Groups sue HHS for Brett Kavanaugh-related documents. Lambda
Legal and American Oversight are seeking to compel HHS to produce documents
ahead of Kavanaugh's confirmation vote for the Supreme Court.
They're
particularly focused on Kavanaugh's work on LGBTQ-related issues: He served as
staff secretary to President George W. Bush when the administration was
pursuing a ban on same-sex marriage, for instance, and the groups allege
Kavanaugh was the in-house expert on faith-based initiatives. "The public
deserves to know exactly how Kavanaugh handled LGBTQ civil rights issues during
his time in the White House," said American Oversight's Austin
Evers. See the lawsuit [POLITICO Pulse, September 14, 2018]
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ARCHETYPES
FOR POLARIZED TIMES
Christine Blasey
Ford, a
middle class, female university professor from California, could almost
personify the Democratic Party and its resistance to Trump.
She showed in her testimony Thursday that she’s no political conspirator;
indeed, her evident innocence of the wiles of politics gave her words much
of their credibility. But the simple facts of who she is made her a potent
symbol.
The same holds true for Kavanaugh, although with a twist.
As the Yale-educated son of an influential Washington lobbyist, he’s
certainly far removed in social class and upbringing from the rural,
evangelical Protestant, non-college-educated voters who make up so much of
Trump’s political base. But as a longtime Republican operative, he
instinctively knew how to tap the same well of grievance against liberal
elites that has cemented those voters to Trump.
The allegations against Kavanaugh mounted during the week. That may not
have helped his opponents. The third
allegation,
in particular, brought by a computer security contractor named Julie Swetnick, gave
Republicans an opportunity to take shots at her attorney, Michael Avenatti, and
portray all the accusations as political.
Still, as David Savage wrote, some of the biggest problems Kavanaugh faced
stemmed from his own words and the conflicting
accounts he has given of his teenage drinking.
Among the other figures who have been bruised by the Kavanaugh fight —
Sen. Dianne
Feinstein. As Sarah Wire wrote, the senior Democrat on the
Judiciary Committee has
gotten intense criticism from Republicans over how she handled the
accusations against the nominee.
We still don't know if the wrenching
and emotional testimony on Thursday actually changed a single Senate
vote. Sen.
Jeff Flake of Arizona, who had insisted he wanted a
hearing where Ford could speak, announced Friday that he would give
Kavanaugh the benefit of the doubt.
As Jennifer Haberkorn, Wire and Savage wrote, when the final roll call
comes early next week, the deciding votes, and as has often been the case,
appear to be in the hands of Sens.
Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
But any forecast of the vote has to begin with the reality that the 51
Republican senators who make up the majority represent a constituency
that’s much whiter, more conservative and more rural than the nation as a
whole.
Because each state has an equal vote in the Senate, the chamber has always
had a counter-majoritarian aspect. That’s more true now than it was a
generation ago when Thomas won confirmation, and likely will be even truer
after this year’s midterm elections.
Against that background, Ford’s accusation of sexual assault and
Kavanaugh’s angry denial and counter-accusation of a left-wing plot to
destroy his good name could not have been better designed to widen
the gulf separating the two sides of a polarized nation.
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TRUMP
SETS A TONE
The anger in Kavanaugh’s voice
as he denounced the allegations against him pleased the man who nominated
him, aides said.
Trump had thought Kavanaugh didn’t show enough fight earlier in the week
when he sat for an interview with Fox. And he publicly blamed Senate
Republicans for not ramming the nomination through to a vote more quickly,
before the accusations against Kavanaugh could take root.
On Tuesday, he denounced
the allegations as part of a “con game,” as Wire and Eli Stokols
wrote.
Then on the eve of the hearing, he amplified his complaints, saying for the
first time publicly that his
view of the allegations against Kavanaugh was colored by his own experience of having
been accused of sexual misconduct.
If Kavanaugh wins confirmation, Trump will surely claim credit for having
rescued the situation.
If he loses, the president will blame Senate leaders and implore voters in
red states to send him more loyal backers. That prospect continues to worry
some Democratic strategists, who have tried to protect incumbents running
for reelection in places like West Virginia, Indiana and North Dakota — the
three states whose Democratic senators have yet to announce how they will
vote. [LA TIMES, Essential
Politics, September 28, 2018]
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DAY
TWO OF FALLOUT from
CBS's firing of longtime "60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager
began with Jericka Duncan - the CBS reporter who received the bullying text
messages from Fager that prompted his ouster - appearing
on the network's morning
show.
Duncan said she interpreted Fager's texts as a threat, adding, "This is
someone who held an enormous amount of power here, who I respected and I was
shocked."
- Fager,
of course, left amid allegations (which he has denied) that he
inappropriately touched female employees and condoned a culture of sexual
harassment at "60 Minutes". At the Washington Post, columnist
Margaret Sullivan ticked through Les Moonves, Charlie Rose, Mark Halperin, Bill
O'Reilly and Roger Ailes, asking how the
country would be different "if power-happy and misogynistic men hadn't
been running the show in so many influential media organizations - certainly
not just CBS."
-
Sullivan wrote, "A
media figure doesn't have to show up for a business meeting in an open bathrobe
to do harm ... He can help frame the coverage of a candidate's supposedly
disqualifying flaws. He can squelch a writer's promising work. He can threaten
an underling's job if she doesn't stay in line and remember who really runs the
show around here." [Morning Media,
September 14, 2018]
BEZOS TAKES ON TRUMP: Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos criticized
Trump's rhetoric on media last night in an interview hosted by the Economic
Club of Washington, POLITICO's Steven Overly reports. "It's
really dangerous to demonize the media," Bezos said. "It's dangerous
to call the media lowlifes. It's dangerous to say they're the 'enemy of the
people.'" The Post owner also said, "It is a mistake for any elected
official in my opinion ... to attack media and journalists. I believe that it's
an essential component of our democracy. [Morning
Media, September 14, 2018]
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| MARIJUANA |
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| READ |
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| MIDDLE EAST |
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| INDONESIA |
Indonesia
The death toll keeps rising in Palu as desperation grows for survivors of last week's earthquake and tsunami. At least 1,234 have been killed, and crews keep finding bodies in the rubble. Residents in Palu faced a fifth day without adequate food and clean drinking water. Motorists lined up for hours just to get a bit of gas. International help is on the way, with the Red Cross sending seven tons of logistical supplies, and Australia giving an initial $500,000 in aid. Here's how you can help. [Good Morning from CNN, October 2, 2018]
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| KRGYZSTAN |
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North Korea: U.S. ‘Smear Campaign’ Undercuts Trump Agreement
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The rocky relationship between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un
has hit another low. North Korea has accused the U.S. on Friday of making
up “preposterous falsehoods” after Washington charged an alleged hacker for
the North Korean government over a series of cyberattacks. The statement,
signed by a researcher at a foreign ministry institute, said the charges
could undermine the agreements reached between Trump and Kim Jong Un that
were signed earlier this year. “The U.S. is totally mistaken if it seeks to
gain anything from us through preposterous falsehoods and highhandedness,”
wrote Han Yong Song. “The U.S. should seriously ponder over the negative
consequences of circulating falsehoods and inciting antagonism against the
DPRK that may affect the implementation of the joint statement adopted at
the DPRK-U.S. summit.” The statement went on to call Park Jin Hyok, accused
of hacking on behalf of the North Korean military, a “nonentity”
and called the charges “vicious slander and another smear campaign.” [The Daily Beast: AM Cheat Sheet, September 14, 2018]
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| MALAYSIA |
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| CHILE |
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| COLOMBIA |
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| EL SALVADOR |
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| CUBA |
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| ST KITTS |
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| HAITI |
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