In a characteristically brilliant essay, historian, activist and writer Rebecca Solnit connects the dots between the sexual abuses of Jeffrey Epstein, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Brett Kavanaugh, Harvey Weinstein, and the unnamed 16-year-old boy whose admitted rape was excused because the judge said that This young man comes from a good family who put him into an excellent school where he was doing extremely well: in each case, there was an elaborate scheme to silence and discredit the survivors of sexual violence, abetted by networks of (mostly) men who treat the disclosure of sexual assaults as a worse offense than committing the assaults themselves. Read the rest

The Supreme Court has ruled on a key question in Apple Inc v Pepper, a class action suit arguing that the App Store violated antitrust law by driving up prices through the monopolistic tactic of prohibiting users from buying apps from third parties, and then taking a 30% commission on every app sold, which led software companies to raise prices in order to remain profitable after Apple had taken its cut. Read the rest

A crowdfunding campaign to cover security costs for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford raised $647,610 in two months, which far surpassed the initial goal of $150,000.

The woman who stood up to Trump Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh says she will donate all the extra money to organizations that support survivors of trauma.

But do go on about how she’s a gold-digging liar who fabricated the whole Kavanaugh thing for a payoff. Read the rest

Today on ABC's The View, Senator Jeff Flake admits that he doesn't know if Brett Kavanaugh, accused by three women of sexual assault, was telling the truth or not during his hearing before being confirmed to the Supreme Court.

It was Flake who had requested a delay in the confirmation process to make room for a week-long FBI-investigation into the sexual assault accusations against Kavanaugh.

At about 5:20 in the video, he's asked if he believed Ford, and he answers, "She was very compelling. He was very persuasive. I don't know. I don't know. I wish I had the certitude that some of my colleagues expressed. But I said on the floor before that hearing, we’re likely to hear the hearing with as much doubt as certainty. And that’s how I felt afterwards.”

Later, at 6:15, he's asked again, "So you didn't believe her?"

And he answers, "I don't know. I don't know if I believed him, either."

Via Daily Beast Read the rest

When Obama took office, he took over from one of the least popular presidents in US history, 22% George Bush, a liar who tortured and spied his way through an illegitimate war that we're still fighting, and next year's deployment will include soldiers who weren't even born when the war started. Read the rest

When Facebook hired Joel Kaplan to serve as Vice President for US Public Policy, who could have predicted that he would turn out to be a far-right partisan who would embarrass the company by throwing a victory bash for a serial rapist on the occasion of his being handed a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court? Read the rest

Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine gave a lengthy speech in the Senate today, announcing she'll vote in support of Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The judge is an accused serial sexual assaulter who repeatedly lied to lawmakers under oath during his confirmation hearings. It looks like Collins will cast the deciding "yes" vote to place Trump's dirty candidate on the nation's highest court. Read the rest

During the Senate hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump's supreme court nominee, a number of observers on Twitter noticed a weird detail. Read the rest

Yesterday, the Internet Archive published the 1983 edition of Cupola, the yearbook of Georgetown Prep, the elite academy and hive of rape-culture where would-be Supreme Court Justice drank his way through four years of tutelage. Read the rest

News reports and personal accounts from people who knew him show that Brett Kavanaugh lied again and again at his Senate confirmation hearing. How can this sputtering, raging, serial liar possibly be considered for the role of a Supreme Court justice? Read the rest

Tax Reform 2.0 was rammed through the House at the literal exact same moment that everyone in America was watching Brett Kavanaugh caper and gibber for the US Senate. Read the rest

The wonderful people of the Internet Archive have posted a scan of the 1983 edition of Cupola, the yearbook of Georgetown Prep, alma mater of a rageaholic blackout drunk widely favored by Republican Senators for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States Senate. Read the rest

Senator Jeff Flake doesn't look like he's convinced yet on whether or not Brett Kavanaugh is fit for the Supreme Court. At the The Atlantic festival in Washington D.C. today, he said he was "very troubled by the tone of the remarks" made by Kavanaugh last week during his hearing.

“I hope I would sound that indignant if I was unjustly maligned,” he said, “but then it went on. And the interaction with the members was sharp and partisan and that concerns me,” Flake said. "And I tell myself you give a little leeway because of what he's been through. But, on the other hand, we can't have this on the Court. We simply can't."

Via Daily Beast Read the rest

After more than 800 Harvard Law School alumni signed a letter asking the university to drop Brett Kavanaugh as a lecturer, Kavanaugh threw in the towel. The judged, accused of sexual assault, has been teaching at Harvard for about 10 years and was supposed to teach a course, “The Supreme Court Since 2005," next semester. Although the students hadn't yet submitted their letter, they were informed last night by a member of the law school curriculum committee that the Supreme Court nominee "... indicated that he can no longer commit to teaching his course in January Term 2019, so the course will not be offered.”

“Now more than ever," the students wrote, "HLS must send a clear message that it takes sexual violence seriously. The accusations against Judge Kavanaugh, including those by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, are credible and grave. They seriously call into question his character and morality, and should disqualify him from . . . any position of esteem, including lectureships at HLS.”

According to The Washington Post:

A Harvard Law School spokeswoman shared a message from [Dean John] Manning sent to students Friday, saying these had been painful, difficult times for the nation and their community, with the battle over the Supreme Court confirmation bringing into sharp focus “questions about sexual assault, fair process, fitness and character for high office, the integrity of the political process, and more.”

Image: by CSPAN - https://www.c-span.org/video/?181538-1/judicial-nominations, Public Domain, Link Read the rest

A "Devil's Triangle" is a widely used term for an act of sexual congress between two men and a woman; but during his hearing, Brett Kavanaugh nonsensically insisted that this was some sort of drinking game. Read the rest

Art is often most powerful when it makes you feel uncomfortable and Seattle-based artist John Criscitello has got that sentiment dialed in.

He shared his latest work -- a set of oh-so-wrong-they're-right throw pillow covers with images of Brett Kavanaugh's 1982 calendar -- on Facebook with the chipper message, "Great for your Beach House !"

Criscitello's "Beach Week" pillow covers are available on Redbubble in five sizes, starting at $24.98 each.

Thanks, Ben! Read the rest

Beach Week From Boing Boing, the free encyclopedia

Beach Week is a 2018 black comedy film written, produced, edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.^[1] The film stars George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Stephen Root, Josh Brolin and J. K. Simmons with William Zabka as Jeff Flake.^[2] It was released in the United States on September 28, 2018, and in the United Kingdom on October 17, 2018.

Beach Week Theatrical release poster Written and Directed by Joel CoenEthan Coen Starring George ClooneyFrances McDormandTilda SwintonBrad Pitt Release date September 30, 2018 (2018-09-12) (United States) Budget $420,000 ^[2] Box office $50,375,838 ^[3] Legerdemain Rob Beschizza^[4]Boing Boing Plot

Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Gary Oldman) has a difficult relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump (Stephen Root), whose incompetence and sheer vulgarity has made the party deeply unpopular. Looming midterm elections are expected to favor Democrats in a landslide, but the retirement of a Supreme Court justice presents a last opportunity for the GOP to remake America's political landscape for decades to come.

The party leadership is concerned that their ideal nominee, Amy Barrett (Tilda Swinton), is too conservative to pass muster with a closely-divided Senate. So top GOP aide George (George Clooney) concocts a plan to nominate a stalking horse candidate, Brett Kavanaugh (Brad Pitt) who party chiefs know to have a dark and disqualifying past. Read the rest