Ka-va-naugh

Two more syllables than "Bork", but they both end in naw.

I just found out my new neighbor is in the bottom 2.88% of the population

He's a fat, white, father of two young girls whose idea of fun is spending the day at the pool, and he's a Twitter follower of Rachel Madcow.

Thank God for carvedilol.

John Brennan is the Democrats' self-admitted communist, James Comey is the Republicans'

Mr. Comey Goes To Washington (New York Magazine, 20 October 2003):

Comey has been savaged by William Safire and lauded by Chuck Schumer; just what kind of Republican is he, anyway? This sets Comey howling again. “I must be doing something right!” he says. “In college, I was left of center, and through a gradual process I found myself more comfortable with a lot of the ideas and approaches the Republicans were using.” He voted for Carter in 1980, but in ’84, “I voted for Reagan—I’d moved from Communist to whatever I am now. I’m not even sure how to characterize myself politically. Maybe at some point, I’ll have to figure it out.”

Dianne Feinstein shouldn't only be censured by the US Senate, California voters should vote for her opponent in November

From the story here:

Regardless of the fate of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, the Senate should censure the ranking Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, Dianne Feinstein. Her deception and maneuvering, condemned across the political spectrum, seriously interfered with the Senate’s performance of its constitutional duty to review judicial nominations, and unquestionably has brought the Senate into “dishonor and disrepute,” the standard that governs these matters. As a matter of institutional integrity, the Senate cannot let this wrong go unaddressed. ... Feinstein ... sought to keep her committee from timely and properly investigating an apparently serious charge of misconduct, and is still doing so, even in the face of criticism from all (or most) quarters. ...

As the second-richest member of the Senate, with a net worth of $94 million, Feinstein is presumably above the temptations to which [censured Senators] Dodd, Talmadge, and Durenberger succumbed. She does, however, face a difficult reelection campaign, with a serious enthusiasm gap on her left, the California Democratic party having refused to endorse her bid for a sixth term in office. Her conduct in arranging matters to make her appear the champion of an allegedly abused constituent, and perhaps positioning herself as the woman who sank the Kavanaugh nomination, can only help on that flank. Is a nakedly political motive for senatorial misbehavior any less reprehensible than a financial one?

Maureen Dowd admits Ford is purely political, calls her a woman daring to obstruct a conservative nominee

If Brett Kavanaugh were a liberal nominee, this wouldn't be happening.

From the column here:

But I most dread the rhyming history we are plunged into now: the merciless pummeling of a woman who dares to obstruct the glide path of a conservative Supreme Court nominee.

Woman, still alleged by The Washington Post and Ford to be present at an assault by Kavanaugh, denies being at party or knowing Kavanaugh

That makes four such denials: Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, Patrick J. Smyth and now Leland Keyser.

Here:

"Simply put, Ms. Keyser does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present, with, or without, Dr. Ford," said Howard Walsh, who said he has been "engaged in the limited capacity" of corresponding with the committee on behalf of Keyser.

Walsh's email was in response to a missive from one of the lawyers for the GOP majority staff, which stated: "I understand that you have been identified as an individual who was in attendance at a party that occurred circa 1982 described in a recent Washington Post article." 

Ford stated in her letter to Feinstein back in July that there were only five at the assault including herself:

"The assault occurred in a suburban Maryland area home at a gathering that included me and four others." 

But the original September 16th Washington Post article does not mention another female present, only boys:

The [therapist's] notes say four boys were involved, a discrepancy Ford says was an error on the therapist’s part. Ford said there were four boys at the party but only two in the room. 

The Washington Post, however, and Ford, still acknowledge TODAY the presence of a female, Leland Keyser, which would make the party of five SIX:

As negotiations continued, Leland Keyser, a woman Ford told The Washington Post was present at the party where she alleges Kavanaugh assaulted her, came forward to say she “does not know Mr. Kavanaugh and she has no recollection of ever being at a party or gathering where he was present,” according to an email her lawyer sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, obtained by The Post. In a brief interview at her home in Silver Spring, Keyser said that she did not recall the party, but that she was close friends with Ford and that she believes Ford’s allegation. Before her name became public, Ford told The Post she did not think Keyser would remember the party because nothing remarkable had happened there, as far as Keyser was aware. Ford has said she did not tell anyone about the alleged assault until 2012.

So how many were there? Ford can't really say, or won't say.

This whole thing smells to high heaven of nothing so much as a political operation, which is proved by the fact of Feinstein's scurrilous behavior in withholding what she knew from the Senate committee since July 30th. Any woman who was really concerned about another woman's sexual assault wouldn't do this. And Ford wouldn't put up with it if she were really concerned about it.  

Sexual assault isn't something that can be litigated in the newspapers, let alone in the Judiciary Committee of the US Senate.

Since the statue of limitations has not expired in Montgomery County Maryland, Ford should take her allegations there and file her complaint. If she had anything but politically motivated lawyers that's what they would have told her to do, too.

The Senate should categorically refuse to be the venue for this circus.

And Christine Blasey Ford should put up, or shut up. 

Mickey Kaus for Trump senior political adviser

More gas lighting from CNBC on Kavanaugh, averring Kavanaugh is surrounded by harassers

The GOP aide wasn't "for Brett Kavanaugh". The GOP aide wasn't even an "aide for the nomination" since Trump nominated Kavanaugh. No, the aide was the spokesman for Grassley's committee. Kavanaugh had no say whatsoever in who works for Grassley and who doesn't.

Total cheap shot. Total bs. Totally corrupt manipulation of language.

No wonder CNBC closed comments on its articles long ago. They're all like this.

Author of RESISTANCE IS FUTILE is resisting!

Susan Collins was expecting Monday

John Cornyn ain't buyin' it

Ford, Dems, media manipulate the public, say she agrees to meet (next Thursday when the deal was Monday)

Grassley's Twitter feed has nothing about this.

Ford says she agrees to meet next Thursday, that's all, and wants to continue the "negotiations" this afternoon.

Total bull!

When Grassley says No they'll attack him again.

Christine Blasey Ford, accuser of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, agrees to Senate testimony about sexual assault claim

Democrats are experts at gas lighting.

Dan Henninger: The Democrats summon Hurricane Christine

Here:

Surely someone pointed out that based on what was disclosed, this accusation could not be substantiated. To which the Democrats responded: So what? Its political value is that it cannot be disproved. They saw that six weeks before a crucial midterm election, the unresolvable case of Christine Blasey Ford would sit like a stalled hurricane over the entire Republican Party, drowning its candidates in a force they could not stop. ... Republicans in the Senate shouldn’t allow it, and voters in November should not affirm it.

The un-American Christine Ford insists Brett Kavanaugh be denied his rights

CNN this morning here:

Ford also requested that at no point during any potential hearing would she be in the same room as Kavanaugh.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

For Ford's "rape" attorney, rape is incidental to advancing the political aims of the resistance to Trump: Katz present at the birth

Debra Katz: We are going to resist

Gullible Gregg Jarrett of FOX News takes the NYT's bait

Gregg Jarrett: Rod Rosenstein's coup attempt to depose Trump should not go unpunished:

Rosenstein should be fired immediately. Proposing to secretly record the president is, at the very least, a violation of regulations that govern a security clearance. 

Oh yeah, that'll be helpful on November 6th. Let's fire the guy that fired Comey and make ourselves look completely insane.

There's plenty of time to fire Rod Rosenstein starting on November 7th.

Jarrett should listen to Mark Levin's argument. It was Comey ally Andrew McCabe who pressured Rosenstein to appoint the special counsel in the wake of the firing of James Comey. Rosenstein placated him by appointing Comey ally Robert Mueller. The Comey allies are behind this leak, seeking to weaken Trump.

Rosenstein is the monkey in the middle. The leak against him in the Times is a sign that he is no longer useful to the Trump opposition. It's also a sign that the Trump opposition is getting very desperate in the wake of Trump's declassification order, the results of which are going to take at least another week.

Perhaps Rosenstein will look better now to his future in the Trump administration. He was once useful to Trump by firing crooked Comey. He could be helpful again now that he's been chastised by his former "colleagues".

Wake up Chuck, Christine will never testify because she has nothing to add

McCabe memos appear to have been leaked to NYT saying Rosenstein wanted to entrap Trump by wearing a wire

From the story Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment:

Mr. McCabe, who was later fired from the F.B.I., declined to comment. His memos have been turned over to the special counsel investigating whether Trump associates conspired with Russia’s election interference, Robert S. Mueller III, according to a lawyer for Mr. McCabe. “A set of those memos remained at the F.B.I. at the time of his departure in late January 2018,” the lawyer, Michael R. Bromwich, said of his client. “He has no knowledge of how any member of the media obtained those memos.” ...

One week after the firing [of Comey], Mr. Rosenstein met with Mr. McCabe and at least four other senior Justice Department officials, in part to explain his role in the situation.

During their discussion, Mr. Rosenstein expressed frustration at how Mr. Trump had conducted the search for a new F.B.I. director, saying the president was failing to take the candidate interviews seriously. A handful of politicians and law enforcement officials, including Mr. McCabe, were under consideration.

To Mr. Rosenstein, the hiring process was emblematic of broader dysfunction stemming from the White House. He said both the process and the administration itself were in disarray, according to two people familiar with the discussion.

Mr. Rosenstein then raised the idea of wearing a recording device or “wire,” as he put it, to secretly tape the president when he visited the White House. One participant asked whether Mr. Rosenstein was serious, and he replied animatedly that he was.

If not him, then Mr. McCabe or other F.B.I. officials interviewing with Mr. Trump for the job could perhaps wear a wire or otherwise record the president, Mr. Rosenstein offered. White House officials never checked his phone when he arrived for meetings there, Mr. Rosenstein added, implying it would be easy to secretly record Mr. Trump.

The suggestion itself was remarkable. While informants or undercover agents regularly use concealed listening devices to surreptitiously gather evidence for federal investigators, they are typically targeting drug kingpins and Mafia bosses in criminal investigations, not a president viewed as ineffectively conducting his duties.

In the end, the idea went nowhere, the officials said. But they called Mr. Rosenstein’s comments an example of how erratically he was behaving while he was taking part in the interviews for a replacement F.B.I. director, considering the appointment of a special counsel and otherwise running the day-to-day operations of the more than 100,000 people at the Justice Department.

Mr. Rosenstein’s suggestion about the 25th Amendment was similarly a sensitive topic. The amendment allows for the vice president and majority of cabinet officials to declare the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”

Merely conducting a straw poll, even if Mr. Kelly and Mr. Sessions were on board, would be risky if another administration official were to tell the president, who could fire everyone involved to end the effort.

Trump finally attacks the credibility of The Ford and Feinstein Farce, tells Ford to put up

Feinstein deliberately sat on the information since July and let the hearings conclude without introducing Ford's letter in evidence. Meanwhile Feinstein is under a cloud for letting a Chinese spy remain on her staff for two decades.

Trump, quoted here by AP:

“I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!”

“Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C.”

Senator John Cornyn is right: We've already had a hearing, and Ford & Democrats are hijacking the process

WaPo reports here:

Earlier Thursday, Senate Republicans had reiterated their resolve to press forward with a vote on Kavanaugh in the coming days if Ford chose not to testify before the 21-member Judiciary Committee.

“If she doesn’t want to participate and tell her story, there’s no reason for us to delay,” Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, told CNN. “I think it all depends on what she decides to do. We’ve all made clear this is her chance.” ...

Cornyn said Thursday that he sees no reason to call additional witnesses since the committee had already held a full hearing on Trump’s nominee.

“We already had a hearing,” Cornyn said. “That’s what I call hijacking the regular committee process to accommodate political interests.”