Kavanaugh: Have Republicans Abandoned Family Values and Law & Order?
Are Trump & Republicans Rushing the Nomination of a man who may be a Lying, Partisan, Alcoholic, Sex Offender with a Gambling Problem?
October 2, 2018 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Politics & Government / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC.
Over the past couple of weeks, we've been treated to a new season of a made-for-TV series, the Unreal Presidency of Donald J. Trump. The Donald is the star TV shock jock protagonist. He is an elderly man who appears hell bent on seeing just how far he can exercise executive privilege to serve his own ends, before some of the other 320 million people in the nation will actually stand up to stop him.
There are many antagonists including those who have filed a lawsuit accusing Trump of violating the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution [using the office of the presidency for personal profit] and there are many grassroots Democrats who are pushing their representatives on the idea that Trump was exactly the kind of president the Founding Fathers had in mind when they included the Impeachment process in the Constitution.
The past and current episodes of the Unreal Presidency of D.J. Trump have been a made-for-TV-News ratings sensation. The current episodes have been focused on Trump's rush to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, a nominee with hair-raising disqualifications, to the Supreme Court. The Trump propaganda machine - friend Rupert Murdoch's Fox Fake News - has been the ratings winner of this taxpayer funded drama.
And Murdoch's Fox News proudly declared that on Friday, September 28, 2018 with the following headline [see above],
"Fox News dominates ratings on coverage of dramatic Kavanaugh-Ford hearing."
Murdoch's Fox Fake News uses red, white and blue iconography all over its broadcast studio, calling themselves 'America's Newsroom'. Their hijacking of America's colors and flag, is reminiscent of how the Nazis hijacked German nationalism in the 1930's for their own ends. The Nazis claimed to be the one true patriotic party of Germany.
The Appearance of Due Process for TV Cameras?
The reality comes from Trump and the Republicans using Executive Privilege to withhold critical documents from the Senate, also limiting the time Senators were given to question Kavanaugh, and at first denying an authorized investigation into some of the most egregious allegations that have arisen against Trump nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Trump's opposition, the minority political party in both the Senate and House, want access to documents surrounding one of the two roles that Kavanaugh played in the Bush Administration [2003 - 2006], when it is believed Kavanaugh ignored or supported illegal torture, illegal surveillance of the American people, and possibly worked with documents Kavanaugh knew to be obtained illegally.
What's more, the allegations surrounding Kavanaugh's character seems serious enough to disqualify him, including lying under oath, attempted rape, alcoholism and that he has a gambling problem. These allegations, if true, would impugn the integrity of the Supreme Court, as an impartial body that deliberates over the laws that govern our society.
Supreme Court Justice Nominee or Supreme A_ _ Hole?
The photo at right shows Kavanaugh at the hearing, demonstrating some of his famous anger management issues. His lying about his inability to control himself is at the core of the Senate's reluctance to confirm him - as he is alleged to have gotten into a bar dispute after repeatedly drinking too much, to have repeatedly sexually offended several women where alcohol was also involved, and to have erupted in rage following a gambling bout.
- CLICK here to read the rest of our report about issues of character - Brett Kavanaugh - Supreme Court nominee.
Kavanaugh: Have Republicans Abandoned Family Values and Law & Order?
Are Trump & Republicans Rushing the Nomination of a man who may be a Lying, Partisan, Alcoholic, Sex Offender with a Gambling Problem?
October 2, 2018 / NYC Neighborhoods / NYC Politics & Government / News Analysis & Opinion / Gotham Buzz NYC. Continued.
I. Fake News - Republicans Stand for Family Values?
Donald Trump and the Republican Party appear to be trying to rush through the nomination of candidate - to be a justice on the highest court in the land - who appears to be a lying, alcoholic, sex offender with a gambling problem. Further down in this report I will provide context for each of these allegations.
Republicans lost their footing with family values when they elected Donald Trump. Because Trump is a pathological liar [Washington Post has catalogued the daily lies and deceptions], a self professed pussy grabber [NBC bus tape] with his own set of sex offense allegations [six women?], a self professed dictator-lover [West Virginia campaign speech on 9/29/18], an alleged porn pumping [Stormy Daniels], whore begging [Russian pee pee tape] president - who stole $1.5 trillion from America's children - by borrowing money on their backs - to give some of the richest people in the world a tax cut. And Trump has been using the government of the United States, to separate children from their parents.
So Trump's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh may be consistent with who Trump is, but it is not consistent with what now appears the hollow rhetoric of the Republican Party, which at one time laid claim to be the adherent of traditional American family values.
Republican Senator Jeff Flake who called out Trump on his callous comments, is shown on the CNN website above. Flake is retiring from what used to be the Republican Party of family values.
II. Fake News - Republicans Support Law & Order?
Here's what GOP.com has as the Republican party platform for 2016,
"The next president must restore the public's trust in law enforcement and civil order by first adhering to the rule of law himself. Additionally, the next president must not sow seeds of division and distrust between the police and the people they have sworn to serve and protect. The Republican Party, a party of law and order, must make clear in words and action that every human life matters."
These statements, in light of the past two years, seem a travesty of the truth. They are either mocking the Republican Party or the American people, or maybe it's an inside joke, and they're mocking both. Murdoch, Trump and McConnell are laughing at us - not with us.
Donald Trump, at Murdoch's Fox News insistence, fired all of the U.S. Attorneys within 24 hours on a Friday in March of 2017. Preet Bahara, U.S. Attorney in New York was investigating Rupert Murdoch's organization regarding allegations of sexual harassment and also of hacking. Murdoch's organization was found guilty of hacking in Britain.
Donald Trump also fired former FBI Director, James Comey, which Murdoch's Fox Fake News spun in Trump's favor by trying to discredit Comey. Comey was investigating Trump, regarding collusion with Russia, in the hacking of the 2018 election.
In the photo above right, Fox Fake News InJustice Jeanine Pirro continues to blast the ongoing FBI investigation of Trump. Trump appears to have given numerous legislative, regulatory and tax gifts to multi-billionaire Rupert Murdoch who controls 21st Century Fox, the company that pays propagandist Jeanine Pirro.
And Trump has continually tried to undermine his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself in the Russian investigation. Billionaire Rupert Murdoch's propaganda machine has been supportive of Trump all the way, and they appear to be receiving huge favors via a Murdoch endorsed FCC Commissioner, Ajit Pai [pronounced a shit pie by detractors] who has rolled back limits on media ownership, paving the way for Murdoch to do an inverse acquisition of Disney / ABC which will give Murdoch control of half or more of the nation's television airwaves. And Murdoch was one of the big beneficiaries of Trump tax cuts, including for Murdoch's vineyard in Los Angeles.
III. Is Donald Rigging the System via the Supreme Court?
Trump has moved aggressively to fill the judicial positions, in some measure stacking the court, at one time pushing for a nominee with no prior experience, and another who recently withdrew from the process because he is a published racist.
Trump nominated one Supreme Court Justice last year: Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch is reportedly a staunch conservative, who was approved by the Senate without a whole lot of fanfare.
This year Trump selected Kavanaugh, who has long been at the center of many controversies going back as far as the Clinton impeachment proceedings, when Kavanaugh served under special prosecutor Kenneth Starr. Kavanaugh was also working for the Bush Administration in a legal capacity when Bush implemented a number of potentially illegal policies, for which Executive Privilege was used as the rationale. The most notable suspected constitutional violations were torture and mass surveillance. During this time [2001 - 2006] Kavanaugh was also alleged to have also worked with documents he knew were stolen from the Democratic Party.
A September 4, 2018 Associated Press report informed us that,
"Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh declared fervently at his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday the court "must never, never be viewed as a partisan institution." "
Two weeks and two days later, on September 27, 2018, Kavanaugh completely reversed himself on that statement, by attacking the Democrats claiming they had made a circus of the hearing and were attacking him in retaliation for the Clintons loss to Donald Trump.
One of the concerns is that if the Mueller investigation comes to a head, the Supreme Court may have to rule on the proper course of action. Many believe it is for this reason that Trump chose Kavanaugh, as some of the other contenders for the position of Supreme Court Justice were considered likely to have a far less controversial path to being confirmed.
In pushing for Kavanaugh and in rushing Kavanaugh, Trump risks undermining the integrity of the Supreme Court of the United States - and by some measures -America's rule of law. According to a September 28, 2018 Washington Post report, ABA [American Bar Association - one of the premier lawyer associations in the nation] President Robert Carlson wrote in a letter to key senators stating,
"Deciding to proceed without conducting an additional investigation would not only have a lasting impact on the Senate's reputation, but it will also negatively affect the great trust necessary for the American people to have in the Supreme Court,"
I get the sense that most people undervalue the importance of rule of law and an impartial court system because they have never lived in a society where the citizens don't have power / rights. But our Founding Fathers did. And that's why they inserted all of the checks and balances in our system of government - to prevent any group of people from doing what the kings and 'noblemen' of prior ages did to the rest of the population - subjugating them to a very secondary status, while keeping all the privileges and riches for themselves.
IV. Murdoch Mocks U.S. - Government Chaos for TV Ratings?
The television production of the Kavanaugh farce started on Monday, September 24, 2018 when Brett Kavanaugh - three days before the Christine Blasey Ford hearing - sat for an hour-long infomercial on Fox Fake News.
Most news outlets called it an interview, but it was no more an 'interview' than you see on late night TV when some guy is being 'interviewed' on his get rich quick program. Fox Fake News is an expert at the staged news conference / interview having done dozens of them in 2016 for candidate Donald Trump via 'interviews' with Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, where they appeared to be promoting him, rather than interviewing him.
In the photo above right the Fox Fake News infommercial. In the photo below right a comparable 'interview' infommercial advertisement.
I am pretty sure that Donald Trump is the first president to take office without having any prior government experience, nor any education in government. Donald Trump is a promoter and an entertainer. In his new movie, Fahernheit 11/9, Michael Moore claims that Trump's run for the presidency began as an attempt to negotiate higher pay from NBC for The Apprentice. Moore said that Trump's announcement of his candidacy at Trump Tower was completely staged, telling us that many in the audience for the announcement were paid $50 to be 'extras' like in a movie.
The mass media brands that this nation grew up on may still be here - but the people who made them mean trusted names - are not. The mission of many of the major news brands in years gone by was to inform. The mission of most of the major news brands today is to win the ratings race by putting on whatever the people in the audience will spend their time watching.
As Trump's candidacy was gaining steam in 2016, CBS TV Chairman Leslie Moonves was quoted as saying,
" [Trump] may not be good for America, but he's damned good for CBS."
This change in the orientation of the media is, in part, why the lower and middle classes have lost so much economic ground over the past four decades. People are uninformed, and in the case of Fox News viewers, prior studies indicate that they are actually disinformed. The net result is that many voters choose candidates who represent the rich and powerful, instead of themselves.
Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, Wall Street Journal and NY Post appear to have taken control of the Republican party. Few Republicans can run for important office without the support, or at least neutrality, of Rupert Murdoch's propaganda machine. Murdoch's organization also seems to collect a lot of dirt on key politicians, which he seems to withhold and release at opportune times.
In the photo at right you can see Tucker Carlson headline threatening Republicans if they don't follow the Murdoch controlled propaganda machine orders.
In May 2018, former House Speaker John Boehner said that the Republican Party is no more. It's now the party of Trump. And Trump can't get re-elected without the unbridled support of Rupert Murdoch's Fox Fake News propaganda machine.
IV. Fake Due Process: The Appearance of Reality on TV?
I. Managing the Appearance of a Fair Review of Documents. The Republicans & Trump Administration released hundreds of thousands of documents related to Kavanaugh - but have blacked out the period from 2003 - 2006 when Kavanaugh worked for the Bush Administration.
Other recent Supreme Court Justice reviews included about 170K - 180K pages, so the Republicans hit this target with by releasing enough of Kavanaugh's papers to give the appearance of being fair - but without providing real transparency - as they blacked out the three years in which the Democratic senators were most interested.
The three years are critical because it was when Brett Kavanaugh worked for the Bush Administration, at the time the Guantanamo torture facility was initiated, as well as mass surveillance of Americans. The Democratic Senators were interested in knowing Kavanaugh's role in defining the legal basis for these programs.
According to a July 31, 2018 USA Today report,
"Grassley sent a letter Friday to National Archives staff at the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Texas, seeking emails and other documents from Kavanaugh's jobs in 2001-2003 as associate White House counsel and senior associate White House counsel. Grassley did not ask for emails and other papers from Kavanaugh's time as staff secretary [2003 - 2006] , which angered Democrats on the committee."
According to a report in The Hill on August 13, 2018,
"Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday blocked multiple efforts by Democrats to subpoena documents from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's White House tenure."
II. Managing the Appearance of a Fair Hearing. The next battle came when it was revealed that a woman, Christine Blasey Ford, alleged that Brett Kavanaugh attempted to rape her while they were in high school. The Republicans gave her a very limited window to testify, as they complained it was a stall tactic by the Democrats.
Just two years ago, in March of 2016, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell delayed the vote for a new Supreme Court Justice because he wanted to provide the 'American People' to have a chance to weigh in. But in July of 2018, McConnell made those words appear phony - as he rushed to confirm Brett Kavanaugh BEFORE the 'American People' had a chance to weigh in.
Mitch McConnell has apparently tired of democracy and doesn't seem to care to let the 'American People' weigh in this year.
Prior to Blasey Ford's testimony, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he wanted to give the 'American People' a chance to hear all the facts. But once again this appeared to be McConnell fake news, as McConnell also scheduled to have the Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Kavanaugh the very next morning.
So McConnell's message seemed to be - we'll let you testify - but it won't make a shred of difference on when or how we vote. Every time McConnell makes reference to the 'American People' - pay attention to what is inevitably to follow - another big masquerade.
III. Managing the Appearance of a Fair FBI Investigation. After negotiations, Christine Blasey Ford testified. Even in light of credible allegations against Kavanaugh, the Republicans stonewalled the Democrats for re-opening the FBI investigation into Kavanaugh. Trump - again lying - told Americans that the FBI "doesn't do that" [re-open cases], even though the FBI had done so less than two years ago, when the FBI re-opened the Clinton email investigation with only days remaining before the election, which many pundits believed helped contribute to the Trump victory.
On Friday, September 28, 2018, after a woman made a convincing personal plea to Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake. Flake made re-opening an FBI investigation a condition of moving the Kavanaugh confirmation vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee to the Senate floor. Thus Trump has agreed to a 'limited' FBI investigation [Trump's assertion that 'they don't do that' magically disappeared].
The reality of the situation seems to be that Trump and the Republicans are managing the optics [aka public perception] that the Justice review process has been fair, rather than to actually oversee a fair and transparent process. The limited FBI investigation was at first reported to be limiting interviews to only four specific people and in a very short period of time. After a public uproar, the FBI was allowed to pursue possible leads, but was still given only a week to do so.
Since the FBI investigation was opened, Fox Fake News appears to be working 24/7 to undermine it. Billionaire Rupert Murdoch's propaganda machine attacked Senator Jeff Flake and has been creating a fake narrative that the FBI is a partisan law enforcement agency that favors the Democrats [how quickly they forget the FBI re-opening of the Clinton emails case only days before the Nov 2016 election].
Trump & Murdoch Benefit by Discrediting FBI. The intent of this deceit appears to be that it will not only provide Republicans with cover to vote for what appears to be a very flawed candidate, but can the discrediting of the FBI can be used to amplify Trump's and Rupert Murdoch's Fox Fake News attacks on the FBI vis a vis the Russian collusion investigation. It all is part and parcel of the Unreal Presidency TV show, for which Fox Fake News is the ratings victor.
Democrats have been accused of delaying the process. They have requested more documents than in prior Supreme Court Justice reviews, and have submitted many more written questions to this nominee than others in recent history. The reason for their extra effort is that Brett Kavanaugh has a history of alleged deceit in prior hearings. And Kavanaugh is also believed to be one of the most highly partisan nominees put forth to be a Supreme Court Justice in our lifetimes. This is saying a lot, given how politicized the Supreme Court Justice nominee confirmation process has become over the past half century.
GRAPHIC?
V. Did Kavanaugh Corrupt Legal Opinions to Advance Career?
Is Brett Kavanaugh a Supreme Court Nominee who doesn't adhere to the U.S. Constitution?
A July 18, 2018 story in the Chicago Tribune tells us that Kavanaugh denied, under oath, that he knew anything about the detention and interrogation program [aka torture program] designed by the Bush Administration while Kavanaugh was working in the Bush White House as an Associate Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003.
But in a July 2018 story, the Washington Post found two other Bush White House officials who confirmed Kavanaugh's attendance at a controversial 2002 meeting about the program in the White House Counsel office. The two officials added that they didn't think that Kavanaugh was in the loop on Bush's overall torture policy.
The Chicago Tribune goes on to tell us that Kavanaugh is believed to have given false or misleading testimony during his confirmation hearings to the circuit court in 2006.
"A [Washington] Post report in 2007 mentioned that Kavanaugh had participated in the discussion about whether detainees should have legal counsel. Soon afterward, [Senators] Durbin and Leahy protested that they had been misled [by Kavanaugh in the hearings about Kavanaugh's nomination to the circuit court in 2006]. [Senator] Leahy, who was then committee chairman, wrote to Gonzales, who was then attorney general, about the "inconsistency" of the "possibly false testimony," which "played a critical role in many Senators' consideration of Mr. Kavanaugh nomination."
Bush Attorney General Gonzales had Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski investigate the claims and ten months later, on March 18, 2008, [Benczkowski] said there was "not sufficient basis to initiate a criminal investigation."
In a July 24, 2018 report in the New Yorker tells us that Kavanaugh may have also been involved in enabling the Bush Administration's mass surveillance of Americans.
"What did Kavanaugh himself mean, for that matter, when, as a judge and not a staff lawyer, he wrote that he regarded the N.S.A.'s bulk collection of the telephone metadata of almost every American as " " with the Constitution? He added that, even if the bulk collection counted as a search limited by the Fourth Amendment--and he felt that it didn't--it would be allowed because of the "special need" that the government has to prevent terrorism. "In my view, that critical national security need outweighs the impact on privacy occasioned by this program," he wrote. That challenge was eventually rendered moot, because the Obama Administration and Congress acted to change the N.S.A.'s practices ..."
And a September 6, 2018 report in The Hill tells us,
"Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also accused Kavanaugh of lying to the committee during his 2006 confirmation hearings when he told the committee he was not involved in crafting the George W. Bush administration's interrogation and detention policies. "We have found at least three specific examples where you were, three," he said, noting that documents have shown Kavanaugh had discussions about access to counsel for detainees, was involved in the Hamdi and Padilla cases, and was involved with then-President Bush's signing statement on the John McCain torture amendment."
As noted above Kavanaugh is reported to have taken a loose interpretation, or even show incredible disregard, the 4th and 8th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Those amendments, according to Wikipedia.org, are as follows.
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S Constitution - "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
According to Wikipedia.org,
The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution - "Prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines, or cruel and unusual punishments. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause also applies to the states."
Did Kavanaugh use corrupt legal rationales to please his bosses in order to advance his career? If this is the case, will he show the same disregard for the Constitution to please others as a Supreme Court Justice?
VI. Why Rush Kavanaugh Hearings? Follow the Billionaire & Russian Money
Democrats allege that Kavanaugh appears to have lied to them in sworn testimony and that he has shown himself not to be impartial. Regarding the allegations of deception in prior testimony, the Democrats asked for an investigation. In the July 16, 2018 story in the Chicago Tribune referenced above informs us that,
"Benczkowski last week [July 2018] was approved on a nearly party-line vote of 51 [Republicans] to 48 [Democrats] to head the criminal division over the objections of Democrats who expressed concerns about [Benczkowski's] work in private practice for a Russian bank."
On March 18, 2008, [Benczkowski] said there was "not sufficient basis to initiate a criminal investigation." But that's not the same as asserting Kavanaugh had not made misleading statements in his testimony.
Russians Contribute Millions to Republican Senators McConnell & Others
It seems Russian infiltration into the Republican appointees of the federal branch of the United States government has a larger purview than previously known - as you will see more of below.
We did a previous report where it appears that the Russians have saved Donald Trump from financial ruin on more than one occasion. Over the past decade and a half the Russians appear to have heavily funded the Donald through numerous real estate purchases totalling easily over one hundred million dollars including a sale of a mansion in Florida to a Russian Oligarch, Dmitry Rybolovlev in 2008 for $95 million, of which nearly $50 million appeared to be profit. Rybolovlev subsequently tore down the structure. Another Russian oligarch contributed over $1 million to the Donald's Inaugural Ball in January of 2017.
Given the Donald's body language, following his meeting with Putin in Helsinki, it's not a stretch to believe that Trump is compromised vis a vis Putin and the Russians. Putin appears to have so much influence over Trump that Putin added insult to injury to the American people, when Putin kept Trump waiting for a long period of time in Helsinki before Putin even arrived. This appeared to be an unprecedented sign of DISRESPECT.
Trump isn't the only one on the proverbial Russian payroll. According to an August 3, 2017 OpEd in the Dallas News, in the 2015 - 2016 election season Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's GOP Leadership Fund accepted $2.5 million in donations from Russian Oligarch Leonid Blavatnik's Access Technologies [$1.5 million] and AI Altep Holdings [$1 million]. The newspaper goes on to report that other top ranking Republicans including Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio's Conservative Solutions PAC [$1.5 million] and South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham [$800K] accepted money from the Russian Oligarch's companies. All tolled Republican candidates received $7.5 million in Russian Oligarch money. OpenSecrets.org, a non profit truth seeking organization, was the original source.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appears so corrupt, that the author of the book Clinton Cash has been looking into McConnell's finances.
The Russians Contribute $Millions to Trump through the NRA?
The Mueller investigation is looking into allegations that the Russian oligarchs funneled $30 million through the NRA to help fund Donald Trump's campaign. A June 21, 2018 report in Vanity tells us,
"The F.B.I. and special counsel Robert Mueller are investigating meetings between N.R.A. officials and powerful Russian operatives, trying to determine if those contacts had anything to do with the gun group spending $30 million to help elect Donald Trump--triple what it invested on behalf of Mitt Romney in 2012."
The June 21, 2018 Vanity report goes on to tell us,
"It's possible that the men were merely bonding over a shared love of firearms. Mike Carpenter, a Russian specialist who worked in the Pentagon during the Obama administration, laughs at the notion. "The Russian state is run by a K.G.B. elite that wants nothing less than to have an armed citizenry," Carpenter says. "Rogozin is a heavyweight in Russian politics. . . . Torshin has a direct line to Putin . . . and also has possible ties to organized crime. Rudov is the right-hand man of Konstantin Malofeev, who is sort of a paleo-conservative, ultra-nationalist figure who bankrolls a lot of projects involving mercenaries in Ukraine." Carpenter sees how a dark money trail could connect the Kremlin to the gun lobby. "Those three would only meet with N.R.A. officials if there were some concerted effort by senior members of the Russian government to try and co-opt the N.R.A. politically," he continues. "And they are all money men. They can throw tens of millions around." (Efforts to reach Torshin, Rogozin, Rudov, and Malofeev were unsuccessful. Malofeev has denied aiding the invasion of Ukraine.)"
"Torshin--who Spanish authorities wanted to arrest in 2013 on money-laundering allegations--made energetic efforts to ingratiate himself with the Trump campaign. (Torshin was never charged and has denied any wrongdoing in the money-laundering case.) He met Donald Trump Jr. at a private dinner during the N.R.A.'s convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 2016. Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Trump Jr., has dismissed the conversation between his client and Torshin as "all gun-related small talk."
"There are a lot of unanswered questions," Senator Ron Wyden says. The Oregon Democrat has spent months pushing the N.R.A. to explain the sources of its foreign contributions. The gun group's responses shifted from saying it had received only one contribution from a Russian person in six years; to acknowledging 23 Russian-related contributions since 2015 totaling a little more than $2,500; to shutting down communications with Wyden. "'Shifting' is a diplomatic way to put it," the senator says. "They have flipped more times than a kid on a summer diving board. . . . The notion that all of these important oligarchs who had involvement with the N.R.A. and were close to Putin were spending money on a few magazine subscriptions doesn't strike me as very plausible."
Billionaires & Corporations using the Supreme Court Against the American People?
Brett Kavanaugh's voting record indicates that he sides with big business against consumers, small business and ordinary Americans 87% of the time. That's good for Russian billionaires like Leonid Blavatnik, as well as Putin and all of the Russian Oligarchs, as well as the Chinese companies doing business here in the U.S. and Trump Billionaire propagandist Rupert Murdoch of Fox Fake News.
It's worth mentioning that Mitch McConnell's father-in-law is well connected with the former president of China, and Mitch and his wife were the recipients of a gift in the neighborhood of ten(s) of millions. Coincidence or quid pro quo?
So why are the Republicans pushing for confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to be the next Supreme Court Justice? Could it be that Kavanaugh seems to rule in favor of wealthy billionaires and corporations, regardless of nationality, and against everyday Americans? Or because he appears to be a weak man (see below)?
In a May 31, 2018 story in USA Today, former House Speaker John Boehner, was quoted at a conference saying,
"There is no Republican Party. There's a Trump party. The Republican Party is kind of taking a nap somewhere..."
The people who once made the Republican Party an important part of American politics are long gone. What's left? A number of pols funded by Russian billionaires' companies. There are still some real Republicans left in the party, but they have been mostly silent, and a number are quitting in January 2019.
VII. Is Kavanaugh Morally, Physically & Financially Compromised?
Brett Kavanaugh also appears to be a man with HUGE personal weaknesses that could leave him totally compromised, enabling wealthy billionaires and corporations to exploit him if he becomes a justice on the Supreme Court, so they can get the rulings they want.
Kavanaugh's vulnerability as a Supreme Court Justice is the American people's vulnerability. The first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, warned us of such an alliance when he said,
"... the weak and the wicked are generally in alliance, as much care should be taken to diminish the former, as the latter ..."
Based on Kavanaugh's voting record his rulings are not likely to be in most Americans favor but rather in favor of the wealthy and corporations. Ruling in such a manner appears to have so favored his career, that he is now a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Use search to find reports published mostly in July of 2018 about Kavanaugh's voting record by Axios, Fortune, Bloomberg, The Hill, Wired and The Atlantic.
So let's review the allegations against a man who the Murdoch Fox propaganda machine tells us is a good guy.
A. Is Brett Kavanaugh an Attempted Rapist & Liar?
In September of 2018 allegations of sexual assault were made by Christine Blasey Ford alleging that Brett Kavanaugh tried to rape her during their high school years. Since Blasey Ford went public, two other women have given corroborating statements, and ALL THREE HAVE TAKEN LIE DETECTOR TESTS. And all three have requested an FBI INVESTIGATION. And it is worth noting that lying to the FBI is a federal crime.
The other two accusers include a former Yale classmate, Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh exposed himself and pushed his penis in front of her face. She admits being drunk at the time, but others have supported her claims. Julie Swetnick, a third accuser with a history of legal spats, says she attended some of the same parties attended by Kavanaugh, and she alleged that Kavanaugh and his friends essentially spiked drinks to get the girls so drunk, that Kavanaugh and his buddies could take advantage of them.
Brett Kavanaugh HAS REFUSED TO TAKE A LIE DETECTOR TEST. And when asked numerous times during his testimony on Thursday, Brett Kavanaugh, REFUSED TO ASK THE FBI TO INVESTIGATE. Good judges deal in facts, and both a lie detector test and an investigation would produce added evidence to vindicate Kavanaugh - if he's not guilty.
Kavanaugh also gave testimony about some of the words noted in his high school calendar [who keeps these things?] that some of his contemporaries believe was false. An October 2, 2018 report in Vox explains,
"He [Kavanaugh] says "boofing" is about farting and "Devil's Triangle" is a drinking game."
The Vox story goes on to explain what they found to be the popular definitions of those terms,
"many have defined [boof] to mean anal sex (and others to be a kayaking technique) and "many believe [devils triangle] refers to sex between two men and one woman ..l"
The Republicans had hired an attorney to do their questioning for them, but when she began to probe more deeply into the calendar, the Republicans put an end to her questioning.
Russian oligarch funded Republican Senator Lindsay Graham jumped in to defend Kavanaugh, not by refuting any of the charges or discrediting the witness, but by changing the conversation into a shouting match about partisan politics.
There is a couple of old sayings that apply here. When you don't like what's being said, change the conversation. And when you don't have the facts on your side, use emotion. Graham did both and it was an amazing political performance.
Did Christine Blasey Ford make up the incident as part of a Democratic Party conspiracy or did it happen but she has mistaken Kavanaugh for someone else? Or did Kavanaugh attempt to rape Blasey Ford and is guilty of that and some of the other alleged misconduct and is lying?
B. Is Brett Kavanaugh a Violent Drunk & a Liar?
Kavanaugh also appears to have issues with alcohol abuse. Many college age kids, back in the day when the drinking age was 18, did abuse alcohol. Kavanaugh released a calendar from that period of his life, which seems to provide evidence that he did a lot of partying.
His close friend, Mark Judge, is included on the calendar, and when the attorney hired by the Republicans started pursuing that line of questioning, the Republicans asked her to stand down.
Mark Judge left the Washington, D.C. area at the time of the Kavanaugh Senate hearings, but a Washington Post reporter in a September 21, 2018 report said they had,
"tracked him down in Bethany Beach, Delaware, where he had been holed up in a beachfront house in recent days, ordered by Van Gelder [Judge's attorney] to leave town. "How'd you find me?" is all he said."
"Judge, 54, has chronicled the debauchery of his 1980s high school years as a student at Georgetown Prep, where he and Kavanaugh were self-proclaimed members of the "100 Kegs or Bust" club. In his 1997 memoir, "Wasted: Tales of a Gen X Drunk," he wrote of high school "masturbation class," said he "lusted after girls" at Catholic schools and referenced a passed-out "Bart O'Kavanaugh," who drank too much and once threw up in a car."
"He is a recovering alcoholic and is under unbelievable stress," Van Gelder [Judge's attorney] told the Post."
In a September 25, 2018 story the Washington Post reported the following,
"Judge's lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder, said he "is not speaking during the pendency of the Kavanaugh hearings."
To read more about this Washington Post story, including an interview with one of Kavanaugh's former teachers who talks about conversations about sex.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/100-kegs-or-bust-kavanaugh-friend-has-spent-years-writing-about-high-school-debauchery/2018/09/21/a8e0fe22-bb55-11e8-a8aa-860695e7f3fc_story.html?utm_term=.9f0e621121e6
Kavanaugh said he "liked beer" and responded when asked if he'd ever passed out,
"Passed out would be, no, but I've gone to sleep. But I've never blacked out, that's the allegation. And that's wrong."
A CNN report on October 1, 2018 reported a statement made by a former Yale classmate of Kavanaugh's. They tell us,
"Chad Ludington, a Yale classmate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, accused him on Sunday of being untruthful in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee and making a "blatant mischaracterization" of his drinking while in college."
You can find Ludington's full statement on CNN, but part of the statement asserts that Kavanaugh became belligerent while drinking and throwing beer in someone's face. This sort of aggressive behavior while intoxicated fits into the narrative of those who accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct at parties.
So Kavanaugh likes beer, but never passed out, but he did fall asleep. That reminds me of when Bill Clinton said he smoked pot, but did not inhale. In both cases, 'Yeah. Right."
As mentioned above, one of Brett Kavanaugh's high school friends is a recovering alcoholic who wrote a fictional book that appeared to reference Kavanaugh puking. A former Yale classmate says Kavanaugh appears to be lying based on things he witnessed. And two of Kavanaugh's sex offense accusers talk about being at parties where there was a lot of drinking.
So is Kavanaugh an aggressive alcoholic and a liar - or is he the target of a Left Wing funded Clinton smear campaign?
See it all on the Unreal Presidency TV Show.
C. Does Brett Kavanaugh have a Gambling Problem?
There's a fourth line of inquiry into whether or not Brett Kavanaugh has the integrity to sit as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. And that line of questioning revolves around what could possibly be Brett Kavanaugh's compulsive gambling.
According to Open Secrets Org the median net worth of the Supreme Court Justices was $4.6 million in 2017. Brett Kavanaugh's net worth is far below that with accounts totaling between $15,000 and $65,000 and his home, which was estimated to be worth about $1.2 million in 2006.
According to a September 12, 2018 report in the Huffington Post, Kavanaugh disclosed some information about his finances in 2003, around the time he was appointed to a job in the Bush Administration. The disclosure showed that Kavanaugh had debts between $60,000 and $200,000.
In 2016 Kavanaugh also showed debts between $60,000 and $200,000 in personal loans and credit card debt. In 2017, he disclosed no debts, meaning they were paid down below the reporting threshold. Kavanaugh claimed the debts were incurred to buy Nationals tickets, which he's held for 13 years and for which he claimed to have been repaid by a friend.
The graphics at right were shown on the Late Show with Steven Colbert on CBS. The Kavanaugh nomination has generated quite a bit of material for late night comedy shows. The Unreal Presidency of Donald Trump is a ratings winner, but as Leslie Moonves added - it may not be good for the nation.
Huffington Post report continued,
"... [in a] publicly disclosed email from 2001 ... Kavanaugh apologizes to his friends for "growing aggressive after blowing still another game of dice" on a weekend vacation in the Chesapeake Bay."
The Huffington Post Report mentions that Senator Sheldon Whitehouse asked Kavanaugh, who is a member of a very expensive country club [Chevy Chase costs $92,000 for admittance and $9,000 per year in dues] how he could afford these dues. Whitehouse also wanted to know how Kavanaugh's bank account went from $15,000 to $50,000 without any capital gains in 2009, and from $100,000 to $250,000 in 2010.
A Mother Jones September 13, 2018 report notes that,
"As recently as 1976, the club refused to admit Jewish and African American members."
Brett Kavanaugh was reported to play poker there.
Mother Jones continues,
"A number of the questions Whitehouse sent Kavanaugh dealt with the house he bought in tony Chevy Chase, Maryland, in 2006 for $1.225 million. Kavanaugh would have needed $245,000 in cash for the traditional 20 percent down payment on the house. But in 2005, when his nomination to the DC Circuit was pending, Kavanaugh reported a total net worth to the Senate of about $91,000, which reflected a mere $10,000 in the bank and $25,000 in credit card debt. According to his financial disclosure forms before and after the purchase of his house in 2006, Kavanaugh's liquid assets and bank balances never totaled more than $65,000, and those balances didn't decline after the purchase of the house."
It's worth mentioning that Mother Jones also noted that the closest a Supreme Court nominee has ever come to financial scandal in recent times was Trump appointment Neil Gorsuch, who co-owns a fishing lodge in Colorado with top deputies of Philip F. Anschutz, a billionaire who pushed for Gorsuch's appointment.
Kavanaugh's written rebuttal regarding the murky nature of his personal finances was,
"We have not received financial gifts other than from our family which are excluded from disclosure in judicial financial disclosure reports,"
Click here to view the full Huffington Post and Mother Jones stories about how questionable or possibly corrupt Brett Kavanaugh's finances appear to be.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-debts-sheldon-whitehouse_us_5b982a36e4b0511db3e6e487
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/the-many-mysteries-of-brett-kavanaughs-finances/
So, does Brett Kavanaugh have temper issues, which were on display in his testimony on Thursday, September 27, 2018, which have been reported in the sexual misconduct offenses, the allegations of heavy drinking and in tandem with his gambling. And have his drinking and gambling behaviors compromised his finances, leaving him vulnerable to temptations of those seeking favorable rulings?
Or is what appears to be Brett Kavanaugh's potential gambling problem and murky financial disclosure only a coincidence?
Conclusion - SURELY WE CAN DO BETTER
I know there are many fine judicial candidates in this country, who have the educational background, legal and judicial experience and - something that appears sorely lacking in Kavanaugh's case - integrity to be nominated and approved to be a judge on the Supreme Court.
Given all of the questionable issues surrounding the character of Brett Kavanaugh, I hope the Russian funded President and Senate Republicans will withdraw Kavanaugh's candidacy or vote him down.
To make Brett Kavanaugh a Supreme Court Justice is to make a mockery of the courts and our democracy.
There's an inscription on one of the statues in the front of the Appellate Court House adjacent to Madison Square Park in New York City that states the following,
"Every law not based on wisdom is a menace to the State."
I have a corollary to that, which is as follows,
"Every Supreme Court Justice who is appointed with questionable integrity, is a menace to the national trust in the American court system."
Contact your Senator and the following swing vote Senators to let them know how you feel.
The swing votes on this nomination are Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Democratic Senator Joe Donelly of Indiana and Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.
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