Boys behaving badly usually do it more than once. And so Deborah Ramirez has come forward with a narrative that Brett Kavanaugh exposed his penis to her at a Yale party, forcing her to touch it. How many more victims will sacrifice to come forth in a futile effort to declare Kavanaugh unfit for SCOTUS or the Federal Appeals Court bench he holds now?

Admittedly, Ms Ramirez’s story is more tenuous. There are no eyewitnesses; however, the people who said that they didn’t remember it are the ones named by her as people who were egging on the future judge to perform the act. Still, there are a number of people who heard about it secondhand and the incident was known and discussed on the Yale campus. Ronan Farrow, who broke the story in The New Yorker, said in a PBS News Hour interview that several news organizations, including the NY Times, were chasing the story but that Ms Ramirez and others decided to cooperate exclusively with The New Yorker. He also said that a number of Senate staffers were already investigating the allegations.

The judge’s response was the usual categorical denial. He later added in a Trump TV-Fox News interview that he was a virgin for many years after the purported incidents. Virginity is not a counter argument; Catholic priests are an example of that. Moreover, adult virgins are more often masturbators.

The one thing that has been missing is his position on further FBI investigation. He has made no statements about that. But as a jurist, it seems logical that he would want an investigation to provide evidence of his innocence generated by a neutral law enforcement agency. That would be the most reliable evidence, the one that would most closely resembles a legal defense. He should have been the first one to agree with Christine Ford that an investigation was needed. Instead, he pushed back, saying he’d been investigated multiple times. Of course, if the FBI had not been informed of this claim, it would not have surfaced, since there are no police reports. And yet, that would contradict his handlers and their political propaganda aimed squarely at a proposed Democratic conspiracy. Potentially, it could also undermine his confirmation by extending the process, which McConnell is desperate to bring to an end.  

Virginity is not a counter argument; it’s often the reason for the appearance of hypersexual machismo.

Up until now, much of the Republican defense of the judge is to dismiss his youthful indiscretions. One woman interviewed for a PBS story insisted this was an example of normal teenage boy activities. She and other women interviewed seemed not to know the details of the alleged incident,  one referring to “just a touch”, while holding someone’s arm, as if she thought he brushed Dr Ford’s arm. Perhaps they are Fox Bubblettes. The normalization of groping a woman while silencing her screams is not a standard that most people would subscribe to, particularly in the wake of the #metoo movement. The groping per se should be condemned and prohibited because it was against her will, clear from her screams, and therefore against the law. But a level of aggressiveness that includes fear of death should be a felony. Let’s hope this idea is purely a product of hyper-partisanship where adherents will grasp any defense for the conservative mania to bury liberalism. It an example of Trump Neurologic Rearrangement Syndrome. In any case, it speaks volumes about the perceived worthlessness of women and their bodies in this society. This is a woman giving permission to men to violate other women, possibly her son and daughter. That makes a mockery of “you’ve come a long way baby”.

In any event, the “if he did it, it doesn’t say anything about his character” defense doesn’t actually apply to Kavanaugh. The judge’s defense is that he did not commit the act, period. This defense is an irrelevant talking point, a GOP script to be used by their rabid supporters. This defense actually posits his guilt in a desperate attempt to redeem his character. However good character, sexual assault at any age and subsequently lying about it are incompatible with good character.  The irrationality of the argument would be evident if we lived in a rational world. Not this one where reason has been suspended in favor of tribalism.

Kavanaugh’s evidence for innocence is his calendar from 1983. Even without the FBI, he’s been able to do a little digging. Perhaps because he lacks law enforcement expertise, he hasn’t considered that a calendar is only what you plan to do, not what you did. Last minute invitations do pop up. How can he maintain its accuracy in the face of evidence of his social group’s persistent drunkenness and drug use? And how can he establish that it hasn’t been altered at any time since it was originally written?

Good character, sexual assault at any age and subsequently lying about it are incompatible with good character.

The obvious answer is that he doesn’t have to. It’s a Senate hearing, not a courtroom. A Senate that has no rules of evidence. A chamber where the judge has the most sympathetic audience in the world. One that has no interest in establishing the truth. One that just wants to get to a positive vote. The hearings have been set up to create the he-said-she-said scenario designed to break the assault survivor on national TV. No other witnesses; no objective evidence. Christine Ford has been set up to be a sacrificial lamb. Perhaps the compensation she will receive for her subsequently best selling book will dull some of the pain. Unfortunately, money doesn’t do that.

As an aside, the judge’s supporters often raise the question of his right to due process. Due process doesn’t apply here. There is no right to a promotion to the Supreme Court; it is an honor we have come to confer on the best jurist, although the Constitution states no qualifications at all. At the very least, one would hope that at this time in history it would not be granted to scoundrels as it has been in the past. Due process applies to legal proceedings, which this is not.

A clearer picture of the judge’s social activities during his formative high school and college years is emerging. Excessive use of alcoholic beverages, marijuana use, fraternity parties with a reputation for sexual misconduct were the norm. One could speculate that a virgin in the hard drinking bad boy mania of the 80s would be more likely to engage in demonstrations of hypersexuality, a counterweight to his sexual inactivity. One of his friends pushed back in a Trump-Fox TV News interview, saying that Kavanaugh had told him that he was sexually experienced during those years. Kavanaugh has been quoted saying “what happens at Georgetown Prep, stays at the Georgetown Prep.” Their collusion in secret keeping maybe why he has been able to call out the minions to support his character. They most likely still circulate in the same extended social circles. They are likely also poor judges of character because they have been able to advance their prospects in a cauldron steeped in their white skin tone, their money, their parent’s money, their network connections. This is the elite so often denigrated by Trumpophants. Morality and ethics are rare in such elite circles. Based on his Senate testimony, the judge’s ethics and morals are questionable at best.

As a jurist, why isn’t Judge Kavanaugh calling for an FBI investigation to clear his name. 

Now that the Pandora’s box is open, the GOP is in an even bigger rush to get to the confirmation vote…before another claim dropped. There are rumors that McConnell set that original Monday date for Dr Ford’s hearing trying to complete it and vote before the Ramirez story could be published. That was why he rebelled against any further FBI background investigation. That and a fear that it might turn up some evidence implicating the judge. Likewise, the deadline extended to Friday night. The New Yorker was racing too. Instead of pausing at the possibility of another charge of sexual misconduct filtering out of Kavanaugh’s halcyon days of debauchery, McConnell vows to push straight ahead. Thursday’s hearing, then the vote, confirming once again the theatricality of the whole process. That train is accelerating to the final destination: placement of a misogynist who has lied more than once to the Senate committee under oath on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh not only lied about his conduct in the Bush administration in the current round of hearings, he’s done it in previous ones for his federal judgeship. He’s misrepresented his judicial writings and opinions on hot button issues. In This Corner-Brett, the Manhandler; His Opponent-Dr Chris;The Details Still Don’t Matter In many ways, it’s unfortunate that the issue of his dishonesty has been supplanted by his sexual misconduct.

While conservatives have tried to create a space in which they appear to listen to women and give equal credence to their allegations of sexual misconduct, they are in a difficult position. Fortunately, tribalism has stripped logic from the picture. How can party leaders and the cheering section give credence to these assertions without casting doubt on ignoring 19 allegations against their fearless leader? Those allegations have an associated trail of bribery, cover-up and now a book by Stormy Daniels that establish their veracity. Ultimately they have listened enough to concoct a strategy of denials.

Republicans are worried too about this contest bleeding into the midterm elections. Early  voting is already underway in 5 states including Minnesota, South Dakota, New Jersey and Vermont. They don’t want to be talking about sexual harassment issues and the absurd tactics used in the confirmation process. Worse, their supporters are left hanging over the success of the effort to pack the court. That could spur a reaction to the ineffectiveness of a government controlled from top to bottom by Republicans.

With the second allegation, the GOP narrative, always concocted to roll out from every spokesperson, has turned to a conspiracy theory that the Democrats have invented these charges and used their timing to delay what seemed an inevitable confirmation of the judge. The GOP has sworn it will not be denied. They have also tried to generate sympathy for Kavanaugh, a father, basketball coach, professional mentor and all around nice guy victim as a victim of character assassination.

The GOP can’t cut him loose and withdraw the nomination. Kavanaugh holds the precise mixture of unprincipled behavior and politicized legal opinion that, even more importantly than limiting or overruling Roe v Wade, would expand presidential power into a sealed bubble-wrapped chamber around 45 against any unwanted investigation and potential prosecution, lawsuits or impeachment. The judge would protect a president from prosecution for any criminal act. Kavanaugh posits one recourse, the political not legal one of impeachment. Not a lot of the other candidates on the Federalist Society list hold that view, or at least have it on record.  Kavanaugh is emphatic that he is in the fight to the end. He’s counting on Republican lawmakers to “bring it on home to me.”

Trump-run TV emerged full bloom on September 7 when the routine realtime broadcast of a MAGA rally added a new touch. Agent Orange seldom grants TV interviews and most recently, they have been exclusively for his own Fox News. But for this broadcast from Montana, the CelebrityPresident folded his network seamlessly into his administration. There, he stood on stage being interviewed by Pete Hegseth, a rumored future addition to the administration in some position or other, in front of the crowd with the interview blasting over the speakers for the pack to respond to. Hegseth was pitching softball set-ups for the chief executive to knock out of the park. “What was Trump’s message to his supporters about the silliness in Washington?”, serving up a platter for the charge of treason against the NYTimes. Hitting another prompt for a signature Agent Orange divider, Hegseth turned to the NFL. He closed with a question, more statement than inquiry, that named the local opponent and seemed to remind Trump to talk about the VA later in his speech.

Fox found itself in the midst of campaigning for the Trump-anointed candidate. Well not really, the rallies are all about Agent Orange with an afterthought mention of the local candidate and sometimes his opposition. He was able to roll out his sure-fire narrative for 2018: failure to vote for the candidate will result in his impeachment! That should fire up the base. For the narcissist, the threat of firing up the opposition is a mere trifle. Someone may have told him that there are more registered Democrats than Republicans, with their number dropping as the administration proceeds, but no doubt he’s forgotten.

45 now need only envy the number of media outlets Vladimir Putin has under his state control, for the transformation of his own is complete. Just as Putin’s state media serves the dictator, rather than the Russian government, the RealityTVPresident’s is his alone. Putin would never attack other government agencies, for his absolute power allows him to simply eliminate them at will. But Russia is a dictatorship after all, flimsily disguised with rigged elections.

Here, in another historic first, the RealityTVPresident, has managed to create a Trump centric network which is not separable from the man himself. In contrast, we have had, at least for a century, a free and independent press untethered to any chief executive, even as some outlets have had a propensity to show bias to one party or another. Although he has access to the full range of federal government information, he relies steadfastly on his network as his main information source, for both global and domestic information. Once grasped, the discourse that informs his Twitter pronouncements and speeches, and likely policy discussions, in whatever form they occur, is designed to confirm and expand Fox TV’s broadcast reach. The cycle is completed as Fox broadcasts and editorializes on 45’s activities, as well espouses his defense through fantastical speculation about “Trump enemies”.  

=================================

Kroger To Phase Out Plastic bags

Kudos to Krogers for phasing plastic bags out of its grocery stores. As a frequent Kroger shopper, I hated all those plastic bags. They double bagged for people who are walking with groceries. They stuff individual meat packages in an additional plastic bag before they put it in another plastic bag with other groceries. They seem to put as few items in a bag as possible;  half full seems preferable to stuffed. All these bags for a short trip in a cart across the parking lot. Are these the preferences of baggers or some directives from upper management?

Kroger which includes major chains like Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Food 4 Less and Pick ‘n Save will begin eliminating single use plastic bags first in the Pacific Northwest and complete the process by 2025. Just as encouraging is Kroger’s commitment to keep 90% of their garbage out of landfills by 2020.

Could it be a Hoax?

There’s something that’s not adding up with this NYTimes Op-Ed from the anonymous Trump official. Could it be an administration plant, to ultimately embarrass the newspaper? Or as a pretense to more aggressively attack it. TREASON! is a big charge. “In the name of national security” the newspaper must release the author is a signal for a potential DOJ assault in court. Agent Orange has called Sessions out and he needs to chip away at his trust deficit. Or, it could be a tossed off remark from 45, all Trumpophant tough guy with little substance; one never knows if his inside guardians will counteract the impulse. Man, talk about a deep state. Only this time, it’s the conservatives hating on Agent Orange.

Still, the inevitable swipes at the NYTimes from Agent Orange is bound to help pump up the base, a topic for every future BullyPresident rally until November and probably beyond in the ritual of perseveration that is Trump. In this, Anonymous is serving the master well.

Why the NYTimes? Yes, it is perhaps the best known newspaper in the country. It is also an obsession for Agent Orange, who from his early days in Manhattan wanted to be lauded in its pages. He still wants that, but is daily disappointed by their constant criticism. Wounded afresh, he strikes out at the paper with a fury reserved for his enemies list. They are the epitome of the press as enemy of the state. Did anonymous want their Op-Ed there to grab 45’s attention and add insult to injury?

What was the purpose? To divert attention from the Cavaughn hearings? To reassure wavering Republicans that their agenda is safe, even as the CelebrityPresident seems to be running amuck. After all, they say they stay because they believe in the mission and they want to make sure it continues. So why say anything at all?

Was it to improve job prospects post-Trump administration? If all goes well, all the employment around how to deal with those people will transition to how to deal with a Democratic administration. If they are booted out before the end, they still will be a valuable commodity. Perhaps it is to assuage their conscience over the morally bankrupt position of backing away from the 25th Amendment knowing full well that the Chief Executive is mentally unstable and incompetent and unlikely to improve as he continues to age. A Dorian Gray bargain where they sacrifice their dignity and humanity for an expanded piece of the pie (staying comfortably in the 1 percent! unlike Manafort and Gates who dropped out big time). It can’t be that, because these people know no shame.

If it’s real, it was incredibly stupid. First, it set them up as a conservative target. Of course they can gloat that the accusations of being gutless and cowardly can’t hit them anonymously. The criticism from the left would sting if they thought they would be recognized for their bravery and the guardrails they provide. But no, they understand liberals well enough not to have expected that.

Secondly, they put the Trump administration on alert. Perhaps there is a cadre of resistance that can shield them. The administration hasn’t been particularly adept at squashing leaks, perhaps that’s due to resistance operations. 45 is certainly gunning for the culprit.

But more importantly, they set the press on the trail to ferret them out. NYTimes reporters have first dibs, unless forbidden by their editors from pursuing it which is entirely possible. But every other large news organization is out there scrounging. And they’re good. Of course, Deep Throat remained undetected for decades but resources are so much more extensive these days, what with traffic and ATM cams and surveillance and internet location tracking. Still there are ways the knowledgeable can stay off the grid. We shall see. The furor may die down as more important stories rise and the elections season gets in full swing. On the other hand, campaigning could keep reigniting the question.

Maybe they’re just tired and looking for a way out.

================================================

Alex Jones is Gone From Twitter; Will It Hurt His Product Sales?

The unfortunate truth is that Google, Facebook, Twitter can tinker as much as they like, but they can’t fix the problem. As long as there are folks out there who love conspiracies, who traffic in gossip, who are titillated by hate, who believe whatever they see on social media, the Alex Joneses and Russian bots will be influencing popular opinion. It’s the American people we need to change. People need to question what they see and read. They need to ask if it makes sense. They need to accept that they may have been wrong. They need to reframe their thinking as new information emerges. And if they do, the crap on the streaming apps will become less popular and fall down the algorithm limiting their spread until they disappear from sight.

But that’s a tall task. It’s not the way our brains work It’s Time to Ditch Facebook. The human brain is lazy and takes the easiest route whenever possible. It resists ideas that challenge a person’s overview. Brain activity on fMRI scans show that when presented with new ideas, the areas of the brain associated with fear and anxiety, not intellectual activity are activated. The brain reshapes the idea so that it can be integrated into the old framework even if it is the exact opposite. And this all happens on autopilot in the blink of an eye, without our even knowing it.

THE ONLY WAY to counteract the autopilot is pause for a moment to think through it; that is to say activate the intellectual thought areas of the brain. Unfortunately, there are many who don’t have that type of counterbalance. That is not to say that there are a lot of stupid people out there. What it does say is that in our system of education geared to test performance on multiple choice questions, we have neglected to encourage analytical thinking. We have not been encouraged to question, to investigate, to study. We’ve indulged in rote memory instead. This is as true now as it is for the population educated decades ago, the majority.

This has made internet literacy a real problem. What is the source and how did they get the information is the first question to ask in these days of partisan slugfest. Fake organizational identities, false information, unsubstantiated claims, manipulated statistics, pure fiction masquerading as fact abounds. Sometimes, even the best sources are wrong. Sometimes the author’s approach is biased by picking information selectively, a common complaint against the mainstream media from the conservative right. But there’s none better than Trump-run TV, Fox News for bias. We have to find the bias and examine how it shapes the information.

THAT’S A HUGE undertaking, given the barrage of information that passes across our screens daily. We should try to control the drive to join what’s trending to meld into the popular. Less information from a few good sources is probably better than trying to take in the full scope. That calls for filters, which is almost as much hard work.

It’s a lot like the solution to drug trafficking; if there was no demand in this country, there would be no need for a supply. If people didn’t scarff up internet garbage, no one would create it because it would no longer be driving advertising dollars. Maybe smoking is exemplary of a success story, even if it took decades. Cigarettes were everywhere and now smoking is unpopular, banned from most public indoor spaces, aided by taxes that increased the prices to make them unaffordable. Although this is a seismic change, shifting perceptions about cigarettes is probably easier than training our brains to recognize biases and counteract them.

This is a global problem and the battle is being lost. We can’t clean up the internet without clearing our thought processes. We have to start thinking rather than reacting.