And Kennedy decides to fuck us all

[liberty]

All I want in a supreme justice is a person that will read and interpreter the constitution as it was written based on the language at the time it was written. I don’t want a panel of kings to protest me but to protect my rights as prescribed in the Constitution so that I can protect myself. If they would do that it wouldn’t matter if it was a liberal or conservative sitting on the court.

The court has no right to change the constitution that is a power that only the people in their in states have.

[Lord Jim]

Murkowski at least is siding with Flake:

In a surprise turnaround, Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined Democrats in calling for a one-week delay in final voting on President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, to allow for an FBI probe into the sexual assault allegations against him.

“I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to but no more than one week,” Flake said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, after huddling with Democrats. Murkowski, who had previously called for an FBI probe, quickly joined him.

The concerns of the two key Republicans likely ends hopes by GOP leaders to confirm Kavanaugh by next week.

A preliminary vote by the full Senate was originally planned for Saturday, and Republicans were optimistic of Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) must now decide whether to hold the floor vote as planned. [And as I said earlier, he may decide the better political move is just to plow ahead and let the nomination fail...we should know soon....] Republicans cannot afford to lose more than one of their members, assuming all Democrats vote against Kavanaugh.

Asked about the delay, Trump said, “I’m going to let the Senate handle that. They’ll make their decisions. I’m sure it will all be very good.”

The president also praised both Kavanaugh and Ford. “I thought her testimony was very compelling, and she looks like a very fine woman,” Trump said. [Wow, they must have Trump heavily medicated...]

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-p ... story.html#

With Murkowski on board (Collins has yet to be heard from) The vote for Kavanaugh without an FBI investigation is down to 49, and it doesn't look like any help will be forthcoming from the Democratic side:

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is supporting Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) call for a delay in the full Senate vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to let the FBI perform an investigation on the sexual assault allegations against him.

“I applaud Senator Flake’s decision to rise above the partisan circus on display during this entire process,” Manchin said in a statement. “It is what is right and fair for Dr. Ford, Judge Kavanaugh, and the American people.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ ... vote-delay

CNN is reporting that there is a meeting going on in McConnell's office at this moment with Flake, Murkowski and others....

[Big RR]

Right now is the time for kavanaugh to withdraw "for the good of the country", even to say he welcomes an investigation (there won't be one), but the country deserves someone on the SC sooner rather than later. He can use the Nixon "goes against every fiber of my being" BS for face saving, and can just disappear into the background noise. I imagine he as to be weighing this right now, and he may have this "announcement" before McConnell has to do an about face.

I give it about a 50/50 chance he'll end this, especially with what Trump said about the testimony being compelling.

[liberty]

The evil liberal mother fucking fascist want control of court for so they can dominate the country. These sons of bitches have plans. When Al Sharpton call for white people to have no right of self-defense when attacked by a black person no liberal condemned him for it. They evidently approve of such an idea or some derivative there of; maybe it would apply to racist. Who would be a racist that would be whoever they say is a racist. We would be better off with the Russians.

[BoSoxGal]

I'd be very surprised if he does, although I would certainly credit him for doing so.

What we saw yesterday was an entitled, insufferable ego of enormous proportions who believes he deserves that seat and probably doesn't believe what he did in high school or college in terms of sexually assaulting girls and young women was even wrong. Date rape wasn't even talked about as wrong in those days, and dropping pants and putting your penis in a drunk girl's face was all in good fun - I am not kidding.

It's too bad he didn't have the character to admit he was a blackout drunk in high school and college and atone for anything he might have done that he doesn't recall - he would've been confirmed in a minute if he had done so.

Bless Senator Flake for his last minute change of heart and efforts to bring together this bipartisan coalition to demand a delay and investigation. I salute the two rape survivors who cornered him on the Senate elevator this morning and made him listen to their pain, as I am certain that put him over the line.

edited to clarify that this post refers to Big RR's above; I had to put liberty on ignore too because in addition to being nasty he's now nearly incoherent - maybe all that talk of beer yesterday got him into the bottle today?

[liberty]

Right now is the time for kavanaugh to withdraw "for the good of the country", even to say he welcomes an investigation (there won't be one), but the country deserves someone on the SC sooner rather than later. He can use the Nixon "goes against every fiber of my being" BS for face saving, and can just disappear into the background noise. I imagine he as to be weighing this right now, and he may have this "announcement" before McConnell has to do an about face.

I give it about a 50/50 chance he'll end this, especially with what Trump said about the testimony being compelling.

Fuck the good of the country. There is no COUNTRY only red and blue states. Better to have a dog on the court than a liberal.

[rubato]

Or perhaps they regard Sharpton's comments (assuming he said such a thing, you repeat pure garbage most of the time) as being as valueless and unworthy of comment as we view yours.

yrs,
rubato

[Big RR]

BSG--the only reason I think he might withdraw is because there is no good ending for him--his republican allies are deserting him, Trump called the testimony compelling, and whatever an investigation turns up will not be good for him (not to mention that the press will have another week to dig up more things. However the investigation turns out, he will be in a worse position in a week than he is now, and, I will predict, less likely to be confirmed (especially if he shoots off his mouth to the press like he did yesterday. Likewise, this is making Trump look like even more of an ass than he is now, and I think he wants it over. My guess is he is now being given the choice of withdrawing voluntarily or having the WH withdraw the nomination. But we shall see.

[ex-khobar Andy]

All I want in a supreme justice is a person that will read and interpreter the constitution as it was written based on the language at the time it was written.

So Hillary would be VP. Thus we can redouble our efforts to get Trump impeached in the sure understanding that there will be a good outcome. Works for me, lib.

[Big RR]

And Al Gore would have been president.

[BoSoxGal]

I hope and pray you are right, Big RR. To be honest I didn't pay a lot of attention to the earlier hearings because I knew Kavanaugh was not a good guy and that I wouldn't hear anything that would convince me otherwise - so I was sparing myself the pain. But aside from all his questionable partisan actions as a Republican lawyer, his prevarication before the Senate over various issues in 2006 and this summer, and aside from the very credible allegations of sexual misconduct in his past - what I saw yesterday in how he conducted himself before the SJC was enough to convince me that he's not fit for the bench, whether or not he's guilty of sexual misconduct in his past. It's scary to think of him on the Court of Appeals, and I hope somehow he will be removed from that seat.

I was very impressed to see the ABA call for a delay in the vote pending investigation, but I was even more impressed to see the Jesuits rescind their endorsement and call for his nomination to be withdrawn. His judicial philosophy is everything they want, they educated him during the time that he is alleged to have committed these offenses, and so it's a big deal that they are willing to take that stand. Maybe it's just the Catholic Church attempting to atone for its own atrocious wrongs, but it is meaningful nonetheless. And I take some pleasure in knowing that the Jesuit statement must have really hurt him.

[Scooter]

All I want in a supreme justice is a person that will read and interpreter the constitution as it was written based on the language at the time it was written.

Do you still want to allow women and blacks to vote, or...

[Lord Jim]

Senate GOP agrees to one-week delay on Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation to allow for FBI probe

Republicans in the Senate have agreed to delay a vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation for one week to allow for an FBI probe into allegations of sexual misconduct against the judge, according to a statement issued by the Senate Judiciary Committee Friday.

"The Senate Judiciary Committee will request that the administration instruct the FBI to conduct a supplemental FBI background investigation with respect to the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court," the committee said. "The supplemental FBI background investigation would be limited to current credible allegations against the nominee and must be completed no later than one week from today."

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and a number of other Republicans had huddled in McConnell's office Friday afternoon to discuss how to proceed on the confirmation following a call from a number of key senators to delay the vote.

The agreement reached Friday will hand over to the White House a final decision on whether the FBI conducts an investigation, though the president has signaled his willingness to go along with the GOP leadership.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/senate- ... probe.html

Kavanaugh friend Mark Judge: 'I will cooperate' with FBI probe of sex assault claims

A lawyer for Mark Judge, the high school buddy of embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, told CNBC that Judge "will answer any and all questions posed to him" by the FBI about serious sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/kavanau ... laims.html

there is no good ending for him--his republican allies are deserting him, Trump called the testimony compelling, and whatever an investigation turns up will not be good for him (not to mention that the press will have another week to dig up more things. However the investigation turns out, he will be in a worse position in a week than he is now

I think that summarizes the situation precisely...

I'm having a very hard time imagining a scenario under which a weeks delay accompanied by an FBI investigation into the existing allegations against him, results in Brent Kavanaugh's nomination being in a stronger political position than it is today...

Just not seeing how that would work...

[ex-khobar Andy]

In other, non-SCOTUS related news but dimwit Trump relevant, I wonder if he realizes that the picture is not a US flag. The stripe under the blue starry field should be white.

[BoSoxGal]

Is that from today? Is that the Chiliean President? Why is he holding that picture?

Context, please.

[Big RR]

I googled it, and it appears that the rectangle encloses something which is reminiscent of the Chilean flag. Of course the star field of the US flag abuts 7 stripes (4 red, 3 white, with red at the top and bottom), while this appears to abut 8 stripes (of the flag's 13) , 4 red, 4 white with red at the top and white at the bottom. So making a fake flag for political purposes is OK, but refusing to stand for the national anthem deserves to be punished.

[Joe Guy]

Flag of Chile

[BoSoxGal]

I was just reading comments on the Jesuit review article and saw this comment that I thought was worth sharing - I think it speaks to the apparent sincerity of Judge Kavanaugh in passionately asserting his innocence:

1.There is plenty of corroboration: Ford spoke about the alleged assault in therapy, to friends and to her husband, this is documented back to 2009. Twice in therapist's notes Kavanaugh's name is mentioned.
2. The way trauma memories are encoded in the brain accounts for gaps in her memory.
3. Kavanaugh's July 1st calendar entry says he went for "skis" (brewskis) to a friends house with Mark Judge, PJ, "squi" (a boy Ford dated briefly that summer and who introduced her to Kavanaugh and Judge), and a couple of other boys. Three of these boys are boys Ford places in her account of the evening. Prosecutor Mitchell neglected to ask follow-up questions to Kavanaugh about this journal entry.
4. I believe Kavanaugh. I also believe Ford. I believe Kavanaugh is a good man. And I believe he went to an all-boys school, was somewhat shy and as a single child at a single-sex school not accustomed to hanging out with girls and used alcohol to bolster his confidence. He drank to excess frequently--this is well documented. I believe he got drunk enough many times to have grey-outs or black-outs--which does not mean passing out but rather means having gaps in short-term memory. What this looks like: asking your friends what the heck happened the night before and laughing about it. Kavanaugh's testimony was heart-wrenching, I feel his pain and believe he has zero recollection of the alleged incident(s). I also believe he did them.
5. As a graduate of Holton-Arms School around the time of Kavanaugh and Ford, I can attest to the social scene of the time: heavy drinking, parties without parental supervision, and countless accounts of disrespecting women and assaults of the kind we would now term "date rape" but back then wrote off as a guy being a jerk and a woman being loose. As Kavanaugh said in the hearing: these were the days of Caddyshack, Animal House, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. This was the culture. Ford's story is so familiar. I lived it too. So did so many women I know. This needs to change--men cannot get a pass any longer, no matter how powerful.
6. Lastly, Kavanaugh did not comport himself in a manner that suggests he can be an impartial and even-keeled arbiter of morality in the highest court in the land. Color me unimpressed. I feel very badly for him, and send love to him and his family, and to Ford and hers. May they all find peace.

[Lord Jim]

I was even more impressed to see the Jesuits rescind their endorsement and call for his nomination to be withdrawn.

I missed that; I agree that's got to be very painful for him, given the pride he obviously takes in his work with and life long association with The Church...

I have to say that yesterday he sure didn't sound like a man who would ever want his nomination withdrawn...

In fact I believe that in his opening statement, he even alluded to the possibility that his nomination might be voted down and that he was prepared for that, and that he wasn't going to be "run off"...

Of course that was before he knew he was going to be facing yet another week of this relentless scrutiny (now with FBI involvement) with God-knows-what-else is going to come out or be alleged...

Neither he nor his wife can be very happy about that...

[Big RR]

or Trump or any of the republicans, for that matter.