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SEPTEMBER 29,  2018

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

WOMEN FOR BRETT – FROM MSN:   COLUMBIA, S.C. — As the Senate is divided on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick, so too are women across the country.  Female voices have echoed throughout the U.S. Senate this week demanding male senators justify their support for Brett Kavanaugh's U.S. Supreme Court nomination despite an allegation of high school sexual assault.  But other women have spent hours calling Senate offices in support of Kavanaugh, condemning what they saw as an anti-Republican ploy that's damaged not only Kavanaugh's reputation and livelihood but also his accuser's.  To Hannah King, a college senior from Bristol, Tennessee, Christine Blasey Ford's allegations of a drunken attack by Kavanaugh at a 1982 party when both were in high school were jarring and scary. But while King expressed empathy for Ford, she also said she's concerned about the timing of Ford's allegations, which surfaced publicly only after Kavanaugh — already a federal judge — was nominated to the Supreme Court.  As others have pointed out, women have men in their lives, and they wouldn't want them treated this way.  I've always believed that one of the most overlooked constituencies in America is mothers of sons, who are horrified at the way their boys are treated at some schools and many colleges.  Don't get them too angry.  I think Hillary did. 

WILL THIS MAN SURVIVE? – FROM BIZPACREVIEW:    CNN may have some regrets after asking a “group of expert commentators” about their reaction to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings with Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford.  While the commentators delivered a predictable narrative on the testimonies of the Supreme Court nominee and the woman accusing him of sexually assaulting her nearly four decades ago, one of the group went rogue.  Citing facts as the basis and not the spectacle that unfolded, CNN legal analyst, Paul Callan, gave a no-nonsense assessment of why he was in favor of the Senate confirming Kavanaugh, while delivering a scathing appraisal of Ford’s testimony and Democrats’ behavior.
“Many Americans will ultimately come away from Thursday’s hearing feeling disgusted not over the character of Judge Brett Kavanaugh but that of those Democratic senators who attempted, on the weakest of evidence, to portray the judge as an attempted rapist,” Callan wrote. “Their strongest documentary evidence appeared to be inscriptions about beer drinking in his high school yearbook.”  Noting that courts of law are where claims of criminal conduct are to be resolved, Callan argued that Ford did not meet the standard for delivering the missing pieces in her story.  Read the whole thing.  It's excellent.  Then pray for this analyst to survive.  I wonder if we'll ever see him again on CNN.

LOWEST OF THE LOW – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  In a shocking irony, the John Jay College (New York City) professors accused of pimping out their students raked in more than half a million dollars in government money to study prostitution.  Thousands more in taxpayer and non-profit cash poured in for the academics to study addiction — at the same time the profs were allegedly running their own on-campus snakepit called “the swamp,” where drugs were sold and used.  Four professors at the publicly funded criminal justice college are on paid leave while the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and State Inspector General probe allegations they brought the underworld they studied into the hallways of John Jay.  Accusations of rape, sexual harassment, facilitating prostitution, and using and selling drugs first surfaced several weeks ago in the written complaints of two John Jay graduates, which were shared with The Post and authorities.  How did the presence of this cesspool go unnoticed by other members of the faculty, in a school devoted to teaching law enforcement? 

September 29, 2018       Permalink

BAR ASSOCIATION STANDS BY KAVANAUGH – AT 2:20 P.M. ET:  Remember that we were told, a few days back, that the American Bar Association had asked for a delay in the confirmation hearings to allow for an FBI investigation.  Not so fast, Jones.  Turns out it never happened.  From the Washington Examiner: 

A committee for the American Bar Association that evaluates the professional qualifications of judges said it still stands behind Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The association’s president urged the Senate Judiciary Committee late Thursday to stall a confirmation vote until the FBI has conducted an investigation into Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her.

The letter was not seen by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary before it was sent to the panel, committee chairman Paul Mosley wrote in a separate letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., on Friday.

The Standing Committee “acts independently” of the association’s leadership, he said.
“The Committee conducts non-partisan, non-ideological, and confidential peer review of federal judicial nominees. The ABA’s rating for Judge Kavanaugh is not affected by Mr. [Robert] Carlson’s letter,” the letter concluded.

The American Bar Association's Thursday call for the postponement of a vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination was seen as significant because the Standing Committee had said a month prior that Kavanaugh was “well qualified” to serve on the Supreme Court. It’s the highest rating a judge can receive from the committee.

COMMENT:  Another case of fake news.  Obviously poor journalistic work.  No one checked the details on the story before it went out.

I think readers would be shocked at how often this happens.

September 29, 2018       Permalink

KAVANAUGH – AT 1:30 P.M. ET:  Nothing dramatic to report yet on the FBI probe into Judge Kavanaugh.  We know that it's underway, and there are reports this morning that the holdout senators – Flake, Collins, and Murkowski – are having serious influence on the shape of the investigation.  I have no problem with that as long as the president has the final say.

One former FBI official cautioned that investigations take on a life of their own, and that the promise of wrapping things up in a week might not be possible to keep.  For Republicans, that would be a nightmare, an extended probe, with all kinds of speculation floating around as to the cause of the extension.

We've learned that only senators will have access to the final FBI report.  That is fantasy, of course, as the lights of Leak City will be turned on, and we can assume that at least some of the report will be leaked. 

It is known that Professor Ford will now undergo a full FBI interrogation.  Up to now we have depended only on what she's told the Senate Judiciary Committee.  This sets up the intriguing possibility that she or her handlers might resist an interrogation, or ask for special favors.  I wonder what would happen if she refuses full cooperation.

We know also that Judge Kavanaugh will be questioned extensively.  Both he and Professor Ford will be under oath, and can be prosecuted if it can be proved they lied.

September 29, 2018       Permalink

SEPTEMBER 28,  2018

THE FBI IN PEACE AND WAR – AT 11:50 P.M. ET:   So it is done.  There will in fact be an FBI probe into the allegations made by Professor Christine Ford against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.  The president has so ordered it, and says it will take less than a week.

And Mitch McConnell assures us that the new probe will barely interfere with the Senate's march toward confirmation of the judge.  All the Senate's work will be done except the final vote, which will wait, presumably until next weekend, for the FBI report.

I hope it goes that smoothly, and that the Bureau finds nothing to support Ford's vague allegations.  If that happens, no Republican could justify a "no" vote on the Senate floor, and even a few Democrats may act sanely and back the outstanding nominee.

But let's be a little cautious, maybe even a little paranoid.  Paranoia is good.  If conservatives aren't paranoid, they don't understand the left.

Much can go wrong.  Already the lawyers for Professor Ford are beatin' the drums for a longer investigation with no "artificial" limits.   Watch for the echoes from Senate Democrats.

Already the anonymous statements are being published, questioning whether the FBI can meet the deadline.   Consider this, From Fox:   "When asked if they could get the investigation done in a week, a senior FBI official told Fox News, 'That depends on the schedules of everyone we'd have to interview, including the accuser, accused and witnesses.'"  Really?  The president has given an order, but a few more leaked quotes like that, and we'll have trouble in River City.  What happens if the "accuser," Professor Ford, says she needs two weeks to prepare for her interview?  What's the president to say?  "I don't care."  Well, he might, and it would be good.

The FBI is part of the Justice Department.  It has incredible people, but we've seen that some of the top officials, in the last few years, have gone off the reservation and into politics.  If some elements of the Bureau, and in the DOJ, want to get back at President Trump for some grievance, slow-walking this probe would be an ideal way.  The press would love it, and rush again to demand "justice" for Dr. Ford.

And please note that a bad actor can turn up among witnesses, a potential hero in his own mind, who might drop some broad hints about Mr. Kavanaugh's behavior, things that would have to be tracked down.  The FBI knows how to handle false or suspicious charges or rumors, and I have to assume that the agents are on guard. 

It will be a week to remember, and soon to be a major or minor motion picture, or maybe a slideshow in Anderson Cooper's living room.

September 28, 2018       Permalink

SOME NEWS EVENT HAS JUST OCCURRED – AT 2:25 P.M. ET:  And nobody's actually sure what happened.

Okay, technically, Judge Kavanaugh's name has been reported favorably to the U.S. Senate for confirmation as an associate justice of the Supreme Court.

HOWEVER, through the good or bad auspices of Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, a retiring Republican senator who is part of the never-Trump movement, an understanding was reached that a request would be made by somebody in some room with a working light bulb, that the full Senate consideration of Judge Kavanaugh be delayed for a week while the FBI conducts an additional background check on the judge.  The check would be restricted to the charges made by Professor Ford.

So that's where we are.  The full Senate is not legally bound to honor that request, but some Republican senators who are on the fence are supporting it.  We now learn that the Senate leadership, at least on the GOP side, has come to an agreement on how to proceed, but we don't know what the agreement contains.  It is clear, though, that there will be a brief FBI check. 

Some say this new approach, which gives the Dems the FBI check they've asked for, may have a silver lining for Judge Kavanaugh.  If the FBI comes up with nothing, this reasoning goes, it will give cover for some of the fence sitters to vote for the judge.  Maybe so, but I fear this also has the potential to doom him.  The Democrats are not honest players.  If there is one sentence in the FBI report that intrigues them – "Mr. Kavanaugh dated a girl named Jenny" – they'll seize on it and demand a full probe of his relationship with Jenny, whether she exists or not.

Lindsey Graham expressed barely disguised disgust with this new gimmick, and barely disguised frustration with Jeff Flake, but he did not prevail.  We're back in the Twilight Zone.

Stand by for more.

September 28,  2018     Permalink   

KAV LATEST – AT 11:35 A.M. ET:   The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled the vote on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court for 1:30 p.m. today.  Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona has announced that he will vote to support the judge, meaning that the committee will send a positive recommendation to the Senate floor.  The Senate will probably vote on the nomination by Tuesday night or Wednesday.  If confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh could be sworn in immediately.

Democrats of the Judiciary Committee behaved obnoxiously this morning.  At one point several Dems walked out and held a press conference.  They are playing to their angry base.

Some House Democratic women, a number from the Congressional Black Caucus, paraded in the hearing room, although no one seems quite sure of what message they were sending.

We still have no definitive count of the probable vote on the Senate floor.  Democratic Senator Donnelly of Indiana announced he would vote no.  There are some indications, but no announcement, that Joe Manchin of West Virginia will vote yes.  The key holdouts remain Republicans Collins of Maine and Murkowski of Alaska. 

Expect further delaying tactics from the Democrats.  But Republicans are more energized than they've been in years, and seem determined to get Kavinaugh on the Court this week.

September 28,  2018     Permalink