Mueller Wants To Testify In Private? A Non-Starter - We Need Men (Patriots), Not Mice

The hyper- cerebral, reserved Bob Mueller of today was a courageous FBI head who didn't dodge public hearings in the past.

"I think Robert Mueller is a little bit too concerned that his work could be interpreted politically.  You cannot take quite so much of the politics out of politics. ..While I certainly understand the idea that when you get put in front of a camera - given congress the way that it is - a lot of people are going to be grandstanding to create that one viral moment. 

Nevertheless the idea you don't do it because it could be politicized to the American people, I mean you're working for the American people.  So that doesn't quite add up to me".  Ezra Klein last night on 'Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell'

The news that broke last night on MSNBC (out of the mouth of Jerrold Nadler), that Robert Mueller has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in private - but not in public -  left many Dems deflated as it would.   The Mueller news broke mere hours after we earlier learned that Trump has given William Barr unprecedented authority to access select information (e.g. on FBI secret warrants etc.) to declassify.   That gives Barr the total power to control the narrative on the origins of the Russia investigation and the gist of the Mueller report itself. Even more worrying, that this fecal administration - full of obsequious sycophants-  now intends to use the 1917 Espionage Act against Assange as a means to attack and subvert the press and 1st amendment. In the words of Rachel Maddow last night:

"The Justice Department today just put every journalistic institution in this country on Julian Assange's side of the ledger, which I know is unimaginable. But that is because the Trump government is now trying to assert this brand new right to criminally prosecute people for publishing secret stuff. But newspapers, magazine and investigative journalists and all sorts of different entities publish secret stuff all the time. That is the bread and butter of what we do.... This is now a novel, legal effort to punch a huge hole in the first amendment, by labeling it spying, labeling it criminal espionage to publish secret stuff."

Anyone with half a brain should clearly be able to see we are in the midst of a 4-alarm constitutional fire that elicits the question of which patriot or patriots will step forth to put it out. The relentless stonewalling by Trump and his minions of the congress' oversight duty, by blocking all subpoenas, have brought us here. But also Barr himself twisting the significance and findings of Mueller's report two months ago.   

All of which begs the question of whether the guy who spent two years investigating the Trump criminal enterprise (with over 38 indictments) is a man - by that I mean a true patriot in these most parlous times   - or a veritable mouse?  This must be asked because all of Mueller's reservations about not wishing to be a political spectacle aside, his country desperately needs his testicular fortitude right now. Given how many subpoenas have been blown off, Trump aides denied appearing for House hearings,  this is Mueller's time to come forward. This is his time and opportunity to speak to Americans with cameras rolling, like John Dean did 45 years ago. 

The narrative that Mueller is a quiet man of rectitude who opts not to be in the spotlight in the midst of a "political circus" (which we know House GOOPs would create), was also shattered last night.  This was compliments of former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld (on MSNBCs 'Last  Word').  As Weld pointedly noted:

"I suspect he wants to avoid a circus. But he's testified many times before in high pressure situations with a lot of members from both parties from time to time being angry at the performance of the FBI. And he always stood there and took it. And he can do that again, believe me, he's a tough guy. I've worked shoulder to shoulder with him and he can more than hold his own."

Terrific that Mueller is - or was - a "tough guy"  and "could hold his own" in open hearings, but we need him to do that now in defense of the country, not just the FBI. As former Senator and Watergate prosecutor Elizabeth Holtzman has observed, Americans need to be educated about what's in the report, in open televised hearings such as with Watergate, not just be forced to read about it in an abstract format.  We, the American people, therefore need to see Mueller and hear his voice, not just read his answers on  transcripts! (Besides, as Marshall McLuhan once emphasized, "the medium is the message."  In this case, print simply doesn't carry the same punch as the voice, motions-emotions embodied in television.)


Barr has already made a mockery of Mueller's report, and his failure to render definitive judgments, leaving that to congress. But congress itself has now been hamstrung  in its investigatory oversight role by unilateral and pervasive stonewalling by Trump  - making the Constitution's separation of powers moribund, defeated and now almost irrelevant.

  We indeed are at a precipice where this Republic could find itself soon in a fascist maelstrom, as Trump and his cabal try to ramp up a pseudo investigation of the FBI ("investigate the investigators").  Oh, and use Julian Assange as a vehicle to attack press freedom, via the 1917 Espionage Act.  This move, especially if successful in getting Assange's extradition, would undermine first amendment protections for all citizens.  But especially those in the news media (e.g. NY Times) or those who circulate news ("divulging secrets") second hand that the Trump cabal doesn't want citizens to see - including bloggers like me.

Barely three weeks ago, NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd best summed up the predicament and Mueller's reticence to come to the aid of his country:

"The transformation of William Barr from respected establishment lawyer to evil genius outplaying and undermining his old friend Robert Mueller is a Grand Guignol spectacle.

At many of the most consequential moments in American history, I have watched officials bend over backward to be equitable, only to end up faltering and doing enormous damage to the Republic.

It is possible to be “fair” in a way that is not at all fair.

It’s simply bad judgment, ceding the ground to malevolent actors who use any means to achieve their ends, including flattening and sliming the proponents of “fairness.”

Ms. Dowd at the time was referencing Mueller's overwhelming reluctance to render definitive positions on Trump in his report. Indeed one NY Book Review take on it was that Mueller sought to be scrupulously  "fair".  Well, he was indeed that, to the point of folly and enabling the bad guys to get away with their evil deeds - and now put the good guys in their sights.

The same dynamic is at work  with this desire to do private testimony but with a slight variation: Mueller doesn't want the bright lights and cameras on him (like James Comey faced in 2017, courageously I might add) because it might have "political" fallout and repercussions. Hence, Mueller only wants to be questioned behind closed doors and what he says there released later in transcripts.  But this is the weasel's way out, because Mueller has to know Americans don't have the time or patience to read testimony in transcripts.  Hence, they need to see it live,  televised in real time on TV, for the impact to sink in - precisely Elizabeth Holtzman's point, as well as many other former Watergate staffers, i.e. Jill Wine-Banks.

As a case in point, though I took the time and trouble of excerpting Don McGahn's key testimony to Mueller's investigators - extracted verbatim from the full Mueller report- only 17 have read that Wednesday post up to now.   Not a very auspicious sign, though true, ten times more may read a Mueller transcript. 

This is why we need to hear and see Mueller in full disclosure mode, nothing held back, to do what John Dean did for the nation 45 years ago in his three days of Watergate hearings. We need that patriot to come forward, not the more recent "mouse" iteration who prefers to hide in the shadows - his words emitted second hand in filters. 

This is given how each hearings setback, each subpoena ignored,  is another win for Trump which he will use to beat our Republic into his own fascist autocracy.  The time is critical, and Mueller's testimony in the open now could pave the way for an impeachment inquiry  in the next few weeks

 More to the point, I suspect the Mueller who once had the courage to testify in public hearings - as told by Bill Weld - has since become  a victim of his  own self-perceived rectitude. Perhaps since being named special prosecutor, who knows?   This has engendered  his compulsive 'need' to err on the side of caution:  bending over too far backwards so as not to appear unfair. In the case of his own report, faced with the OLC  trope that "no president can be indicted" -  and Trump's refusal to show up to answer questions in person. Thus he reasoned he had no choice other than to punt. (Though Weld suggests that Barr threatened to kill any indictments if Mueller delivered them.)  Despite all that, as the now nearly 1000 plus former prosecutors attest - his report was an indictment in all but name.   Read it and you will agree as well!  Ah, but yeah, it's too much to read at 448 pages, and hell even a 22 page excerpt is too much to read when there's Fortnite to play and a holiday to enjoy.

The FBI Mueller of recent history, it is true, would face the cameras and speak truth to power -  ally and foe alike. The new "special prosecutor"  Mueller is averse to public testimony because: 1) He doesn't want too many millions of Americans directly seeing and hearing what he said or concluded - because of the political heat he might take, and 2) he doesn't want to lock horns with his old pal and original "mentor" Barr.  But look, that cow escaped after the barn door was left ajar - not long after Barr issued his spurious summary of Mueller's report - when Mueller left that 'door' open to mischief.  I'd also affirm the politics escaped back then too, lest we forget.  

Not too happy about Barr's disingenuous presentation, Mueller wrote in the wake of its release: "There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel to assure public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."

The letter in its totality,  according to The Washington Post, was described as laying out Mueller's concerns "in stark terms that shocked Justice Department officials".

So hey, the cat is already out of the bag that Mueller may not be a big fan of Barr's any more. It's long past time then to ditch the bromance and bring on the Brigadung, to use the Bajan parlance.    As Bill Weld put it last night, "believe me, he's a tough guy. I've worked shoulder to shoulder with him and he can more than hold his own."

Well, we will see, indeed whether he has the gumption to go live and in person like James Comey did.  With all the GOP-Trump stonewalling on legislative oversight, spitting on the Constitution in one former Watergate prosecutor's words, we need a patriot and hero to come forth. Someone with the moxie to unflinchingly face those cameras, like Dr. Christine Blasey Ford did back in October. Someone (we hope) who possesses the moral compass and cojones to speak truth no matter the lights, Reepo (or Trump) blowback,  and chaos that might ensue.

Bob Mueller, your country is calling you now! Are you up to it ?  Or will you opt to hide behind closed doors and deliver your testimony via a "transcript" that virtually no one will read?  A move that will only empower Trump further and allow Barr to distort your report even more - as he turns investigators on the investigators. It is time for good (and courageous!)men to come to the aid of their country, as my revolutionary war ancestor Conrad Brumbaugh did over 245 years ago.

If Mueller isn't courageous enough to don the patriot mantle, and disdains descending into the fray, then Jerrold Nadler has no choice but to issue a subpoena for him to testify publicly. No more "Mr. Nice Guy"!

See also:

Cody Fenwick

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Robert Mueller

Robert Mueller Is Acting like a Precious Flower. It’s a Huge Mistake.

Excerpt:

"Mueller doesn’t get to be the ultimate arbiter of what is and isn’t political. And he’s not a flower that will wilt with too much exposure."

And:

Impeachment

Is Impeachment Really Optional? Sometimes a Strong Offense Is the Only Defense

nts (0)

And:

Donald Trump

Trump Is a Would-be Tyrant Surrounded by Henchmen. There’s Only One Solution.

Gaslight King Trump Drives Unhinged "Mob is coming for ya" Rhetoric Out of Utter Desperation

One of the king of gaslights' recent comments to a MAGA mob went;

"You don't give matches to an arsonist and you don't give power to an angry left wing mob."

Which, seriously, is the sort of linguistic lickspittle only a certified moron  or Reeptard would swallow, but from the looks of things our nation harbors millions of them.  In any case, as yesterday's Denver Post editorial pointed out, such rhetoric and demagoguery is downright dangerous as it attempts to paint the political opposition as sinister and violent enemies which  - according to the same Post editorial - "is rich when you consider all the Tea Party members who brought loaded rifles to ACA rallies"  i.e. some 7-8 years ago.

But hey, in the demented Dotard era of inverse reality where lies become truths, and truths lies, that's about how it rolls....downward.  And the only way to put this nation back on a course of sanity will be for millions to vote to ensure at least one house of congress is D-controlled, to put a check on Dotard's most dangerous impulses.

As the Post editorial also notes, it's no secret why Trump and the GOP are resorting to this political gas lighting maneuver. Basically, they "are getting no traction"  either out of their tax cuts or the Kavanaugh  fiasco.  In each case, the  polls show a clear majority of Americans - not the Trumpites, obviously- object to the tax cuts as well as Kavanaugh's confirmation.

But that hasn't stopped a blitz of propaganda to try to get Americans to believe that instead, it is the left and Dems out to destroy the country.  If  you truly believe that horse manure ask yourself why Trump was in Montana at a rally whipping up a crowd of his "ghoulish followers"  (in the words of WaPo columnist Jennifer Rubin) applauding Repuke slimeball Greg Gianforte who body slammed a Guardian reporter 5 months ago, e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2017/05/gop-gangster-bum-greg-gianforte-body.html

If you're convinced that applauding body slamming of a reporter who merely asked a Reep congressional candidate a health question is about democracy - and the real thugs are on the left - there's not much I can do or write to change your mind. How to say it? You've imbibed the Dotard -GOP  kool aid.

As a further clear example of inversion, it takes some colossal chutzpah to write, as WSJ hack Dan Henninger did last week ('You Cannot Be Civil') that Hillary  "has aligned herself with Trump's view of the Democratic party". Say what?   Henninger clarifies:

"Mr Trump has been using his rallies to denounce the 'radical Democrats' as an angry mob and on Tuesday Mrs. Clinton told CNN 'You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about."

Which is perfectly rational and true.  I mean, why make nicey with guttersnipes and knavish knuckledraggers whose only accomplishment has been to insert a bestial, shit -eating mutt into the White House?   A demented degenerate who insults women on his Twitter account like he lies with impunity to his masses of deplorables at his insane brown shirt rallies.

That Trump is no icon of civility ought to be obvious. The swine-in-chief has repeatedly accused women of having “fat, ugly” faces and of repelling voters because of their looks. He called one woman a “crazed, crying lowlife” and said another was a “dog” who had the “face of a pig.” He said Hillary Clinton’s bathroom break during a 2015 presidential debate was “too disgusting” to talk about. He has repeatedly mocked women for being overweight.

Omarosa Manigault Newman was described by Trump as "that dog" and a "crazed, crying lowlife".

Trump  described Stephanie Clifford as “Horseface” in a tweet last Tuesday, adding her to a long list of women he has attacked by demeaning their looks, mocking their bodily functions or comparing them to animals.  Trump’s verbal assault came as he gloated about a federal judge’s decision to dismiss a defamation suit filed by Ms. Clifford, who is known professionally as Stormy Daniels. Ms. Clifford’s lawyer responded by calling the president “a disgusting misogynist.” 

Needless to say the swine's antics and infantile rhetoric disgraces and defiles the office of the presidency - which may now take a generation to clean up. Even Republicans are getting fed up, as the midterms loom.  “To say this is unbecoming of any man, let alone the POTUS, is a vast understatement,” tweeted Representative Ryan A. Costello, a Pennsylvania Republican.

When Trump attacks women, as he did with Ms. Clifford in his tweet last Tuesday, he often goes after their faces. As he battled his rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination,  Trump made fun of Carly Fiorina’s face on television, saying that people wouldn’t vote for the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard because of her looks.

“Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?” 

Well, it beats the brat face of a  died blonde, mop topped,  orange Orangutan!

Trump, for his part, has continued to make crude comments about women’s bodies since taking office, repeatedly testing the limits of the public’s acceptance of a president’s locker-room vocabulary.  Incredibly, the WSJ's Henninger actually believes Dotard's incivility to women, his total depraved nastiness and misogyny,  is somehow on a par with the women who "shrieked" during Kavanaugh's confirmation. He is totally deluded and we can aver this is false equivalence on steroids.

Deluded hack that he is, Henninger also ruminated on "exactly when the Democrats shifted the national focus from Trump and onto their own behavior."

"Their own behavior"?  As if on any remote par with Trump's and the GOP's?   You need  a better class of anti-hallucinatory med, chief!

Henninger, like a dog worrying a used up bone,  asserts this occurred with the Kavanaugh confirmation farce, failing to appreciate that the "shrieking from the gallery" he associates with incivility and the "mob" was actually the anguished collective cry of women (many assault victims themselves) scorned by the assembled GOP, Judiciary Committee  Senators. I refer here to the likes of Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch and others.  They insulted not only Christine Blasey Ford but all female victims of sexual assault, diminishing their experiences and attacking them as victims for coming forward.

 It was clear Christine Ford didn't trust the bullies and buffoons of the Senate GOP to do any proper investigation, and by the end of the two months that was obvious. Hell, the pair of  elderly GOP Senate Judiciary Bozos  - Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch- didn't even pick up on Kavanaugh's assorted lies.  (I suspect they willfully ignored them.)  Hatch himself had the noxious gall to claim Dr. Ford was "mixed up".

What Henninger attributes to incivility then, was actually a fervent cry for justice in the face of a confirmation farce perpetrated by a clique of entitled white male assholes.    That Henninger doesn't recognize this indicates he is one himself, and has a vested interest in abetting this narrative.  Well, hell, of course they all do, given they've gotten no traction on their illustrious tax cuts - which now 61 percent recognize as no good for the country.  As one retired AF vet wrote in a recent letter to the CS Indy:

"Corporations and their wealthy CEOs have been rewarded with these tax breaks while we work paycheck to paycheck, our health care gets gutted, our retirements are threatened, and our workplaces made less safe."

That is a citizen who has his head screwed on straight.

Henninger also fumbles badly insisting the rage shown wasn't real but "mostly a practiced act".    He also conspiratorially ties it to the "San Francisco Democrats which stand for the party of the unelectable Left".  Well, he will see just how "unelectable" the Dems are next month, namely on November 6th - when all the women insulted by the Repukes' brash behavior cast their ballots.

  Be civil?  This is laughable for anyone - especially an unapologetic PR scribe like Henninger -   to demand of the  left or Dems when the latter are the sole bulwark against Trumpism and chaos - undermining and defiling all democratic norms.  Even worse, normalizing this degenerate behavior at the expense of an outrage-benumbed populace which finds it ever more difficult to keep up even with daily news, far less Trump's litany of transgressions.

And yet to read Lance Morrow's WSJ claptrap ('We've Grown Accustomed To Trump', p. A19, today) is to wring one's hands in despair that we've already crossed that Rubicon.  He claims for example:

"Trump's peculiarities don't seem unusual when compared with the extreme bizarreness, not to mention pathology, on the Left".

Adding, as if in mindless afterthought:

"People can get used to the strangest things, once the novelty has passed."

Seriously, you brainless nincompoop?  So an unhinged, rabid mutt that cages infants, praises thugs who body slam reporters, and adulates a retrograde,  Mideast oil kingdom that chops up journalists is not unusual and vermin to be ostracized.? Merely something "one can get used to once the novelty has passed".  Heaven, or whatever influence out there, help us if that is now to be accepted. We're already nine tenths down the same rabbit hole (actually a contracted mind virus)  that mutated the Weimar Republic into the Nazi  Reich.

But Morrow wasn't finished, leaving the most off -the -wall remarks until near the end, even invoking the Stockholm syndrome, in which kidnap victims begin to cooperate and even admire their captors.  He writes:

"Familiarity and the passage of time may breed a certain kind of acquiescence, even grudging acceptance.  We see a touch of the Stockholm syndrome.

My guess is that the variations on Stockholm syndrome will play a role in the minds of independent voters in the 2018 midterms, producing a slightly friendlier inclination toward Mr. Trump and anyway, toward Republicans."

In other words, this hack is predicting an entire swath of voters - by virtue of exposure and "familiarity" to Dotard's excesses -  will  "acquiesce"  and mutate into a form of kidnapped victims. In such a condition, like compliant captives, they will be more inclined to vote Trump and the GOP.  If this is indeed the case, and I hope to hell independents have more self awareness and intelligence than that, we are truly in "duck's guts" - to use the Bajan phrase.

But it's clear to me that Morrow, who I once admired when he wrote sensibly for TIME, has now devolved into a whore for the WSJ-FOX News axis.  Evident by his shameless peddling this "Left is pathological" bunkum, as well as a Stockholm syndrome kind of submission to an insane, autocratic dingbat.  Further, his judgment can no longer be trusted if he - like Henninger- resorts to such egregious (and outrageous) false equivalence, and acceptance of the gross, deranged and disreputable.

The masterful trick attempted by Morrow as well as Henninger and their pals at FOX News -  and Dotard himself -  has been to portray themselves  as the aggrieved little victims when their obnoxious side of enabling thugs controls congress, the presidency and now the highest court.  Worse, with each passing day, as the Post editorial described, they are wreaking untold havoc on the nation's democratic norms. Thereby the danger is increasing that as time goes on this despicable behavior will become  as accepted as whipped cream on strawberry shortcake.

 At the same time those who seek to express their views are derided as "the mob" and anarchists, or "radicals, when the  protesters  of Kavanaugh were merely exercising their free speech rights. But see, this is the nature of authoritarian and fascist rule: it criminalizes and marginalizes all speech and behavior intended as  rigorous criticism of the reigning cabal or autocrats. Ask the Philippines' Duterte or Turkey's Erdogan, or even better the Saudi Prince Trump loves so much - who had WaPo journalist Jamal Khashoggi chopped up into tiny pieces and then bagged at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. What was Khashoggi's "crime"?  Criticizing the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his anti-democratic moves, including house arrest of members of the same Saudi family! See e.g.  Mr. Khashoggi's final column.

That incident alone - as well as Trump's self admitted fondness for tyrants -   ought to convince you his lot are not on the side of democracy. Oh no.  And no, it is emphatically not a case of  "Americans not processing Trump correctly" - as WSJ idiot Holman Jenkins Jr. claimed in his eponymous op-ed today.

To say the coming election is epochal and historic is to put it mildly.  If, in fact, the lawless, Reep party maintains its control of all branches of government we will have entered a parlous, perilous period indeed. Perhaps the most perilous in the nation's history.  This is given that in such a case the protection of traitor Trump will be doubled down on even as the GOOps are emboldened to enact even more vile policies, including extending their budget busting tax cuts to impoverish the next generation and cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

In addition, such a ghastly scenario would mean, in the words of David  Leonhardt's NY Times piece:

"Total victory for the G.O.P. would mean Trump unleashed."

In Leonhardt's own words:

"It would be validation for Trump, who could then brag that he had defied the experts once again. It would mean he had outperformed Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman, all of whom suffered drubbings in the first midterm election of their presidency. It would embolden Trump to push even harder toward the America he wants — where corporate oversight is scant, climate change is ignored, voting rights are abridged, health care is a privilege, judicial independence is a fiction and the truth is whatever he says it is."

So multiply all the craziness, all the chaos and vileness,  by about one hundred, and you'd get some idea what we'd be in for.

Flat bottom line?  There will have to be a blue wave large enough to at least flip the House to the Dems, or we are all in deep trouble.  If you think the past two years was a nightmare, imagine a nightmare on hallucinogenic steroids!

Update:  Oct. 22 -  As if Dotard's "crazy Dem mobs" wasn't enough, the deranged fucker is now trying to harness the Honduras-originating caravan through Mexico - headed toward the U.S. - into the mix, scribbling on his Twitter:

"The Caravans are a disgrace to the Democrat Party. Change the immigration laws NOW!

1:14 PM - Oct 21, 2018

Again, this misfit maggot creates hysteria out of strawmen for his fool base, given the Dems have nothing to do with the caravan.  It is composed of thousands seeking only to escape the relentless gang violence in their homeland.  But having exhausted issues to rev up his cult of toadies and morons, this is all he is left with - incendiary rhetoric along the lines of "this mob of foreigners is coming for ya and the Dems are behind it."  Even more reason, as if we needed any more, to be sure to put a check on this asshole via a D-congress.  . 

See also:

Trump Openly Celebrates the Assault of a Journalist While Campaigning in Montana

Excerpt:

On Thursday, Trump made it clear he's not ashamed of Gianforte's actions — he's proud of them.
"By the way, never wrestle him," Trump said of Gianforte at the campaign rally. "You understand that? Never. Any guy that can do a bodyslam, he's my kind of ... he's my guy. I shouldn't say this. But there's nothing to be embarrassed about!"


And:

P.M. Carpenter

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The Trump Administration

Imagining Trump On An Even Worse Day

The Kavanaugh Circus Will Anger Reeptards & Generate A "Red Wave" Next Month? Poppycock and Twaddle!

The corporate media now appears to be chocked full of entries claiming - in the wake of Kavanaugh's questioning by Senate Dems -  that there is a "surge in GOP enthusiasm that could recalibrate the political landscape to the Democrats' disfavor".  Do not believe this malarkey for one solitary second.  There is nothing, NADA, that is going to stop or diminish the Blue tidal wave now building to epic proportions   especially as educated and sensible women across the land have seen and heard how one of their own (Christine Blasey Ford) was so contemptuously treated by the Reptiles.

But it seems all the weenies and milk toast, entitled white males have crawled out from their parents' basements to start whining and crying about how the women are grinding their miserable butts under their high heels. Well, in a way this is true - but more arising from male failures -  including at the college level where females are not only demonstrating significantly greater attendance but graduating with better degrees and at higher rates.  See e.g.

At Colleges, Women Are Leaving Men in the Dust - The New York Times

And:

Search Results

Web results

Why Men Are the New Minority in College - The Atlantic

Of course, the whiners and bloviators in the media - like Sean Hannity and Lush Limburger - want you to believe all these poor guys are the victims of an academic structure and system that ensures female success but obliterates it for males.  Well, cry me a river and please pass the world's smallest violin and I can play a little dirge.  The real problem, of course, is not any male victimization by the women - but rather the women righteously working their butts off to get ahead while the guys head for the keggers at frat parties.

But it's petulant male grievances of this type that we are supposed to believe were hatched amidst the animus of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing.  Also, that the recent Kavanaugh circus (crafted by the Reepturds, mind you)  is causing all the entitled little males to get their dander up enough to outvote  the millions of raging women next month.  Don't believe it! These guys will still be playing Grand Theft Auto in their moms' basements while they also pout and cry on some dreggy Reddit forum - maybe dedicated to the incels.

What is undeniable is that millions of young, college educated women - mainly in suburbs, but also beyond them - are furious at the patriarchy on display last Friday in ramming through Kavanaugh  - which commentator John Oliver described as "A 'fuck you!' to all women watching".  Especially those women who've been marked as survivors of sexual assault by some over eager young ape with loose paws. Those women - an estimated 25- 30 million-   are now holding their fire but ready to unleash it at the polls.  They won't hold back.

The display by the Reeptard Right was beyond the pale in painting themselves as the aggrieved victims despite controlling both houses of congress, the presidency and now the Supreme Court.  Especially enraging was Dotard claiming the whole thing with Dr. Ford was a "democratic hoax" when the only hoax is the criminal one this Russian stooge traitor tool - who ought to be hung by the neck,
 
is perpetrating on all of us - while having the audacity to appoint the Reptilian turd Brett Kavanaugh to the highest court.  We also know Dotard coached him to be a "whiny little bitch" in the words of Bill Maher (Friday night, on Real Time)  to get through.   As for the bitch fest claim (e.g. by Republican strategist Alice Stewart) that "Democrats were willing to use Dr. Ford's testimony to launch character assassinations on Judge Kavanaugh" - that's total horse pockey.  Indeed, as journalist Rebecca Traister explained last night on 'All In', the Repukes brought the whole acrimonious process on themselves (in 'he said, she said' format) by not interrogating all parties, and especially only offering up a sham FBI investigation.

Look, in the words of former Senate Judiciary staffer Lisa Graves (last night) everyone in the country who isn't a partisan knows the GOP Senators who rammed Kavanaugh's confirmation through  "participated in one of the biggest whitewashes in American history"  Hell, I'd say at least on a par with the bogus Warren Commission which used the lone nut rubbish to whitewash the JFK assassination.

When protesters then erupted, as they had every right to - the people sensing a railroad job - the high and mighty white Reepo patriarchs proclaimed they were the last bastions of "law and order" standing in the way of anarchy! Bull fucking shit! THEY were the ones using lawless minority rule to divide the country in ways not seen since the Civil War.

Even more egregious and outrageous was the Traitor -in-chief yesterday, spouting the following unadulterated bullshit in the packed East Room of the White House:

"On behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. Those who step forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception.”

Adding,  like the insufferable maggot he is:

"What happened to the Kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency, and due process. Our country, a man or woman must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty."

And then capping it with another lie:

“And with that, I must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent."

Except it wasn't a trial, you fuckfaced orange baboon, so he can't be 'proven' innocent! It was basically a JOB interview (as journalist Soledad O'Brien explained on Real Time) for one of the most important jobs in the land!  So the miserable, swine ratfucker thereby rubbed more salt in open national wounds instead of healing them. But what do you expect from a traitor who ought to have been swinging from a tree by now as opposed to inserting a guy into the highest court  with the potential to give him a 'get out of jail free' card in the Mueller probe?

All this followed the growing media narrative (e.g.. as expressed in an AP release in The Denver Post Monday) that  "internal polling - by GOP operatives-  has shown that Kavanaugh's acrimonious confirmation has given the party a much needed boost, with GOP voters viewing Democrats as overzealous partisans".

The implication by these operatives being that the Dem takeover of the House is now at risk given the Red "tide"   (like the toxic one now killing sea life in FLA) will wash in and overcome the blue wave. Horse manure!  Then, according to another AP report, a poll late Monday "suggested independents view the Democrats' response to Kavanaugh even more dimly than Republicans."  Well, if such a poll exists it's either statistically skewed - or- the claimed "independents" are really morons or Reepos in disguise. I just don't buy it.

All the most reliable polling now shows the Dems with a huge gender gap advantage - female voters up to 30 points for Dem candidates - with white (mainly non-college educated)  males tilting 9 points toward their favorite Reeptards.   This spells disaster for the GOP in a month and they KNOW it! That is why they are spinning this yarn about a "recalibrated political landscape" that even has Nate Silver biting. (Silver now gives the Dems only a 50-50 chance of retaking the House).

It is clear to this observer that all this huff and puff by the assorted Republican operatives is merely meant to try to pump up the GOP's forlorn loser base, while also attempting to depress Democratic energy and turnout. (Especially as so many in the media, even MSNBC's Steve Kornacki, repeat some form of this hog swill.)

But I take the position that the farce we witnessed this past weekend will only amplify the Democratic Party's pull with female voters, including independents and moderates who may have previously voted Republican.  As pollster Geoff Carlin put it (ibid.):

"Kavanaugh's confirmation will leave a lot of outraged and energized women in its wake"

And those millions of  outraged, energized women are just itching to make their displeasure known at the ballot box next month!

Above all what the whole Kavanaugh ordeal shows is that political party DOES matter! One party clearly is the one for reality and checks and balances - the other is indifferent to those, and intent on propping up a Russian tool.  It beggars the imagination to think any citizen - especially a young,  would- be voter - could argue that "parties don't matter".  The Kavanaugh atrocity perpetrated by the Reepturds proves that they do

See also:

From Kavanaugh to November

And: :

Kavanaugh Is Confirmed. Only Mass Organizing Will Save Us Now.

And:

For Trump supporters,'the cruelty is the point': Adam Serwer for The Atlantic 

Kavanaugh Has As Much Chance Now Being Confirmed As I Have Being Pope

The would be rapist Brett Kavanaugh - would definitely be found to be that - if the FBI were allowed to expand its background check on him in that area now.

Back in my July 10 post, I wrote that Trump the "pussy grabber's' pick for the Supreme Court (Brett Kavanaugh)  "is not the worst pick but he still merits scrutiny."   This was also, to be sure, after breathing a sigh of relief that Amy Coney Barrett was not chosen, see e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2018/07/amy-cloney-barrett-nightmare-sc-pick.html

Now, in the intervening two months we've learned much more about Kavanaugh including maybe why the nation's pussy grabber-in- chief would pick him. That is, not only to protect him in case of a potential Mueller indictment or even subpoena, but well, because maybe it takes a pussy grabber to recognize a fellow would-be species member.

For me, Kavanaugh's chances as a confirmed SC nominee crashed when Christine Blasey Ford stepped forward to make her serious allegations about Kavanaugh's attempted rape some 36 years ago.  This  concerning the same guy who was part of Ken Starr's infamous team and even questioned Clinton on how much ejaculate he produced in his liaisons with Monica Lewinsky.  

Now Prof. Ford says she is willing to testify about her experience, and this will happen on Monday as the eyes of the nation watch.  I am convinced, even before that drama unfolds, she will be found to  be the one with greater credibility- and at least two R-Senators' votes will be peeled off - sending Kavanaugh down to defeat. Hence, his nomination is toast, see e.g.

Supreme Court

Kavanaugh Is Toast

 Premature? I don't believe so. As Sen. Kamala Harris put it on CBS Early Show this morning, she has absolutely nothing to gain, nada, other than severe excoriation and ridicule as the Reepo dominated Senate Judiciary Committee goes after her like rabid rats  - trying to portray her as a kook or liar - like they did with Anita Hill some 27 years ago.   The difference here is that Prof. Ford needs a lot fewer Reepo Senators on her side, believing her account, than Prof. Hill needed way back when. (And let's recall that the Dems weren't much use back then either!)

Again, let's get it clear in our heads this isn't about finding Kavanaugh guilty of a criminal act given the statute of limitations has long since passed. This is about allowing a less than sterling moral character to have influence on the nation's highest court.  As blogger P.M. Carpenter put it, in the cited link above:

"Yes, he is going down, I'd wager, because Republican senators' "female constituents will not tolerate … rug-sweeping," as the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus put it. "Yes, it was high school," continued Marcus, "but if you do something bad enough in high school, it can lose you your seat on the Supreme Court."

Ford is being criticized for having a vague memory about the attempted rape incident. Yet her memory — and supporting notes from her therapist — are specific enough, concrete enough, indeed bad enough to be unforgivingly damning.."

So I agree. 

Of course, Kavanaugh has offered a full denial, saying: “I have never done anything like what the accuser describes – to her or to anyone.”  But what the hell would you expect him to say: "Yes, I admit doing that, when I was a brash, entitled young kid, but I was running on testosterone ya know? Please gimme a break now!" 

And to the point once more, I don't accept that on Monday Prof. Ford needs to provide absolute proof that Kavanaugh did what she alleges. All we need is to have enough credibility displayed that it is probable beyond a reasonable doubt he assaulted her, covering her mouth when she tried to scream and trying to remove her clothing.

Again, no one who has committed an act of violence against  a young woman  (even in high school) should be in a position to make future binding decisions about women’s lives – even if they were a reckless teenager when they did it.  Oh and even if they’re very sorry now and all of Kavanaugh's remaining record discloses he's a basically  decent guy  in other ways.

We accept that with age and maturity he availed himself of plausible rehabilitation - but still - that assault in his early years cannot be forgotten or  dismissed now. Not when so much is on the line, including the future of Roe v Wade.

True, testimony from both Ford and Kavanaugh on Monday  will not bring about perfect clarity.  It can't given that, as Sen. Harris said this morning, the FBI was not given the authority to do its background investigation on this event.  So as it stands there simply isn’t much in the way of evidence beyond Ford’s word. But I am predicting that word will be cogent and powerful when she delivers it.  And no, we already acknowledge whatever she says, Kavanaugh will not be led away in chains or handcuffs.

What’s at stake isn’t the deprivation of Kavanaugh’s life or liberty, but the privilege to hold one of the most important positions in the nation, for which good character and fair treatment of others is necessary.   We may be able to excuse the fact this guy was nominated by the nation's number one serial sexual assaulter, but we cannot have his confirmation if there's even a whiff of  extreme sexual impropriety, as there appears to be.

For all these reasons the WSJ editorial today (The '#MeToo' Ambush) is mere last minute desperation before the hangman's noose appears, as when it asks: "Why go to such lengths (i.e. taking a polygraph test) if Ms, Ford really wanted her name to stay a secret? Even this weekend she could have chosen to remain anonymous".

Yes, she could have. but she is also smart enough to  know if she did remain nameless her claims would never be taken seriously.  Nor would she have been granted a public forum to air them.  It is precisely because coming forward dramatically shows she's prepared to defend herself in an open hearing  (vs. Kavanaugh's denials) that the media's  paying any attention.   Hell, she's even prepared to face the Reepo rat brigade on Monday, despite the fact there is zero upside for her other than establishing her credibility as a victim of an attempted rape - even after 36 years. Many women in the #MeToo movement will also relate to her, of that you may be sure.

One more observation in passing: If by some fluke or perversion of process Kavanaugh does succeed in still getting confirmed look for an even larger groundswell of women adding to the blue wave tsunami coming in November.  "Bloodbath" in the words of one GOP strategist, yep and times ten.

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Update: It now appears Christine Blasey Ford  will no longer be appearing in any hearing on Monday. This follows her being terrorized by a gaggle of demented degenerates  -  Trumpies no doubt- who forced her and her family into hiding after sending her vile emails and death threats, as well as hacking her computer and impersonating her online.   I still stick with my prediction that Kavanaugh's confirmation will be sunk  - one way or another.  The proper action to have taken, if the Senate Judiciary Committee was serious at all, would have been to demand that Trump authorize an updated FBI background investigation of Kavanaugh. But, of course, that would have meant neutralizing the one guy who could set him free in a SC decision, say following a Mueller indictment or subpoena.

See also:

Republicans are fearful of a full airing of an attempted rape allegation