The FBI is now racing to investigate the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh for excessive drinking, sexual assault, and being a general little-rich-boy-elite-asshole.  There’s really no reason to investigate the last claim, though, since he put that characteristic on full display Thursday on national television.  We also really don’t need to investigate his blatant lying, since, again on national television, Kavanaugh lied about not going to parties that he’d already admitted to, and not to the belligerent behavior after excessive drinking for which he was well known. The investigation will go wherever it will go, as long as Trump’s attack dogs stay back.

The question of Kavanaugh’s character is really not my question, though.  My question is, why this guy?  Depending on who you ask, there are about 1.2 million lawyers in the US, and about 800,000 lawyer jobs listed by the Department of Labor.  In terms of judges, there are just under 900 federal judgeships, and who knows how many state and local judges there are all over the country.  There are thousands of law professors and legal scholars.  The supply of possible judges for appointment to the bench is HUGE.  So, why in the hell would Trump and the invertebrate Republicans nominate and then support this one guy in the face of unrelenting opposition?  Did they not vet him AT ALL?

I personally believe that Kavanaugh was selected by Trump simply because he’s the biggest asshole that Trump could identify on the Federalist Society list of approved assholes.  Trump LOVES to piss people off, so he characteristically picked the one guy pretty much guaranteed to piss off the most people, as well as invigorating his own base of assholes.  However, like everything else Trump does, (like separating families at the border) he didn’t think this one through or allow his staff to actually do any vetting of the potential nominee.  His amount of vetting consisted of, “Is he a white man?  Did he go to Harvard or Yale? Is he a radical partisan who hates normal people? Is he a flaming asshole? If so, I’m good to go with this guy.”

What Trump didn’t anticipate, though, is that the ground beneath him is shifting.  Normal Americans appear to be awakening from a decades-long political coma, waking up to the issues of social justice, equality, racial justice, and the #metoo movement.  When Blasey Ford and other assault victims stood up in opposition, motivated supporters leapt to their feet to add volume. Had it not been for Jeff Flake retiring from office, the effort probably would not have been as effective, but the stars aligned, and it was. Kavanaugh’s fast track to the Court is stymied.  Let’s not kid ourselves, though; we are still fighting an uphill battle against the GOP populating the Supreme Court with one more asshole, but at least there is a battle.

Time to keep standing.

One didn’t need to watch a minute of the Senate Circus (formerly known as the Judiciary Committee) to know that Brett Kavanaugh is probably the worst Supreme Court pick in the modern era.  Republicans, hearing the blue wave approaching, are frantic to get as many deplorables on the federal bench as possible before they fade into the minority; the problem is that Trump picked the wrong guy.  Kavanaugh was nominated for one reason and one reason only – he’s a hack.  Almost all of his legal career has been as a political operative, giving cover for GWB and his invade-then-torture tactics and later assisting in packing the courts with other radical partisans.  He’s being jammed down Americans’ throats right now because he’ll do the bidding of his masters, overturning decades of legal precedent, further eroding our fragile democracy.  I vehemently disagree with judges like Roberts, Alito, and Gorsuch, but their legal qualifications and knowledge are considerable.  Kavanaugh, though, like Clarence Thomas, is singularly unqualified for a seat on the highest court in the land.  That’s why the Repubs had concealed over 90% of his record and were racing to a confirmation vote when Dr. Blasey Ford showed up and tossed a broom handle into their spokes.

There’s an old lawyer adage of, “When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When the law is on your side, pound the law. When neither is on you side, pound the table.”  What you saw Thursday after Dr. Blasey Ford’s almost impeccable appearance before the committee was just that – table pounding.  Kavanaugh came completely unglued. Blasey Ford made him look like the towel-snapping frat boy that he is, and he knew he’d been had.  His only hope was to get through to a quick vote, but as that crumbled before his eyes, his true nature came out in full fury.  In declarations I don’t believe I’ve ever heard from any judicial nominee, he actually attacked Democrats on the committee and even remarkably dragged the Clintons into it.  To me, if there ever was the fatal mistake, that was it.  Judges, even though we know it’s not true, are supposed to be above politics.  They’re supposed to be impartial. In his desperation to defend the indefensible, Kavanaugh allowed his radical partisanship to show – and he did it on national television.  Combine his horrible performance with the line of accusers forming behind Blasey Ford, the chances for a quick confirmation faded, especially after wavering Jeff Flake was cornered in a Senate elevator by a sobbing survivor of sexual assault.

That’s about the time that Republicans started pounding the table.  Every single one of them, all white and all male, shouted and gnashed their teeth.  Their voices trembled with rage as their smash and grab theft of another Supreme Court seat was stymied.

Who knows what’s going to come of this catastrophe.  Republicans have shown themselves to simply be stooges for the worst president in US history, possessing neither shame or backbone.  They are willing to sacrifice our republic to perpetuate their own power and their own twisted world view.  Worse, their nominee for the highest court in the land is the same.  He’s a spoiled little rich kid who started life on third base who’s goal is to keep normal people from getting to first base.  If he gets to the court, you can kiss the principles of fair play, equality, privacy, and voting rights goodbye.

So, here’s this one.

If Trump has 19 sexual assault allegations and is traveling south at 60 mph, and Kavanaugh has 3 sexual assault allegations and is traveling west at 35 mph, how many more allegations do they need before people start believing women?

Keeping in mind that both men have the white of way.

Thanks to a friend.

Anyone paying attention knows that SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh is a radical partisan activist who’s main job has been installing radical partisans in judicial positions throughout the federal court system.  We also know the he lives on the teetering far right edge of judicial thought, supporting a totalitarian executive branch (only if a Republican is running that branch).  The character trait that is emerging, though, is one that many male politicians own, and that is obsession with sex.  His radical obsession with controlling women’s healthcare decisions to keeping them subjugated to unfair employment and pay practices, his singular focus on dominating the female members of our society is clear.  But apparently it’s worse than that.  Not only is he all of the above, apparently he’s a real shitbag.  Dr. Blasey Ford’s charges of attempted rape are credible (especially since Kavanaugh’s male friends have sudden cases of amnesia), but now the pattern of his misogyny is becoming more clear.

But before we talk about new revelations about Kavanaugh, let’s talk about his spokesman who has been carefully crafting the messaging about his image to the press.  Said spokesman’s name is Garrett Ventry, who is (was) a communications aide to the Senate Judiciary Committee and chair, Chuck Grassley.  Well, Garrett was shown the door yesterday after NBC News started asking questions about allegations about…wait for it…sexual harassment made by female staff when he worked for the North Carolina House Majority leader at the North Carolina General Assembly.  Not only were there allegations against him about sexual harassment, he also apparently “embellished” his resume.  He was canned from that job.  Nice.

Anyhoo, back to Kavanaugh.  Late this week, stories started emerging about how Kavanaugh insists that his female clerks “look like models” and now the Dean of Yale Law has called allegations about a faculty member grooming female candidates’ appearance for clerkships in Kavanaugh’s office “…of enormous concern to me and to the School.”

GOP Senators have leapt to Kavanaugh’s defense, saying that if he really was a sexual predator that the pattern of behavior would have followed him throughout his career.  Apparently, it has.

Boy, Republicans sure can pick ’em.

Things just get curiouser and curiouser…It turns out that retiring judge Anthony Kennedy is a lot closer to Trump than anyone really knew.  Justin Kennedy, Judge Kennedy’s son, led Deutschebank’s real estate division that loaned Trump $1 billion when no other bank would.  Because of that relationship, Trump and the father have apparently been VERY friendly, even exchanging pleasantries about his son at the State of the Union address this year.

So, a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE who has a close relationship with the President of the United States has been ruling in favor of that president in very controversial rulings, and may have even stepped down at this time to allow Trump to replace him before the mid-term elections threaten the control by the Republicans.

There is a place for anger, and THIS is it.

Anthony Kennedy, the mostly right wing leaning swing vote on SCOTUS announced this morning that he’s retiring.  Trump has already announced that he’s going to nominate a judge candidate from his list of white radical anarchists.  I’m SURE that Mitch McConnell is going to jump in, invoke the “Biden Rule”, and hold up hearings for a new nominee until after the mid-term elections, right?  I mean, since he did the same thing to Obama’s nominee for over a year, right?  After all, Joe Biden suggested that in 1992 for those mid-terms, even though no one was nominated and no candidates were considered…

I mean, after all, McConnell’s going to be consistent, right?  Right?

There is a place for anger, and THIS is it.