Alby's Latest Posts
Sept. 30 Open Thread: America Dances the Limbo
America’s pundits have had a chance to ponder the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process, and they have reached a sort of rough consensus: This is nuts. For those like Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir, it confirmed what they’ve been saying since Trump’s nomination — our political system is in pitiful shape. What struck me on Thursday is that […]
Flake’s Version: Yep, It Was Coons
From an article in The Atlantic by Mary Coppins, who asked Jeff Flake if the impassioned lecture he got from a rape survivor spurred his compromise call for a limited FBI investigation (emphasis mine): I don’t know if there was any one thing, but I was just unsettled. You know, when I got back to […]
Sept. 29 Open Thread: Biden Lies Low in the Shadow of Anita Hill
For somebody who’s supposedly weighing a presidential run, Joe Biden sure has been quiet during the year’s biggest political drama. Not without reason — Republicans are following his 1991 playbook for the Anita Hill hearing, using things he said to Clarence Thomas as justification for their deference to Brett Kavanaugh. Biden has had a comity […]
Did Chris Coons Save the Day? Updated: Now With Video
Sure sounds that way. We’ll probably get more details by morning, but Sen. Chris Coons is getting prominent mention across the media for his role in brokering a deal with Arizona’s Jeff Flake to delay a final Kavanaugh vote for a week while the FBI investigates “credible allegations,” which probably means ix-nay on the angrape-gay. […]
Sept. 28 Open Thread: Kavanaugh’s Guilt, Not the Election, Is the Reason for the Rush
This morning’s committee vote to push Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination through to the full Senate served as a fitting anti-climax to yesterday’s blockbuster hearings. The Common Wisdom on the Republican rush job on Kavanaugh is that they want to boost enthusiasm among the base, but I think that’s a cover story. The most enlightening part of […]
Song of the Day 9/28: “Africa,” Weezer w/ Weird Al Yankovic
If you’re one of those people who hated Toto’s 1982 soft-rock hit “Africa” — and they were pretty easy to find back then — I have some bad news for you. While the rest of us were going on with our lives, the internet developed a taste for the song, to the the point where […]
Sept. 27 Open Thread: Kavanaugh Personifies Class Privilege
The Brett Kavanaugh saga has exposed the ugliest side of America — its upper crust. As Chauncey de Vega notes, Kavanaugh has benefited at every step of his life from the fact that he’s a support network of class privilege. The problem isn’t what Brett Kavanaugh did as a youth, Josh Marshall says. It’s that […]
Sept. 26 Open Thread: UD Poll Shows Huge Leads for Carper, LBR
A University of Delaware poll found enormous leads for Sen. Tom Carper and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, but the most shocking figure was Republican Senate candidate Rob Arlett’s anemic 22% support. Both parties are dying, but the GOP is dying faster. This Kavanaugh stuff really has people worked up. Michael Tomasky, a longtime journo not […]
Perspective, People
Wish I had a nickel for every conservative lamenting that liberals are trying to “ruin” Brett Kavanaugh’s life. Just for perspective, let’s remember that if he fails to gain a seat on the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh will be forced to stay in his current job, which provides him with lifetime employment if he wishes at […]
Sept. 25 Open Thread: Trump Brings U.N. Gift of Laughter
Not content with being a figurative laughingstock anymore, Donald Trump broke out his FIGJAM act (Fuck I’m Great, Just Ask Me) at the U.N. this morning and became a literal laughingstock as well. When he started bragging about how his administration is the greatest in U.S. history, the room full of world leaders broke out […]
Go to Jail, Go Directly to Jail: Cosby Gets 3 to 10
Bill Cosby, ruled a “sexually violent predator” when Judge Steven T. O’Neill upheld a state board’s finding, was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison for his assault on Andrea Constand. Defense attorneys requested that Cosby be granted freedom on bail while the sentence is appealed. It was denied. Now do you see why […]
Sept. 24 Open Thread: Democrats Thrust the Knife Deeper
I don’t know if Democrats planned all this — my first instinct is they’re not smart enough — but even if Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to what will become a farcical Keystone Kourt, they already have won more than they lost in this confirmation fight. Not all Republicans are stupid (and no, not all stupid […]
Second Accuser Creates Kavanaugh Chaos
The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow reports that Democrats are investigating a story from one of Brett Kavanaugh’s freshman classmates at Yale classmate with sketchy memories of a sexually-charged party game. Farrow checked with several classmates she said were there, none of whom recalled the incident. His roommate, James Roche, said he never witnessed Kavanaugh engage […]
Recent Comments