

Things settled down for a while until 8:30am, as he prepared to leave the fabled Double Tree for the Billings airport. The press was still reacting to much of his statements from the rally. In it, the President stressed that he had not lost his mind, that - like Lincoln - his reputation will increase after his death, that his speeches will be remembered like The Gettysburg Address, that the Department of Justice should investigate the New York Times, and something weird about Space Force. (For more on this amazing speech, please check out this hilarious minute-by-minute thread by Toronto Star reporter Daniel Dale: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1037815501802692609.html It is chock full of Trump's lies and wild claims and You're Welcome!)

Already there were reactions to Trump comparing himself to Lincoln, and his claim to have memorized The Gettysburg Address. Here is his famous I Don't Know The Lyrics So I'll Hum Along moment singing the National Anthem from earlier this year. Thanks, Bad Lip Reading:

At 8:35am, he tweeted about "our horrible immigration laws." And then he hopped aboard a flight to Fargo, North Dakota. No time for the usual golf rounds. But he did tell reporters on Air Force One, regarding taking criminal action against the NY Times, "We're going to see. I'm looking at that right now." When asked about "Fear" and the 'Anonymous' claim that he was mentally and morally unfit for office, Trump said:

Meanwhile, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, President Obama was delivering a speech designed to increase voter registration and push back on many Trump policies and claims. And OH was it ever good! It all served to remind what a real leader is like:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/7/17832024/obama-speech-trump-illinois-transcript

While Air Force One flew on, and the President engaged with reporters, a certain dichotomy could not be avoided: "Quite a split-screen moment here -- Obama talking about American democracy on edge just as Trump tells reporters aboard AF1 that he wants DOJ to investigate anonymous op-ed."

https://twitter.com/PhilipRucker/status/1038099821205307393

The President arrived at Fargo, North Dakota at 12:40pm. and headed off to host a roundtable of donors.  Later, when Trump was asked about Obama's speech, he suggested he had listened for a couple of minutes and then fell asleep. Ha ha. Others across the country had watched Obama's speech with the split-screen of Trump gamboling around Fargo, North Dakota. Said one tweet to Obama, "Please come back. The substitute teacher is stupid, racist and paints himself the colors of 1970s appliances."

The President spoke to his Fargo supporters around 2:00pm. His fact-and-evidence-free remarks included his plans to send Canada into "ruination" with tariffs on cars. "They've taken advantage of us for many decades. We can't let this happen anymore." He went on to claim Democrats will destroy Social Security, that NAFTA was the worst trade deal of all time, and that the World Trade Organization was even worse. More great stuff from Daniel Dale:  https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1038134023263019008.html

Reactions to this speech came quickly. On Trump's claim that his performance on Jobs is better than Obama's, NBC's Andrea Mitchell says No:
https://twitter.com/mitchellreports/status/1038177912732745730

On his continued claim that people break down and cry in his presence, WaPo's Josh Dawsey says What? https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/1038187959688806400 and so does our old friend Daniel Dale: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1038423460475756544.html. Of course, it's a repeated lie.

By 3:00pm, the President had departed from Fargo and within an hour arrived at Sioux Falls, South Dakota for - you guessed it - more meetings with donors and a 5:30pm rally speech.

Right before the rally began, the President sent out a tweet, stating "14 days for $28 MILLION - $2 million a day, No Collusion. A great day for America!" Apparently, this was a reaction to the sentencing of George Papadopolous, the "covfefe" guy that Trump claimed to not know or care about, except when it came time to react to his sentencing. Even here, the Mueller investigation price tag indicated is false.

Meanwhile, folks were catching up on the previous night's rally that featured a rather expressive young man seated directly behind the President. His "inappropriate" expressions and lack of enthused reactions to Trumpian statements caused his real-time removal from the stands, replaced by a smiling staff member. Thus, a pop culture icon was born:

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1038228434978332678

By 6:25pm Air Force One departed Sioux Falls. The Government By Mood Ring Express flew towards DC after a full day and a half of campaigning.

At 8:45pm Trump was at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, and by 9:05pm he had arrived at the White House via Presidential helicopter, back into the loving arms of his adoring wife. What a whirlwind trip! What an extended case of vertigo!

If you're interested, here are a couple of websites that archive and comment on the President's tweets and retweets, including probabilities whether he or his staff wrote specific ones:

http://didtrumptweetit.com/2018/09/07/

https://factba.se/topic/twitter

All that is well and good, but for a more comprehensive perspective on how Trump's ongoing and blatant falsehoods affect our country, we need to hear from that most respected source of news, The Onion:

https://politics.theonion.com/trump-disapproval-rating-reaches-all-time-none-of-this-1828751716

"At press time, a new poll had found that President Trump’s disapproval rating was now at, Jesus Christ, a sizable portion of the country supports and has always supported an openly white supremacist president and the party he leads, and a bunch of goddamn numerical ratings aren’t going to do a fucking thing to change that."

Thank you, Onion. Finally, after wading through the swampy muck of the President's pronouncements over a 24 hour period, The Daily Kibitz can confidently declare its contention that our President is Not Mentally Fit:

Okay, it is not right to leave you on this note. So let's Get Positive! Watching Trump mumble through the National Anthem suggests that we can always change it - the Anthem and the President. So... what could be the new Anthem?

My vote is firmly with the late, great Allen Toussaint composition, "Yes, We Can Can". It's irresistible and deeply moving. Give it a listen and imagine a sports stadium filled with folks standing for the new anthem, shaking what they've got, singing "great gosh almighty I know we can yes we  can can!" If there is a Blue Wave in November, this should get immediate attention for action: