“He did”
Stephen Colbert: “Did Donald Trump just provide cover for a murderous autocrat? Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t.” And then, mouthing the words: “He did.”
“In any case”
Anyone who doubts that nationalism, so-called, is toxic to our moral values would do well to read the “Statement from President Donald J. Trump on Standing with Saudi Arabia.”
Two comments
Are we safer for language like “evil empire,” “axis of evil,” “little rocket man,” and so on, or not?
“Welcome to Congress”
A New Yorker cover by Barry Blitt.
Matt who?
Deny everything. I never even heard of him!
Signage in the dark
At our end of the block, we had signs made with bright reflective tubing (courtesy of the organizers) that read, à la Burma Shave, NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.
Mueller Protection Rapid Response
Protests today, in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere.
In local news
Election results, more and less local.
Old-timers
Carl Reiner and Roger Angell on the need to vote.
For Massachusetts voters only
My son Ben made a handy guide to voting rights in Massachusetts.
“Trump’s caravan hysteria”
Adam Serwer: “The apparent spark for the worst anti-Semitic massacre in American history was a racist hoax inflamed by a U.S. president seeking to help his party win a midterm election.”
“Sully” Sullenberger casts a vote
“For the first 85 percent of my adult life, I was a registered Republican. But I have always voted as an American. And this critical Election Day, I will do so by voting for leaders committed to rebuilding our common values and not pandering to our basest impulses.”
Help Wanted
Our country needs help. Vote.
A meeting of the minds
Another step toward what I call the reality-TV-ification of everything : today’s Donald Trump–Kanye West meeting. How glorious to have two proud non-readers of books in the Oval Office at the same time.
How to register to vote
The New York Times covers it, state by state.
What Susan Collins didn’t talk about
The White House’s limits on the FBI investigation, the many potential witnesses never interviewed (there’s no possibility of corroboration without a genuine investigation), Deborah Ramirez’s allegation (for which there are contemporaneous witnesses), Brett Kavanaugh’s defensiveness and evasiveness in responding to senators’ questions, his blatant dishonesty under oath, the many doubts about his ability to be an impartial and even-tempered justice.
Numbers
Four senators.
Throwing ice
Reading the New York Times story about Brett Kavanaugh’s behavior in 1985 in a New Haven bar, how I wish that my senator had asked Kavanaugh the question I suggested: “Have you ever assaulted anyone?” I don’t think there’s much question that throwing ice in someone’s face constitutes assault, however minor. A “No” would have been perjury, no?
“I got into Yale”
Joe Pinsker, on the “I got into Yale” defense: “It should go without saying, but there are all sorts of bad actors who have attended prestigious universities.”
Kavanaugh loses the Jesuits
“For the good of the country and the future credibility of the Supreme Court in a world that is finally learning to take reports of harassment, assault and abuse seriously, it is time to find a nominee whose confirmation will not repudiate that lesson”: the Jesuit magazine America has rescinded its endorsement of Brett Kavanaugh.
“Do you think that Brett Kavanaugh is telling the truth?”
Two survivors of sexual assault, Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila, confront Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ).
At the Department of Agriculture
From Michael Lewis’s The Fifth Risk: “Trump sent, among others, a long-haul truck driver, a telephone company clerk, a gas company meter reader, a country club cabana attendant, a Republican National Committee intern and the owner of a scented candle company. One of the CVs listed the new appointee’s only skill as ‘a pleasant demeanor.’”
July 1
A compelling analysis by Philip Bump The Washington Post: “Kavanaugh is pressed on the key July 1 entry in his calendar. But only to a point.” Why couldn’t a senator have put these pieces together?
Three points that should have been made
1. It’s not a victim’s responsibility to gather and present evidence of a crime. 2. Contra Brett Kavanaugh’s breezy claims about three witnesses refuting Christine Blasey Ford’s story: For one thing, they weren’t witnesses. 3. Contra Brett Kavanaugh’s breezy claims that these (non-) witnesses have refuted Christine Blasey Ford’s story: No. Not remembering ≠ refuting.
Too many beers
Kinda seems that Kavanaugh never quite left high school. Kinda seems that he’s an angry drunk, even when sober.
Wishful thinking
I wish that every member of the United States Senate understood civic duty — and courage — as well as Christine Blasey Ford does.
Close-reading Brett Kavanaugh
If Kavanaugh wants to claim (in a way that defies all plausibility) that the acts of which he’s accused were without sexual intent, the denial “I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone” becomes a crafty way to dodge the question of whether he did what he’s accused of doing.
Hahaha
“In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.” And nations, united, laughed.
Facades
Thinking about Brett Kavanaugh and the accusations against him makes me think of my encounters with two plagiarizing students. What can I say? My experiences as a teacher color everything I see.
As our president would write, WOW
From The New York Times: “The deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, suggested last year that he secretly record President Trump in the White House to expose the chaos consuming the administration, and he discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office for being unfit.”