Friday is normally a news dump day. People don’t talk about these stories on the weekend. So, they have to wait until Monday and by the time Monday arrives, most people are talking about the stories that took place over the weekend. Why talk about anything when we can talk about Will Smith punching Chris Rock?

That was the Browns way of protecting Deshaun Watson. They will be doing that a lot over the next few years. We could start with the garden variety lying that happens at all of these. Deshaun said it was not about the money and that he didn’t know about the additional money until after he had picked the Browns. Sure. Then, he talked about how honest the Houston front office was and how both sides acknowledged they had different priorities and that they were going in different directions. Sure. If anyone was buying that they should have turned in their press badge right then and there.

Lying to the press core and to fan base is one thing. That’s par for the course. Lying to yourself is something else. As a school counselor, I know when someone is lying to themselves. I know when someone is in trouble in terms of their mental health. I can’t diagnose anyone. I couldn’t tell you if Deshaun has a sex addiction, if it is diagnosable, or if his behavior goes beyond that. After all, we don’t know all of the facts about his 22+ cases.

He was asked directly if he felt like he needed counseling. He declined. He said he doesn’t have a problem. He didn’t assault anyone, disrespect anyone, or demean anyone. This is all comforting until we realize two very important things. First, he had just finished lying about his contract and how it impacted his decision and the decision to leave Houston. Secondly, more than 22 women would not characterize his behavior the same way that he did.

On a personal and human level, this is really quite disturbing. When 22+ women accuse you of something it either means you did it and are in complete denial or all of them are making it up which means you were dumb enough to put yourself in a position to have 22+ women all tell the same lie and have it be believed.

Deshaun was asked why he had so many different massage therapists. He only talked about the fact that this was over a multi-year period. Great. That doesn’t answer the question. It defies logic. It isn’t so much that he needed that many massages. Being a professional athlete has to be tough. It is the fact that he went to that many different massage therapists and as far as we know, they were all women. What are the odds that this is a coincidence?

The fact that so many of those instances turned sexual is extremely worrisome. Obviously, it is a pattern with him. That pattern obviously will get him in trouble with the people he loves, but also puts him into positions like this. He sees no problem with it. The fact that he sees no problem with is the proof that he needs some help. Most of us are perceptive enough to see when people are lying to themselves.

So here is hoping Deshaun does get some help. Most of us are adult enough to realize that people have many sides to them. We are adult enough to realize that people have different hobbies, appetites, and habits which may or may not be deemed healthy by the majority. The line between deviant, liable, and criminal behavior is not necessarily visible to the naked eye. Even though he is gone, here is hoping he gets some help.

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.