Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the complete articles/ op eds.

Anxious human windsock Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins' home state newspaper has seen the real Brett "KavaNut" Kavanaugh, and therefore has seen enough:

...Based on what he demonstrated in his own testimony, Kavanaugh lacks the character and judgment to serve on the Supreme Court. 

In his widely watched appearance, Kavanaugh revealed that he has an explosive temper and resorts to bullying when he feels threatened. He was understandably under stress and fighting a high-stakes battle for his reputation, but his temperament was tested during the hearing, and he failed the test. 

Kavanaugh also showed himself to be impermissibly political for a job that is supposed to be above politics. We’re not naive. We understand that federal judges are nominated by presidents and confirmed by senators, and that electoral politics influences their decisions about who gets to serve. 

RIPPING OFF THE MASK 

But we have never had a Supreme Court nominee who ripped off the nonpartisan mask the way Kavanaugh did Thursday and identified himself as an enemy of a political party that represents the policy preferences of millions of Americans. He blamed his predicament on bizarre conspiracy theories, claiming that his troubles stemmed from “pent-up anger about President Trump” and opponents seeking “revenge on behalf of the Clintons” and were not the result of allegations that emerged while he was being evaluated for an important job. After his partisan rant, Kavanaugh will never be able to judge a case without the animus he expressed being considered a factor in his decision. This is not the road we want to take.  (our emphasis)

Are you paying attention, Sen. Collins?

Meanwhile, the FBI background investigation initiated by fellow anxious human windsock and retiring Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake has been (contain your shock) sharply constrained by the White House, despite pathological liar Donald "Rump" Trump's claims to the contrary:

Officials said the F.B.I.’s “limited” supplemental background check of Judge Kavanaugh could be finished by Monday morning. Set in motion late last week by three Senate Republicans, the inquiry was supposed to shed further light on accusations that Judge Kavanaugh engaged in sexual misconduct during his high school and college years and help resolve the fierce national debate over whether he should win confirmation to the Supreme Court. 

But the investigation’s apparent narrow reach has infuriated the judge’s critics, who said he should be subjected to a wide-ranging examination of his drinking and possible sexual misconduct. 

Instead, the F.B.I. was directed by the White House and Senate Republicans to interview just four people: Mark Judge and P.J. Smyth, high school friends of Judge Kavanaugh’s; Leland Keyser, a high school friend of one of Judge Kavanaugh’s accusers, Christine Blasey Ford; and Deborah Ramirez, another of the judge’s accusers.

Marcy Wheeler has an unvarnished take on the "fig leaf" investigation (and faults Dems and the media for their early buy-in):

This was about the easiest thing in the world to predict. Jeff Flake issues some hollow self indulgent bullshit to make himself look like the last great reasonable man, and it is all garbage being run as cover for a complicit Trump White House and weak Senate Republicans (and at least one faux Democrat) desperately and cowardly seeking any fig leaf possible to allow them to put a craven, partisan, angry and drunkard historical sex offender on the United States Supreme Court for the next three to four decades.

They're steering the FBI away from corroborating evidence that could be provided by both Dr. Ford's and Ms. Ramirez's contemporaneous friends and acquaintances.  Also, no checking into the lies KavaNut told during multiple confirmation hearings.  We'll have to leave that up to investigations by the new Democratic House.

The Miami Herald has a heart- wrenching article about the continuing suffering of our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico, over a year after Hurricane Maria:

The face of forgotten Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria could well be that of José Luis “Chegüi” Aponte Cruz, who lost his livelihood and everything in his home when the ferocious storm pushed the roiling sea a mile into this poor beachfront community, sweeping away much of what lay in its path. 

Maria smashed apart the bright yellow concrete beach kiosk where people once came for Chegüi’s famed bacalaítos, or codfish fritters. The storm took his freezer, his fridge and his stove, his tables and chairs, all uninsured. A year later, denied loans or government aid to reopen in a food truck, he has — like much of Puerto Rico — barely begun to recover. [snip]

An analysis by Miami Herald parent McClatchy of public data for FEMA’s housing assistance program found that, as of June 1, Maria survivors in Puerto Rico received an average of $1,800 for repair assistance. In contrast, survivors of Hurricane Harvey in Texas last year got $9,127. 

In many if not most cases, advocates and homeowners say, FEMA grants were hardly enough to replace lost appliances, furnishings and clothing, much less to make repairs sufficient to allow people to remain living safely at home, the purpose of the emergency aid.  (our emphasis)

As the article points out, Puerto Rico has been left to fend for itself by the incompetent, racist Trump regime and a Republican House and Senate only interested in enabling that rotted out regime.

We conclude, as always, with a strong recommendation to check out Infidel 753's excellent round- up of links to interesting blog posts from the last week (the post we did yesterday on 1914 Paris in color was via him).