Michael1942's Blog

Will “Bitch” McConnell play politricks and push for confirmation or will TOTUS allow his ego to play out and withdraw the nomination? MA

More Than 500 Law Professors Condemn Kavanaugh For ‘Lack Of Judicial Temperament’

Matt Ferner
,
HuffPost•October 2, 2018

More than 500 law professors from nearly 100 law schools around the nation have signed a letter to the U.S. Senate to say that the volatile temperament Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh displayed on Thursday as he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee disqualifies him from sitting on the nation’s highest court.
“We regret that we feel compelled to write to you to provide our views that at the Senate hearings on Thursday, September 27, 2018, the Honorable Brett Kavanaugh displayed a lack of judicial temperament that would be disqualifying for any court, and certainly for elevation to the highest court of this land,” the letter says.
The letter is signed by many high-profile law professors, including eight from Yale Law School, where Kavanaugh obtained his law degree. The letter remains open for additional signatures through Thursday, when it will be presented to the Senate.
The legal experts fault Kavanaugh for failing to remain open to the necessary search for truth after being accused of sexually assaulting a girl when he was a teen and instead becoming “repeatedly aggressive with questioners.” The signees also criticize the judge for indicating that he believes allegations made by professor Christine Blasey Ford and other women are “a calculated and orchestrated political hit” by members of the Democratic Party rather than acknowledging that the Senate must try to understand and investigate the facts surrounding the allegations.
“Instead of trying to sort out with reason and care the allegations that were raised, Judge Kavanaugh responded in an intemperate, inflammatory, and partial manner, as he interrupted and, at times, was discourteous to questioners,” the letter reads. The law professors cite two statutes, governing bias and recusal, that require a judge to step aside if he or she is at risk of being perceived as being unfair.
Here’s a copy of their letter:
Signed Law Prof Kavanaugh L… by on Scribd
The FBI is investigating Blasey’s allegation that a drunken, teenaged Kavanaugh pushed her into a room, pinned her on a bed, groped her and covered her mouth when she tried to scream during a gathering of high school friends. Kavanaugh has denied her allegation, along with allegations of sexual misconduct from two other women. On Friday, Republicans gave the FBI one week to look into these claims.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is eager to put Kavanaugh on the court, regardless of the allegations against him, said Tuesday that he’s aiming to hold Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote this week.
“We have differing views about the other qualifications of Judge Kavanaugh,” the professors state in the letter. “But we are united, as professors of law and scholars of judicial institutions, in believing that Judge Kavanaugh did not display the impartiality and judicial temperament requisite to sit on the highest court of our land.”
Another open letter was also made public Tuesday, this one directed at Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), signed by more than 800 faculty, administrators and staff at colleges and universities who live and work in Maine, urging her to vote no on Kavanaugh’s nomination. All of the signatories have students and colleagues who are survivors of sexual violence, and many who signed the letter are survivors themselves.
“We are at an historic juncture, and your vote, your words, and your actions as our representative will be a focal part of what happens this week,” the letter to Collins says. “Will you send a message to the tens of millions of American women and men who are victims of sexual violence that their experiences will be met with indifference and even disbelief? Or will you make a choice for the greater good, and send the message that survivors can trust that they will be heard if they have the courage to come forward?”
• This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

Following articles show how the Conservatives with the aid of TOTUS are trying to put another bad fit for the high court in place at any cost.MA

Trump: ‘This is a very scary time for young men in America’

WASHINGTON — President Trump stands firmly with the accused.
During a Tuesday gaggle with reporters gathered on the White House lawn, Trump expressed his sympathy for men — like his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — who have been accused in the #MeToo era of having committed sexual transgressions.
“It is a very scary time for young men in America when you could be guilty of something you may not be guilty of,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn before boarding Marine One. “This is a very, very — this is a very difficult time.”
President Trump talks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Tuesday before boarding Marine One for a trip to Pennsylvania and Tennessee. (Photo: Reuters/Leah Millis)
Trump was asked about comments made by son, Don Jr., who stated that he was more afraid for his sons than his daughters in the era of #MeToo accusations.
“It’s a tough thing going on,” Trump said. “You can be an exemplary person for 35 years and then somebody comes along, and they say you did this or that, and they give three witnesses, and the three witnesses at this point do not corroborate what she’s saying. It’s a very scary situation where you’re guilty until proven innocent.”
Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court has been delayed as the FBI conducts an investigation into allegations made by three women that he sexually assaulted them or others decades ago. Kavanaugh has steadfastly denied all allegations against him, describing them as attacks by Democrats to derail his nomination.
At least 22 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct between the late 1970s and 2013. Trump has likewise denied the allegations made against him.
In Bob Woodward’s “Fear: Trump in the White House,” the author quotes Trump telling a friend about his strategy in cases involving sexual accusations: “You’ve got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women. If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you’re dead. That was a big mistake you made.”
Trump and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders have dismissed Woodward’s book as a work of fiction.
Asked by Yahoo News on Tuesday whether he had a message for young women, Trump responded, “Women are doing great.”
McConnell: Democrats are aiming ‘mud and muck’ at Kavanaugh
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell accused Democrats on Tuesday of opening “the flood gates of mud and muck” against Brett Kavanaugh as Republicans sought to portray efforts to derail the Supreme Court nominee over accusations of sexual assault in the 1980s as “the politics of personal destruction.”
President Donald Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he still supports Kavanaugh but said it is “a scary time for young men” who could become the subject of false accusations. He suggested it was troubling that people were found “automatically guilty” and had to prove their innocence.
Trump also said in response to a reporter’s question that it “would not be acceptable” if Kavanaugh had lied to Congress during his testimony.
Democrats are raising questions both about the truthfulness of Kavanaugh’s sworn testimony to the Senate and whether he has the temperament for the lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.
McConnell’s combative remarks about Democrats came as Trump and lawmakers await the FBI’s reopened background check on the accusations against the 53-year-old jurist. Kavanaugh, whose Senate confirmation has been thrown into doubt by the accusations, has denied the claims by all three women.
The FBI has finished interviewing Kavanaugh friend Mark Judge, who was said to have attended a high school gathering in the early 1980s where Christine Blasey Ford says she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh. A lawyer for Judge, who has denied any wrongdoing, declined to say when the interview finished or what Judge was asked.
The agency is under White House orders to complete its probe by week’s end but can interview anyone it wants, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Democrats are pressing the investigators to expand their list of witness interviews but have agreed with the timeline. McConnell has said the Senate will vote on Kavanaugh this week.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation hinges on a handful of key Republican and Democratic senators who have not yet fully tipped their votes, including Republican Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The votes from the three Republicans and those of red-state Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota will largely determine whether Kavanaugh is confirmed.
Both Murkowski and Collins on Tuesday said they are satisfied with the scope and pace of the FBI’s background investigation.
But asked about McConnell pledge to move forward with a vote this week, Murkowski told The Associated Press that McConnell “talked about a vote a last week, too.”
Collins, who was riding with Murkowski on an underground Senate train, smiled and told her colleague, “Good answer.”
Flake, meanwhile, on Tuesday said senators have to give Kavanaugh some leeway for his combative testimony las week, given the nature of the accusations against him. But he also said the judge’s interactions with members of the Judiciary Committee were “sharp and partisan and that concerns me.”
“We can’t have this on the court. We simply can’t,” Flake said at an event hosted by The Atlantic.
The White House aides and allies said Tuesday that they remained optimistic Kavanaugh would be confirmed but frustrated with the delay on a vote. Some thought the drip-drip of new stories about the judge’s college drinking exploits may help their case, arguing that the reports are veering away from the original accusation of assault.
McConnell is expected to lead the efforts to whip support for Kavanaugh, along with senators who are close to the key swing votes. Trump is unlikely to make direct appeals to the lawmakers on the fence, as he does not have particularly close relationships with those senators.
“Hopefully, they’ll have a vote by the end of the week and it will be a positive vote, but it will be dependent on what comes back from the FBI,” Trump said.
Schumer said Kavanaugh seemed willing to “mislead senators about everything from the momentous to the mundane” to ensure his confirmation.
“Is he telling the truth? That issue supersedes all the others,” Schumer said Tuesday.
Schumer said that to assert that Ford went public with her allegation for political reasons is “so unfair, is so wrong.” The New York lawmaker said the claims of Kavanaugh’s accusers deserve a full investigation but stressed that the FBI review should be finished this week.
McConnell said Democrats are intent simply on stopping Kavanaugh’s nomination, no matter what it takes.
He said that soon after the revelation of a letter by Ford asserting that Kavanaugh abused her at a high school gathering in Maryland, “The floodgates of mud and muck opened entirely on Brett Kavanaugh and his family. Out of the woodwork came one uncorroborated allegation after another, each seemingly more outlandish than the last.”
“The politics of personal destruction were willfully unleashed” by Democrats, McConnell said, adding, “This is not politics as usual.”
Among the allegations McConnell criticized was one brought by a “tabloid lawyer” he did not name whose client has alleged she was victimized at a party attended by Kavanaugh friends and for which “there conveniently happened to be zero witnesses.” Julie Swetnick made that assertion in a sworn statement and is represented by Michael Avenatti, who also represents adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her claim that Trump paid her for silence about an alleged 2006 affair.
Meanwhile, a report released Tuesday by police in New Haven, Connecticut, says Kavanaugh was accused of throwing ice at a man during an altercation at a bar while in college. Kavanaugh was questioned after the 1985 altercation, but wasn’t arrested. The report says 21-year-old Dom Cozzolino told police that Kavanaugh threw ice at him for “some unknown reason.” Cozzolino said he then got hit on the ear with a glass.
A witness told police the man who threw the glass was Chris Dudley, Kavanaugh’s close friend. Dudley and Cozzolino didn’t immediately return messages on Tuesday.
The White House noted that Kavanaugh wasn’t arrested or charged and questioned the incident’s relevance.
Kavanaugh has emphatically denied Ford’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her at a gathering when they were teens. He has also denied an accusation from Deborah Ramirez, a classmate at Yale, who said he exposed himself to her at a dorm party more than 25 years ago. A third claim from Swetnick accuses Kavanaugh of excessive drinking and inappropriate treatment of women at parties in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh denies that as well.
Former classmates have stepped forward to challenge Kavanaugh’s testimony about his drinking. Charles “Chad” Ludington, who said he was a friend of Kavanaugh’s at Yale University and now teaches at North Carolina State University, called Kavanaugh “a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker.” But the White House released statements from two other Yale classmates Monday who said they never saw Kavanaugh black out or treat women with disrespect.
___
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Michael Balsamo, Catherine Lucey Mary Clare Jalonick and Matthew Daly in Washington and Jonathan Lemire in New York contributed to this report.
___

‘The notion that *every* woman must be believed is absurd’: Megyn Kelly accused of victim-shaming Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick
Suzy Byrne 5 hours ago

NBC News landed the first interview with Julie Swetnick, the third Brett Kavanaugh accuser, and while the network’s Magen Kelly didn’t conduct the interview, she had a lot to say about it and the credibility of Swetnick, leading many to accuse her of victim shaming.

The NBC personality has been all over the Kavanaugh coverage and posted several tweets about Swetnick on Monday, including one directed to the woman’s attorney, Michael Avenatti. In it, Kelly questioned Swetnick’s credibility. “Most women tell the truth, but not all do,” she wrote.

Will TOTUS bring these jobs back? MA
Chris Isidore 10 hrs ag

Sears, the company known for DieHard batteries and Kenmore appliances has been selling assets, most notably its Craftsman tool brand. After years of losing money and Amazon’s sales in North America surging, Sears has said that there is “substantial doubt” it will be able to keep its doors open. Sears, Roebuck & Company was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1886.
Sears stock has fallen into the bargain bin.
In the latest indignity for a once-grand retailer, the share price fell below $1 on Friday for the first time in the company’s history, dropping as much as 15% to 85 cents in midday trading.
Falling into loose-change territory is more than embarrassing. Nasdaq, the exchange where Sears stock trades, could delist the company. That’s a long process and would happen next year at the earliest.
Shares of Sears Holdings had already plunged 88% in the past year. They took another blow Monday, when CEO and primary shareholder Eddie Lampert warned the board that the company was running out of time and cash. He said Sears must restructure and cut its debt “without delay.”
Click here to see Sears Holdings’ (SHLD) latest share price
Lampert pointed to a $134 million debt payment due on October 15, and said the company must demonstrate to lenders by Monday that it has required levels of cash in reserve, which could itself prove difficult.
Sears’ market value has fallen to less than $100 million. Lampert recently offered to buy the Kenmore appliance line through his hedge fund for $400 million, suggesting that the Kenmore brand on its own is worth more than four times as much as the whole company.
All of which is a stunning reversal for a company that was once not only the nation’s largest retailer, but also its largest employer.
In its heyday, Sears was both the Walmart and Amazon of its time. In the late 19th century and early decades of the 20th century, many Americans bought mass-produced goods for the first time through the Sears catalog. Most lived on farms and in small towns, and had previously made many of the goods they needed, such as clothes and furniture, themselves.
Sears stores helped reshape America itself, drawing shoppers away from traditional Main Street merchants and into malls, contributing to the suburbanization of the country after World War II. And its appliances introduced many American homes to labor-saving devices that changed family dynamics.
But long before the rise of Amazon and online shopping, Sears struggled to keep up with changing shopping habits.
Big box retailers such as Walmart beat it on both price and selection. In 1999, Sears was booted out of the Dow Jones industrial average, where it had been for 75 years. Home Depot took its place.
In more recent years, Sears has struggled just to stay alive.
It told investors last year that there was “substantial doubt” it could stay in business. Lampert’s latest warning to the board raised a similar warning. He said it was in the best interest of creditors and shareholders to restructure the company “as a going concern.”
Sears has lost $11.7 billion since 2010, its last profitable year, and sales have plunged 60% in that time. It has fewer than 900 stores, down from a combined 3,500 US stores when Sears and Kmart merged in 2005.
In July, the company closed the last Sears store in Chicago, its former hometown. And the company recently announced that 46 more stores will close just before the holiday shopping season.

Please Donate

It is unfortunate that we have so many neer do wells in Congress and they feel they are correct in all that they do. This is the way “conservatives” have always operated and it has never been good for ALL of us.MA.

Nick Visser,HuffPost September 27, 2018

Reuters • September 28, 2018

Trump: FBI doesn’t want to be involved in Kavanaugh sex assault claims

(Reuters) – The American Bar Association has called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to delay the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh so that the FBI can investigate the sexual assault accusations against him, the Washington Post reported.
Association President Robert Carlson requested the delay in a letter sent to the committee on Thursday evening, the Post reported, after a day of testimony by university professor Christine Blasey Ford who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her 36 years ago, and by Kavanaugh who denied it.
“The basic principles that underscore the Senate’s constitutional duty of advice and consent on federal judicial nominees require nothing less than a careful examination of the accusations and facts by the FBI,” Carlson wrote to Chairman Charles Grassley and ranking committee Democrat Dianne Feinstein that, the Post reported.
Kavanaugh, a conservative federal appeals court judge chosen by President Donald Trump, said he was the victim of “grotesque and obvious character assassination” orchestrated by Senate Democrats.
The Judiciary Committee, on which Republicans hold an 11-10 majority, was to meet on Friday morning and several senators said they expected it to vote then. The full Senate, controlled 51-49 by Trump’s fellow Republicans, could vote within days.
Kavanaugh was nominated by Trump and his confirmation would cement conservative control of the Supreme Court with disputes over abortion rights, immigration, gay rights, voting rights and transgender troops possibly heading toward the justices soon.
Ford’s allegation emerged last week and has been followed by other allegations. Some Democrats have called on Kavanaugh to withdraw in light of the allegations and have said an FBI investigation is needed before any Senate confirmation vote.
“Each appointment to our nation’s Highest Court (as with all others) is simply too important to rush to a vote,” Carlson wrote.
“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,” he added, the Post reported.

Please Donate