Sex, Lies and the Supreme Court

We live in a world where it it now possible for a woman who was sexually assaulted at a younger age to wait until many years later to take down her male tormentor, who in the meantime has become rich and powerful and is on his way to bigger things if his past didn't catch up to him.

President Donald Trump's nominee for Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh, is on the fast track to be confirmed by a Republican Senate in spite of efforts by pesky Democrats to derail the nomination on the grounds of (A) being the President's toady, and (B) the lack of real information about his qualifications.  Other than that, why the rush?

Enter Christine Blesey Ford, a psychologist and university professor from California.  She alleges that while in high school in the 1980s, Kavanaugh held her down and raped her at a party.

Enter Deborah Ramirez, a social worker from Colorado who was once Kavanaugh's classmate at Yale, claiming she unwittingly touched his exposed penis during a drinking game.

Suddenly, Kavanaugh's fast track nomination is coming off the rails.  Both women (and maybe others) want the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear them out, and that could happen before the end of this week.  Kavanaugh has been busily defending himself by denying everything, pointing fingers at the "vast left-wing conspiracy" that seem to be pulling the strings.

You might wonder why Ford, Ramirez and others chose to risk their lives and careers at this late hour over something that may or may not have happened decades ago.  It's for the same reason women who have been in a similar situation found it difficult to make their case to authorities:  No one believes them.  Their tormentors threatened them.  It's her word against his.  Volumes of so-called "rape kits" are either unexamined or unopened.  And so on and on.

Anyone here remember Anita Hill?  Back in 1991, she testified in front of an all-male Senate Judiciary Committee about how she was sexually harassed by then-nominee Clarence Thomas in graphic detail.  Riveting and salacious stuff for the era prior to Bill Clinton's affair with an intern and Trump's dalliances with porn stars, but it didn't matter.  Thomas was confirmed shortly after he declared the whole process a "high tech lynching".  He still serves as a Supreme Court justice.  Two of the Republican members of that committee--Senators Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley--are also deciding Kavanaugh's fate.

This is what Ford, Ramirez and other women who have yet to come forward have to face.  No matter how emotionally compelling their testimony to the Senate committee might be, Trump and the GOP are going to make damn sure Kavanaugh takes his seat inside the Supreme Court chambers.  There he can exact his revenge by helping rule against the progress women and others have made in the past few decades.

Whatever happens, let's all see how this plays out in November and beyond. 

The Not-So-Marvelous Emmys

The Television Academy saluted its best at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards Monday in Los Angeles against a backdrop of the rise of streaming channels, an intense dislike of President Donald Trump, questions of whether Hollywood is really all that dedicated to diversity, and the continuing sacrifice of prominent but allegedly lecherous males to the #MeToo movement--the latest victim being Les Moonves of CBS.

HBO and Netflix both had 23 Emmy winners. HBO's best included "Game of Thrones" for best drama, Peter Dinklage of "GOT' for best supporting actor in a drama, Henry Winkler and Bill Hader of "Barry" as best supporting actor and actor (in that order).   Thandie Newton won a Best Supporting Actress in a drama nod for "Westworld". Netflix's limited series western "Godless" won Emmys for Merritt Wever and Jeff Daniels in supporting roles, while "The Crown" notched up a Best Actress in a drama tally for Claire Foy.  Also in the limited series category, Regina King won Best Actress for the drama "Seven Seconds".

But it was "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" on Amazon's Prime service that took home five Emmys, including Best Comedy, Best Actress in a comedy for Rachel Brosnahan, Best Supporting Actress for Alex Borstien, and writing and directing nods for the show's creator Amy Sherman-Palladino.

Some of the other Emmys went to: "The Assassination of Gianni Versace" for Best Limited Series, including Darren Criss for best actor in that category.  Matthew Rhys of "The Americans" won for best dramatic actor.

The three-hour Emmy telecast on NBC, co-hosted by Colin Just and Michael Che of "Saturday Night Live", felt like an extended episode of the show.  Or should we say the second half of the show, which usually features the weakest material?  What, Jimmy Fallon or Seth Meyers weren't available?  Also, it would have helped if they had used graphics for the winners while they made their acceptance speeches.  Not many of us know who these people are, or what show they represent.

What will be remembered--if at all--from these Emmys were a video of the late Aretha Franklin singing "Amazing Grace" during the In Memoriam segment (which inevitably will lead to quibbles over who was left out), and a marriage proposal from the guy who won for directing the Oscars to his girlfriend.   Yes, she accepted.

To sum it up, "Mrs. Maisel" had a marvelous evening.  The Emmys did not.

Random Thoughts: Playing Catch Up

OK, we've been away for awhile.  What did we miss?

John McCain (1936-2018)  

The Arizona senator died just a day after refusing any more treatments for his brain cancer.  While being hailed as a "war hero" who spent much of the Vietnam conflict as a guest of the Hanoi government, and as one of the few Republican critics of President Donald Trump, McCain was also responsible for being part of the Keating Five during the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, and for choosing Sarah Palin as his 2008 presidential running mate.  Neither Trump nor Palin were invited to McCain's memorial services, where former President Barack Obama (his '08 opponent) and daughter Meghan McCain delivered powerful eulogies that also served as rebukes to That Man in the White House.  John McCain was 82.

Palace Revolt?

It seems that those remaining staffers who still work for the White House have been scrambling to keep Trump from doing more harm than he already has, even to the point of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would remove a President for being mentally unfit to serve.  That's the vibe we've been getting from the information that's been coming from Bob Woodward's just-released book "Fear--Trump In The White House", and from a New York Times opinion column by a senior official who wishes to remain anonymous.

The President's response has been nothing short of predictable.  He accused Woodward, who has won awards for his coverage of every President since Richard Nixon, of being a bad reporter and has called the book "fiction".  He has also demanded a Justice Department investigation into who actually wrote the Times article.

However many headlines that were created by Woodward's book and "Anonymous'" column, they still don't tell us a blessed thing that we didn't already know about this President.  The one thing we need to know is why he's still in office, and what are we going to do about it.

The Kavanaugh Express

Neither protesters, Democratic opposition nor cover-your-rear answers will stop Senate Republicans from putting Brett Kavanaugh on the fast track to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice.  There are the arguments that President Trump shouldn't be nominating justices while he himself is in legal hot water, and that all the information on Kavanaugh was released too late for Senators on the Judiciary Committee to get a handle on.  But that doesn't seem to matter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his gang.  They want a conservative-dominated court that could last to the end of this century, and by George, it looks like they're going to get one.


Trump's "Heckuva Job" on Puerto Rico

As another major hurricane is set to strike the East Coast, Puerto Ricans are slowly getting their lives back together after the fury of Maria.  President Trump recently praised federal officials for being "incredibly successful" in their handling of the U.S. commonwealth's situation.  Uh, slow responses on food and supplies?  Taking nearly a year to get back on the electrical grid?  Nearly three thousand dead, according to updated estimates?  Heckuva job, indeed.

UPDATE (9/13/18):  Trump now says that three thousand people did not die during the hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico, claiming it was all a Democratic party plot to make him look bad.  All right, if three thousand did not die, how many of them did?  If it's around 20, like you first claimed, that would have been remarkable.  Who knew statistics were subject to political interpretation?

Truth In The Rear View Mirror

You've heard that objects in the rear view mirror might be closer than you think?  That's what it looks like for the fate of Donald Trump's presidency as the past continues to haunt him.

• Paul Manafort, the President's former campaign manager, was indicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud charges.  That's not all.  He'll face another trial soon.
• Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, has pled guilty to various campaign finance violations.  Cohen accuses the President of signing off on payments intended to keep adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy bunny Karen McDougal from talking, weeks before the 2016 elections.
• John Brennan, who was CIA director under President Barack Obama, has seen his security clearance stripped mainly for accusing Trump of treason for his alleged mishandling of the Russian voting scandal.  The White House has indicated more might join Brennan out of the loop.
• Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who is now Trump's mouthpiece, continues to embarass himself on TV by saying things that would feel right at home in George Orwell's "1984":  "Truth isn't truth", which was later amended to "truth is relative".

Trump reacted to all this with his usual angry tweets (just as First Lady Melania speaks out against cyber bullying) and yelling "no collusion" or "witch hunt" to anyone who'll listen, as well as boasting about how he could "take over" Robert Mueller's job of investigating alleged Russian meddling.  He even considers campaign finance violations and collusion as anything but crimes.

Fortunately for Trump, he's still President of the United States.  As long as he doesn't resign or get impeached before his term in office ends, the chances of indictment and/or conviction is slim to none, though the Constitution doesn't say much about prosecuting a President.

There has not been much talk of impeachment even after this week's developments.  The Democrats fear any talk of that might jinx their chances of retaking Congress this November.  The Republicans, in thrall to the President and his fanatical base, are keeping quiet if they know what's good for them.

The Trump-mobile is running at full speed, trying to outdistance the patrol car whose driver has a warrant for the President's arrest.  How will this end?  Will Donald Trump go down in a blaze of glory that would have made Thelma and Louise envious?

Aretha Franklin (1942-2018): With All Due R-E-S-P-E-C-T

They did not call Aretha Franklin the Queen of Soul for nothing.  She had the pipes and the conviction in her music that others couldn't match.  And she helped break a few barriers too, in a career that spanned over half a century.

Over 100 of Franklin's songs made the pop and R&B charts between the mid-1960s and the '90s, including "Respect", "Chain of Fools", "Think", "I Never Loved a Man", "Freeway of Love", "Who's Zoomin' Who?", and duets with Annie Lennox of Eurhythmics ("Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves") and George Michael ("I Knew You Were Waiting For Me").  More than 75 million records have been sold worldwide.

Franklin had won 18 Grammy awards, including eight in a row for Best Female Vocal R&B Performance.  She was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.  Rolling Stone magazine named her not only to the top of their "Greatest Singers of All Time", but also by leading their "100 Greatest Singers" survey.  The state of Michigan even made her voice a "natural resource".

Franklin sang at a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II, the first inaugurations of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and the funeral for Dr. Martin Luther King.  She performed the National Anthem at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and at the Super Bowl in her hometown of Detroit.  She also subbed for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti, singing an aria at the 1998 Grammy awards.

Her political and social activism extended from the pulpit of her father's church in Detroit through the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 70s.  Songs like "Respect" and "Think" reflected that time, and they still do in the era of Black Lives Matter and MeToo.

Aretha Franklin, after years of health problems, died at 76 in her Detroit home.  She leaves behind a legacy of music that will remind her fans now and in the future that a voice like hers could never be duplicated, no matter how hard they try.

The Queen of Soul is dead.  Long live the Queen.
 

As Omarosa Burns, Minnesota Votes

While Omarosa Manigault-Newman has been on the talk show circuit promoting her new book, which chronicles her short-lived career as a White House adviser to President Donald Trump, threatening to expose him through secret tapes as someone we already suspected he was . . . And while Trump uses unflattering language to describe an African-American woman who was once a contestant on his reality TV show . . . Minnesotans took to the polls and made history, turning out in record numbers for the state's political primaries.

The results from some of the contested races are as follows:

• Jeff Johnson, a former Hennepin County commissioner, scored an upset win over Tim Pawlenty in the GOP gubernatorial primary.  Former Governor Pawlenty lost not just because he flip-flopped on supporting Trump (who has endorsed Johnson), but also because voters didn't want to relive the way he nearly ran this state into the ground economically and otherwise during his two terms in office.
• Johnson will face Congressman Tim Walz, a Democrat (known in Minnesota as the DFL party) who won his primary by being better known in so-called "Greater Minnesota" than his Twin Cities-based opponents, Attorney General Lori Swanson and State Representative Erin Murphy (who was endorsed by outgoing Governor Mark Dayton).  Then again, Swanson didn't help herself by starting late and getting involved in scandals regarding her running mate Rick Nolan and misuse of her staff.
• The U.S. Senate seat that Al Franken had to give up due to a sex scandal will be contested between two women for the first time ever:  DFLer Tina Smith (who was appointed Senator by Governor Dayton) vs. the GOP's Karin Housley.  In other news, Republican Jim Newberger will try his best against DFL Senator Amy Klobuchar, whom nobody really wanted to compete against.
• Keith Ellison will face off against Republican Doug Wardlow for Swanson's state Attorney General job.  But the DFL congressman might be in big trouble if allegations of domestic abuse against his ex-girlfriend stick.
• Ilhan Omer is looking to become the first Somali-American to go to Congress, having won a crowded 5th District DFL primary to succeed Ellison.  Since this is a heavily Democratic district, Republican opponent Jennifer Zialinski has a tough task facing her.

So while the Omarosa circus continues and Paul Manafort's trial reaches its conclusion, Minnesota and voters across the country are proving that democracy still exists.  At least for now.

Smoke and Mirrors, Trump-style

"If You Could Believe Your Eyes and Ears" was the title of The Mamas and The Papas' debut album back in the 1960s.  It could also be used to describe President Donald Trump's efforts to deliver his own version of the truth, and how the mainstream media is trying to deal with it.

Trump has had a running feud with any media that isn't Fox News or Twitter since before he was elected.  Recently he met with A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the "failing" New York Times, during a White House visit.  Sulzberger later said he tried to get the President to stop using phrases like "fake news" or "enemy of the people" when referring to journalists, whom he feared might come to some kind of physical harm.

The Times publisher could have been referring to incidents like these:

• As boos rained down on the media covering Trump's appearance at the VFW convention in Kansas City, the President told his audience:  "Just remember what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening".  Which is an easy thing to say when your administration is so chaotic that nobody really knows what's going on, with the ongoing Russian election investigation that he calls a "witch hunt" and charges that he's getting too chummy with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
• A reporter for Trump's least-favorite network CNN named Kaitlan Collins was barred from a White House press event.  Her crime?  Daring to ask the President too many questions about his dealings with the Russians.
• Jim Acosta, another CNN reporter Trump loathes, was heckled by supporters at one of the President's campaign-style rallies in Tampa, Florida.
• There is dissension in the ranks, however.  First Lady Melania Trump reportedly watches anything she likes--including CNN.

Of course, the MSM has not exactly been helping themselves in the cause of preserving independent journalism.  The proposed merger of Sinclair's and Tribune's broadcast TV stations (for which the FCC is currently having second thoughts) and actual merger of AT&T and Time Warner (which owns CNN) could have a negative impact.  So are major layoffs at newspapers such as the New York Daily News and the Denver Post.

There are also reminders that responsible journalism still matters.  Prestigious awards are still handed out to deserving stations and networks, mostly for their breaking news coverage of disasters and mass shootings.  Newspapers like the Star Tribune in Minnesota still do major investigative pieces, such as the one they did recently on sexual assault victims who are still waiting for law enforcement to handle their cases years after the crime was committed.  This is what happens when you put money and resources into a news operation, not when you cut and cut and cut until there's nothing left or when you have an ideological bent to promote.

Trump can keep manipulating The Base into believing things are going great under his leadership as much as he wants.  But when he keeps denigrating the very people and organizations who exercise their First Amendment right to cover the President in a fair manner, we all become part of the little world he's created where every lie he tells becomes public policy and his subjects just lap it up.

No, we can't "believe our eyes and ears".  Not when the President challenges the notion of what is fake and what is real, and we all suffer for it.