Understanding the US - Again

[UlanBatori]

So far:
Zero Govt. Shutdowns.
1 Tax reform passed. Say what u will, by my calculation, yaks and yak-herders benefit. yak-herder tribal bosses lose. that's what I call win-win.
SoKoNoKo love fest.
Cheen trade&economy hit.

I THINK I am hearing of a renegotiation of NAFTA into bilateral Mexico-US deal.
Confusion to the enemy: Oirope and Bexits biting each others' asses.

And Russia is still winning in Syria, death to the Obama-Clinton ISIS.

On KSA, I think Trump is betting that there enough Alauddin Khiljis and Aurangzebs around, to ensure that MS does not last.

So I think Trump had far more reason to gloat at the UN than ANY of the twerps sitting there snickering. Let's see: Europeans? :ROTFL they are broke.
Chinese? Waiting for the 4AM knock that ends their luxury ride. Islamic world? ISIS has got shattered, their whole world is in conflagration. Canadians? stinging from the trade kick in their musharrafs. British? turning into a sharia state, and broke. Africans? Not mentionable. South Americans? Couldn't even get into the WC final!

[UlanBatori]

They still need to "get" that DT got elected POT US. All the Oiropeans and their panthankarayas (Sinhalese term) can sneer all they want, it means nothing to the American voter.

Yes, one has to see the utter silence in the media about NoKo compared to the panic a year ago, (I mean for those that have that sort of attention span).

The Iran dance is still underway, but my prediction is something equally dramatic there: a formal love-fest between shiastan and yehudistan, driven by the prospect of IMMINENT MAD. That is DT's style.

Come on, you sons of ******, we better resolve this, or that Mad American Dumbass will ensure that both our nations are reduced to glowing cinders!!

For once I agree with you, you babies of camel-dung-beetles, let's get on with it. And we better do it before the orange-utan is replaced by the Mother of all Asses Democrat. Besides we can both agree that the real enemy is the oil-worm camel-buggering Wahabi sitting in Riyadh

ABCNews:

Iran and Israel today declared they will exchange cultural emissaries, teen dance groups and soccer teams. A smiling NutNYahoo patted Ayatollah Nukemjohnies on the back and called him a "long-lost cousin". The Ayatollah returned the compliment, calling NuNYahoo "my long-lost sixth cousin by my great-cousin's wife's chauffeur".

[Rudradev]

Rudradev, Are the Brett Kavanaugh assault allegations reverse Contra Power?

Ramana, on some reflection I think it is more than that.

If we look at the history of gender relations in the US, there is usually an uprising (by women/feminists), a counter-reaction (by the traditionalists), and then some accommodation or compromise brokered by the Establishment. Then people on both sides of the divide grow progressively more disenchanted with the new status-quo established by the accommodation, and the cycle repeats itself (usually with a new uprising among women).

In the 1920s, after a long struggle by suffragettes, women in America got the right to vote. This was a great victory for the first wave of feminism.

However, there was turmoil in the following decade. The depression era of the 1930s was a very "emasculating" time for American men... long accustomed to being the masters and sole providers of the household, they suddenly could not find employment, so they had to get used to the idea of their wives and daughters joining the workforce for the sake of the family's survival.

Then in the 1940s came WW2: and a time of war, traditionally, is one in which the status of males in a society is greatly exalted. The heroes who fought Hitler/Tojo and saved the world were all men; women were the ones who maintained civilization back home and kissed the soldiers and sailors when they returned. Even though women working in the military-industrial complex of America had contributed hugely to the war effort (Rosie the Riveter was an icon of those times), traditional gender roles had been re-established somewhat after the war. This continued through the prosperity of the 1950s, when a return of the adult male to the sole-provider role became (once again) the norm.

The second wave of American feminism exploded in the 1960s and 1970s, and the fight this time was for equal pay, access to abortion & birth control, and fairness in educational & economic opportunities. We are all familiar with the feminist thinkers of this period: Simone de Beauvoir, Germaine Greer, Susan Sontag etc. Along with the sexual revolution and overall cultural upheaval of the time, the second wave of feminism transformed the US much more irreversibly than the first one had.

The reaction to this came in the late 1970s and 1980s, particularly among young men who were high-school/college age at the time. Brett Kavanaugh (whether or not he actually did what he is accused of) is a product of those times, when sexual conquest and domination of women (newly admitted on many college campuses) became a sport among a certain class of educated white men.

American society's response to this reaction, of course, depended on the perceived offender and victim. Middle-class-plus white, Judeo-Christian men could (as always) get away with murder. Non-white male on non-white female sexual assault was mostly ignored; if mentioned at all, it was cited by leftist cultural critics complaining that economic inequity sustains patriarchical oppression in immigrant/minority communities. And of course, a Non-white male even vaguely suspected of sexually assaulting a white female could expect jail or worse.

Then came the accommodation by which a "cold peace" was achieved between Second-Wave Feminism and the traditionalist counter-movement that opposed its demands for reform. The accommodation (1990 to present, approximately) was socially engineered by the American Establishment, and took three forms:

1) The broadening of the Feminist Movement towards OTHER issues than conflict between two binary genders. This included the birth of Third Wave Feminism... the same ideologies ("reversing the gaze", etc.) proposed by de Beauvoir, Greer and others were redirected towards a whole range of other groups perceived to be "oppressed". These included racial minorities, LGBTQ/non-binary people, minority groups perceived to be oppressed in other countries (e.g. Palestinians), animals (as with veganism and PETA), and most recently Muslims.

This diversion (which came along with the establishment of "gender studies" departments in Universities and the transmission of their ideas to the media) served two purposes for the American state. One, it *diluted* the strictly male-female dialectic of feminism by turning its energies towards other targets. Two, it created constituencies for Wilsonian intervention by the American state... the very same "leftists" in academia and media who decried American imperialism in Vietnam, would now favour American military intervention on the behalf of Bosnian Muslims, East Timorese Christians, Iraqi Kurds, etc. etc. Sometimes the American deep state would use these narratives to justify its interventions... in other cases (e.g. Tibetans) it would make the right noises and do nothing.

Muslims in the USA have very cleverly latched themselves (via organizations like CAIR) on to the train of eternal victims in this modified/accommodated "third-wave feminist" narrative. They have re-branded things like hijab, burqa, and female-genital-mutilation... ghastly practices that serve only to oppress women... into symbols of cultural uniqueness and pride. These days, their "allies" in the feminist left come rushing out to protect them from "Islamophobia" at the first sign of criticism. Meanwhile genuine reformers like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Tarek Fatah are reviled by the feminist left as pawns of the "alt-right". This is how successful the "broadening of feminist narrative" has become.

2) The delivering of the occasional bakra. Every now and then, the old-school grievances of second-wave feminism had to be sated by throwing to the wolves some iconically powerful male figure who oppressed or exploited women. The best example of this was Bill Clinton. If a sitting President of the United States could be impeached and forced to endure public humiliation for what he did to a young female intern, then obviously nobody was above the Law... and the Law of these great United States, ensuring liberty & justice for all, was on the side of gender equality. The days when John F. Kennedy slept with any woman of his choice any day of the week were long gone. Or so women were expected to believe.

3) A bright, happy campaign of media spin to advance the narrative of how successful women had become in every sphere of life. This extended from many "first women to do ____" stories in the soft-news, all the way down to popular culture movements like "Chick-Lit" and "GRRL POWER" with their own poster-children in the spheres of music, television, and films. As Oprah Winfrey, a key figure in this campaign, would often say to her constituents: "You go, girl!"

In essence, the "accommodation" of second-wave Feminism amounted to a series of concessions and perceptional/rhetorical shifts aimed at managing the wrath of this movement, and containing its potential to disrupt long-standing male-dominated power equations in the United States.

That went on from about 1990 until the mid-2010s. But all the time, disaffection had been brewing under the surface, on both sides.

Notwithstanding the bakras and positive spin, women began to question if things had really become all that much better for them. They still made only 82 cents for every dollar a man earned in the same job; there were still glass ceilings that applied to their careers; and even paid maternity-leave could not make up for the years of career advancement a woman would lose (vis-a-vis her male peers) while raising a child. Abortion rights were constantly under threat, despite Roe v. Wade. The final straw, of course, was that many men continued to behave as they had in the late '70s and '80s (Kavanaugh's school days)... from Harvey Weinstein to Blake Farenthold, across the entire Liberal-Conservative spectrum, a great many individuals in positions of power repeatedly abused it to express sexual dominance over women. Whether Hollywood mega-stars, national-level politicians, university professors or night-shift supervisors at the burger joint, nearly every woman in the workplace had a story to tell about some man who had leveraged his authority to sexually exploit or humiliate her in some way. And that was the beginning of #MeToo. No longer would any "statute of limitations" be deemed to apply for crimes of sexual assault, in the realm of public discourse if not the law.

On the other side, different groups of the pre-feminist Establishment were nursing their own grievances. Traditional Christian Conservatives opposed abortion, but also felt that in general a woman's place was in the home and an LGBTQ person's place was in the closet. Men's Rights groups coalesced around a number of topics... mainly opposition to divorce laws, which almost always gave child custody and visitation rights to the ex-wife while the ex-husband had to fork over alimony/child-support. As the 2000s became the 2010s, many male movements began in specific opposition to what they felt was an excess of power in female hands; from Gamergate (protesting women in the video game community) to MGTOW (protesting the advantages of women in long-term relationships and marriages) to Incels (protesting how hard it was to get a woman to sleep with them willingly). All of this bled into the wider arc of neo-conservatism represented among sections of the Trump electorate: Alt-Lite groups like the Proud Boys advanced a strong counter-feminist narrative in addition to their overall championing of White, Judeo-Christian/Western Identity.

The match to this tinderbox, of course, was our friend Donald Trump. The Access Hollywood tape (of "grab them by the p___y" fame) did not swing the election in Hillary Clinton's favour. However, it has left a psychological scar amongst American women... not just leftists and feminists, but all American women, that will never be erased. Even conservative women were appalled by that, and on a mass level, it has been difficult for them to reconcile their support for the Republican Party's other cultural and political causes with such clear evidence of misogyny. It was the beginning of what is likely to unfold in the 2018 mid-term elections: huge, unprecedented numbers of women running for elected office, indeed from both parties.

And in Kavanaugh, all of this manthan has found its focal point. The Kavanaugh accusations have become a litmus test for American women: how committed are you to the cause of your gender, to the feminist movement that brought you the rights you have as a citizen, vs. any other concerns (cultural, social, economic, political) that you may have? This is where the stand will be made. It may not be exactly fair to Kavanaugh (after all, there were probably thousands like him who behaved the same way or worse towards women at the time)... but the very notion of what constitutes a sex-crime has been redefined by the #MeToo movement, and the man is not seeking some ordinary job, but lifetime confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice. The counter-feminists, meanwhile, have realized that the Kavanaugh issue has the makings of a permanent precedent... if this man can have the nomination snatched away from him over allegations of sexual assault from 35 years ago, then from their point of view, no man is ever safe from being targeted in the same way.

So a battle royale is in the making. From our point of view we should recognize that we have no dog in the fight. Second-wave feminism was not our enemy. It was the American Establishment's social and political engineering to create an accommodation between second-wave feminists and their opponents, that resulted in the emergence of viewpoints toxic to India and Hindus in US academia and media... the deliberate diversion of this movement's focus away from women's rights to "oppression" of Dalits, Cash-meerys, Rohingyas, etc. etc.

In fact we should welcome the #MeToo movement and the Kavanaugh spectacle... because it re-orients the feminist movement away from all these self-serving distractions imposed on it by the American interventionist deep-state, and returns the focus to where it originally belonged.

So sit back, grab some namkeen, and enjoy

[A_Gupta]

The fourth allegation:
NBC news reports (no URL yet) An anonymous letter came to Senator Cory Gardner (Republican) of Colorado, on September 22, from a mother who described an incident from 1998. Supposedly Senate Republicans have been investigating it. Info about it leaked this afternoon.

PS: here's the link
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/suprem ... gh-n913581

[A_Gupta]

^^^ Excellent essay, but:

It may not be exactly fair to Kavanaugh (after all, there were probably thousands like him who behaved the same way or worse towards women at the time)

Only one of those thousands is attempting to be elevated to the Supreme Court.

PS: Of course, you do point out that "the man is not seeking some ordinary job, but lifetime confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice".

PPS: Also Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas 1991 or so which had the fall-out of a lot more women running for elected office.

[Mort Walker]

The fourth allegation:
NBC news reports (no URL yet) An anonymous letter came to Senator Cory Gardner (Republican) of Colorado, on September 22, from a mother who described an incident from 1998. Supposedly Senate Republicans have been investigating it. Info about it leaked this afternoon.

PS: here's the link
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/suprem ... gh-n913581

More nonsense allegations from American urban naxals. In 1998 BK was a lawyer working for Ken Starr, then Bush admin, followed by appointment to US Federal Appeals Court. There was plenty of time to bring this up and have it investigated Mind you, I am no fan of this guy as he’s some holy roller serving a white Christian Nationalist agenda. But what the left is doing is doing is very bad.

[A_Gupta]

^^^ Left isn't doing this. And a Supreme Court nomination is a unique event.

[UlanBatori]

rd, thx 4 the education. When did the Statute of Limitations get trashed for sexual misconduct? I can understand cases of pedo-****, because the victim could be considered to be too young to have any idea of legal recourse but teenagers who have studied the Constitution in high school? Movie starlets? Star attorneys in law firms? P*rn stars? All arguably not-sleeping their way to advancement over others who kept their diapers buttoned, didn't go to parties where they served hard liquor, didn't go into Fraternity bedrooms etc? Some of these cases are utterly blatant, and even the judges seem to be on a biased crusade.

Cosby case is particularly glaring. The judge ordered that he pay for the prosecution!!! isn't that sheer lynch-mobism? How can that survive appeal? But he's been ordered to jail with no bail pending appeal. Probably afraid that he will die before the appeal, which he probably will.

People who have not watched the OJ Simpson lynching or the lynching of that Malloo director guy, do not recognize a lynching for what it is. As the old poem goes:

Therefore do not send to ask for whom the bell tolls..
It tolls for thee.

Kavanaugh biting the dust is probably cause for celebration, the guy is a rich Yale frat boy, but the precedent is terrible.

I don't remember any Constitutional Amendment to do this. Pls illuminate on the history of this. More to the point, what other crimes (than murder) no longer have the Statute of Limitations?

[Mort Walker]

^^^ Left isn't doing this. And a Supreme Court nomination is a unique event.

Indeed they are. As said before, this has nothing to do with sexual assault and everything to do to ensure SCOTUS remains 4-4 divided. It is nearly too late for another nominee before the election as appropriation bills will be the main business until the new congress begins. A US federal appeals court judge in the D.C. district is a very powerful position. Had BK actually behaved this way, then it merits removal from his current position. Feinstein and the carnival barker (Avenatti) should have come out months earlier. The American Democratic party is the inventor of urban naxal tactics. Shout down and shut down everyone who disagrees with you.

[Rudradev]

. The American Democratic party is the inventor of urban naxal tactics. Shout down and shut down everyone who disagrees with you.

You mean like Merrick Garland?

[Mort Walker]

^^^That was a change of procedures by the Republican controlled US Senate and they did not resort to shouting down and character assassination. It was procedural move which will come back to haunt the Republicans when the Democrats gain control of the Senate. What the American Democratic Party is practicing is that of urban naxalism.

[Rudradev]

rd, thx 4 the education. When did the Statute of Limitations get trashed for sexual misconduct?

It hasn't. Under criminal law there is still a statute of limitations on sexual misconduct, and probably everything else except murder.

What the #MeToo waalis aim to ensure is that the SOL will not apply to public life... that no matter how much time has passed since the alleged event, if victims come forward, there is a risk of real-world repercussions for the alleged attacker. If not criminal penalties then social ostracism from key networks, career derailment, loss of economic status/opportunities for accusations that society deems credible.

This of course will most profoundly impact high-profile public figures (celebrities, studio moguls, politicians/electoral candidates, judicial nominees etc.) For the small-town Walmart supervisor who grabbed junior wimmins bums 30 years ago (and isn't running for county librarian today) there is little to fear.

Nonetheless, only a fool wouldn't recognize the obvious potential for danger here. It is a form of trial and punishment by extralegal forces, namely the media and the mob. Even if the mob is 100% right on any given occasion, there is something systemically wrong.

Cosby was a little different because his most recent sexual assault (of which he was convicted) was recent enough to fall within the (criminal law) SOL. Also, he were black.

[Rudradev]

. What the American Democratic Party is practicing is that of urban naxalism.

Not really. Urban Naxalism as Agnihotri defines it in his book is very much a top-down phenomenon. Agents ensconced at the top levels of the elite give propaganda and legal cover for the REAL Naxals, who are basically criminal militias engaging in extortion in rural and mofussil India. A share of the wealth gained from criminal activity, and political influence in the form of violent coercion, is then extended by the real Naxals to the Urban Naxals.

I don't see how the analogy applies. With #MeToo those targeted are almost always members of the elite, not the equivalent of adivasis.

[Mort Walker]

I don't see how the analogy applies. With #MeToo those targeted are almost always members of the elite, not the equivalent of adivasis.

The Democratic party is providing political cover for various resist activities (note harassment of government officials in public) and the #MeToo movement - which has its origins in the Women's march organization from 2017. Organizations such as the pussyhat project. Their objective is to overturn a legitimate election since it was not to their liking. It is very much in line with what the self-important elite were saying that Modi never had a majority in 2014. If Trump wasn't elected in 2016, there would have never been #MeToo movement.

[ramana]

RD excellent essay. Consider polishing and publishing it.
One more point is the 2008 meltdown did lose a lot of jobs and jobless growth in Obama years hurt deeply.

UB, RD is right. There is deep angst.


BK is the djalal against whom the true feminists cast the stones .

Democrat party is taking role of Xians descibed by Nietchze in Anti Christ.

[Yagnasri]

I have followed this BK matter for sometime and I find some points very strange which ended up helping GoP in the end.

1. Keeping the written allegation secret for 6 weeks and allowing the entire process to go on and on during that period is very bad.
2. Equally bad is to leak the same just after the confirmation hearing is over.
(It is this 1 and 2 that gave a big opening to GOP)
3. The total lack of details in the first allegation for which there is a hearing is now fixed will only become he said & she said drama.
4. The new and pathetic gang rape allegations with no corroborative evidence from a idiotic lawyer whose anti DT dramas are well known.
5. The worst thing to paint all men as evil rapists with no benefit of doubt and due process. Dems are openly doing that.
6. Allowing/engaging political lawyers by Dr Ford is most unwise step. I do not know what she was thinking and if she is in any thinking position.
7. Why take lie detector test in August?

I think BK will be confirmed. My gut feeling. GoP has the numbers and no on may really want to oppose their own candidate in this kind of situation.

In the end this is what was happening as per the reports in US Universities wherein men on whom allegations are made were not being given proper opportunity to defend themselves. It is just made way in to more important settings and may soon be a regular thing in corporate world if it is not already there.

You people are in a hell lot of problems if this kind of rubbish takes root.

[Lalmohan]

BK or his handlers have made one strategic error. if he had started off by saying "hey, I used to be a bad boy, but then I discovered jesus..." then no amount of historic dirt would have been a problem, he would have been forgiven. instead he went with 'I love jesus and am squeaky clean' - which now makes him look like a moron and the republicans like hypocrites hell bent on a particular outcome. of course lots of fans of that outcome on BRF but not sure that a large swathe of atleast urban America still drinks that koolaid

[g.sarkar]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ar-deepens
U.S.-China Military Tensions Start to Rise as Trade War Deepens
By David Tweed and Jason Koutsoukis
September 26, 2018, 2:12 PM PDT Updated on September 26, 2018, 7:59 PM PDT
Beijing rejects USS Wasp’s request to dock in Hong Kong
Trump accuses China of meddling in U.S. midterm elections
As a trade war heats up between the U.S. and China, military tensions are also rising.
China on Tuesday refused a U.S. warship entry to Hong Kong next month, according to the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong, and Beijing’s top naval officer canceled a high-level meeting with his U.S. counterpart after being recalled to China, according to Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman. The moves come as a worsening trade war prompts concern in Beijing over whether President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs are part of a master plan to stop China from threatening American dominance of the Indo-Pacific. The Trump administration last week levied unprecedented penalties on a Chinese military procurement agency and its director for allegedly purchasing Russian combat aircraft, claiming a violation of U.S. sanctions.
“It all adds up,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, who teaches U.S.-China relations at Hong Kong Baptist University. “It plays into the hands of the conservatives like Xi Jinping in China’s leadership that Trump’s real intent is to contain China’s rise.”
Midterm Elections
Trump’s latest assault came Wednesday when he accused China of trying to interfere in coming U.S. midterm elections in November. Trump said he had evidence, but didn’t provide any. He also said he and Xi might no longer be friends.
“We do not and will not interfere in any country’s domestic affairs,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a session of the United Nations Security Council, through a translator. “We refuse to accept any unwarranted accusations against China.”
The U.S. State Department said its sanctions on the Chinese military’s Equipment Development Department -- which oversees China’s defense technology -- weren’t intended to undermine the military capabilities or combat readiness of any country, but rather to impose costs on Russia in response to alleged interference in the U.S. election process. Among Russia’s arms customers, only China has been targeted by American sanctions.
....
Gautam

[A_Gupta]

It hasn't. Under criminal law there is still a statute of limitations on sexual misconduct, and probably everything else except murder.

Actually, the state in which Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford lived, Maryland, there is no statute of limitation on sexual misconduct.

[A_Gupta]

I don't see how the analogy applies. With #MeToo those targeted are almost always members of the elite, not the equivalent of adivasis.

The Democratic party is providing political cover for various resist activities (note harassment of government officials in public) and the #MeToo movement - which has its origins in the Women's march organization from 2017. Organizations such as the pussyhat project. Their objective is to overturn a legitimate election since it was not to their liking. It is very much in line with what the self-important elite were saying that Modi never had a majority in 2014. If Trump wasn't elected in 2016, there would have never been #MeToo movement.

Rudradev has it correct - it is the women, not Left or Right. If it was just the Left, then they would not have toppled Senator Al Franken (Democrat) and NY Attorney Eric Schneiderman (Democrat). The latter incidentally was one of the more effective Trump opponents.

Being male-dominated, the Republican Party is more adversely affected than the Democratic Party, and most certainly cannot ride the #MeToo movement to power. Almost 50% of the candidates for office in the upcoming elections in November are women, and most of those are Democrats. They weren't appointed, they fought primary elections and won.

[Lalmohan]

i read blasey ford's opening statement to the committee (its on politico) - I find it compelling

I think A_Gupta has it right - if it was the left then Schneiderman would still be running SDNY. ofcourse now a woman is running it and she's nobody's fool

on the other hand, I really enjoyed watching the Chinese delegation at the UN reacting to Donnie's assertion that they were interfering in the upcoming elections... one of many classic comedy moments from the last couple of days

[Mort Walker]

I think A_Gupta has it right - if it was the left then Schneiderman would still be running SDNY. ofcourse now a woman is running it and she's nobody's fool

on the other hand, I really enjoyed watching the Chinese delegation at the UN reacting to Donnie's assertion that they were interfering in the upcoming elections... one of many classic comedy moments from the last couple of days

The Chinese have infiltrated US govt. computer systems and databases - so that activity is continuing. I don't know if that amounts to direct election interference. The chicoms are probably doing this in other parts of the world as well.

The #MeToo movement would have never materialized had HRC been elected. The status quo would have continued.

[Mort Walker]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... ar-deepens
U.S.-China Military Tensions Start to Rise as Trade War Deepens
By David Tweed and Jason Koutsoukis
September 26, 2018, 2:12 PM PDT Updated on September 26, 2018, 7:59 PM PDT
Beijing rejects USS Wasp’s request to dock in Hong Kong
Trump accuses China of meddling in U.S. midterm elections
As a trade war heats up between the U.S. and China, military tensions are also rising.
China on Tuesday refused a U.S. warship entry to Hong Kong next month, according to the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong, and Beijing’s top naval officer canceled a high-level meeting with his U.S. counterpart after being recalled to China, according to Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman. The moves come as a worsening trade war prompts concern in Beijing over whether President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs are part of a master plan to stop China from threatening American dominance of the Indo-Pacific. The Trump administration last week levied unprecedented penalties on a Chinese military procurement agency and its director for allegedly purchasing Russian combat aircraft, claiming a violation of U.S. sanctions.
“It all adds up,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, who teaches U.S.-China relations at Hong Kong Baptist University. “It plays into the hands of the conservatives like Xi Jinping in China’s leadership that Trump’s real intent is to contain China’s rise.”
Midterm Elections
Trump’s latest assault came Wednesday when he accused China of trying to interfere in coming U.S. midterm elections in November. Trump said he had evidence, but didn’t provide any. He also said he and Xi might no longer be friends.
“We do not and will not interfere in any country’s domestic affairs,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a session of the United Nations Security Council, through a translator. “We refuse to accept any unwarranted accusations against China.”
The U.S. State Department said its sanctions on the Chinese military’s Equipment Development Department -- which oversees China’s defense technology -- weren’t intended to undermine the military capabilities or combat readiness of any country, but rather to impose costs on Russia in response to alleged interference in the U.S. election process. Among Russia’s arms customers, only China has been targeted by American sanctions.
....
Gautam

The Chinese and Russians will align. Should the US impose sanctions on India for the S-400 or Iran oil - then Philip will get his dreams fulfilled.

[ramana]

While we are amused at DT warning the Chinese think about it, the warning came directly from him and not some high level flunky.
A red line is being drawn and could be message to others also.
2016 will be last election that foreign countries could meddle.

We don't know.

[UlanBatori]

“We do not and will not interfere in any country’s domestic affairs,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a session of the United Nations Security Council, through a translator.

THAT was the comedy moment. Naxalites anyone?

[UlanBatori]

From the ongoing circus comes this stunning statement:

Ford says she doesn't remember where or exactly when the assault took place.

Er.. (no comment, but that calls a lot into question, does it not? But.. how is this different from something that she read, in say, the Complete Works of Rosemary Rogers? Or Arthur Hailey's "Hotel"?)

Anyway we are going to find out in a couple of days whether the guy gets confirmed as a SCOTUSjudge.

OTOH, the elephants are certainly doing all they can to fall into the elephant-pit:

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who are all white men, have retained Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell, a registered Republican in charge the sex crimes bureau for the Maricopa County Attorney’s office, to question both Ford and Kavanaugh.

Maricopa County is where that wonderful Sheriff ruled, hain? The one that was finally convicted of a career of crime, but then pardoned?

Classic American Soap-Opera: All villains, no herrows.

[UlanBatori]

There may be a reason why the accuser does not "remember" where or when the alleged attack allegedly took place (!!!). Let me recite a True Story , modified for television, that my 6th coujin heard. There was this wimmens Administrator in a College. An associate professor of history, promoted to associate professor obviously not on merit. White blond-haired etc. Incompetent at history, but being Proper Race etc. they made her an admin, and
There was some sort of complaint against football players. She got into the act, and did her usual incompetence. Got kicked all over the place. So they kicked her upstairs: to Associate Vice-Provost. in charge of student complaints.
We won't go into her vicious and high-handed behavior. Just into the Karma that followed.

She got a complaint from a Black student. Said student claimed that she was walking on the sidewalk in front of this (white) Fraternity House when she heard a noise. There was a (white) guy, hanging on to the bars of an upstairs window with both hands and feet, making a loud noise like a monkey - at her.
She complained about racial abuse.
The Admin Bibi acted with her usual calm, dispassionately objective style: she suspended the whole fraternity and had them kicked out of the frat house. Hey, TOUGH or what? They appealed for a hearing: it was contemptuously dismissed.
It so happened that their parents are rich. They hired a lawyer. Also went and saw the Local Rep from one of the districts. Who happened to be the person in charge of the State Legislature's Committee that approves the University System's budget.

The lawyer presented evidence that
(a) there was no evidence that anyone made any noise from their House
(b) the window in question had been nailed shut - YEARS ago.
(c) there was no one inside the house at the time the Black Student alleged.

The Admin Bibi did not consider the evidence.

The Rep coolly declared that if the institution was not going to follow well-recognized principles of fair investigation and proceedings, he was not going to release a penny of the budget for the institution.
Result: University President went on hands and knees to beg for release of the budget. The said Admin was "retired" in the middle of the year.

So that's what is wrong with declaring that "the assault happened in such and such house in such and such neighborhood on such and such a day". It would get disproved in a hurry.

Who was right in the above case? I have no idea, but I think it was Karma that the admin got her butt kicked out.

[vijayk]

https://outline.com/rGeLHh
The Kavanaugh Standard

If the Kavanaugh nomination fails because of the accusations made against him by Christine Blasey Ford and others, America’s system of politics, indeed its everyday social relations, will be conducted in the future on the Kavanaugh Standard. It will deepen the country’s divisions for a generation.

The Kavanaugh Standard will hold that any decision requiring a deliberative consideration of contested positions can and should be decided on just one thing: belief. Belief is sufficient. Nothing else matters.

Once the decades-old accusations had been made against Judge Kavanaugh, with no corroboration available or likely, the Senate Judiciary Committee had no practical or formal basis for enlarging the discussion about his nomination. For everyone, the way forward was into a fog.

I have been wondering what the rest of the nation’s sitting judges are making of the Kavanaugh proceedings. Or more specifically, what Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan think of what they imply for the future of the law’s role in the U.S.

Looking at what has happened recently to university professors accused and then abandoned by their schools and colleagues for alleged racial offenses, or at the spectrum of proof in #MeToo incidents, it is clear that the political and academic left are contesting centuries-old standards of evidence.

Liberal jurisprudence and its arguments with conservatives, for example over Fourth Amendment search cases, is being displaced by a Democratic left—there is no other way to describe it—that prefers rough justice.

Rough justice is what the political left and the media left, notably the New Yorker and New York Times, is meting out to Brett Kavanaugh. Hawaii’s Sen. Mazie Hirono has emerged from this hearing as a hero of the new rough justice.

Professors at Yale Law School canceled classes this week so that much of the student body could travel to Washington to support Ms. Ford’s allegations, which suggests that the most popular class at Yale these days must be “Legal Principles from the Stone Age to the 10th Century.” It’s not a joke. In 20 years, a President Ocasio-Cortez will be naming these advocates of faith-based reasoning to the federal appeals courts.

[UlanBatori]

But but but.. she SOUNDS convincing, and I am an EXPERIENCED JUDGE of CHARACTER, hain? What else is needed? Get out the ropes!!

Here's a sample of The Process:

When asked if, during the Starr investigation, he dated a woman who "would fairly fit the description in the letter," Kavanaugh asked, "What's the description?"
"Just based on what I --," the transcript showed the investigator responding.
"Describe her appearance," Kavanaugh said.
"No it's -- all we have is what I read," the investigator said.
"Well, then I don't know what I'm responding to then," Kavanaugh replied.

I am sure that's how they do it in China.

[ramana]

Torquemada Inquisition or Soviet Gulag hearings.

[UlanBatori]

Of course it is Karma for the Elephants. Remember Ed Meese, Ronald Reagan's choice as Attorney-Jarnail of the Yoonited States?

"Why would you be a suspect if you are not Guilty?"

[Mort Walker]

BK is done. Put a fork in him.

The lady comes off a very sympathetic witness as she’s been heavily coached. Trump will nominate Amy Barret who makes BK look like a bleeding heart liberal. Another holy roller who hates non Christians with a passion.

[saip]

Republicans don't care a hoot about her. In my opinion BK did do what he was accused of. Hey, which seventeen year old foot ball player and a stud would not do what he was accused of? But that is not what should disqualify him in my opinion. His blatant lies under oath to the senate is what should disqualify him as Justice for life of the SCOTUS. Besides we already have one as justice, who needs another?

[UlanBatori]

IMO after all the smoke and fire is done the Senate will vote 53-47 to confirm him. Isn't that what happened with Clarence T? The charges there were far more credible than this "I went (illegally for a 15-yr-old) to a drunk frat party 30 years ago because I was a party girl trying to get pronged by college studs, I think, but I was too drunk to remember when or where" bijnej. Isn't that what this really comes down to? Senators are not dummies on stuff like this, they were frat boys and Party Animals themselves.

I have not got an answer to the question I asked before: What was a 15-year-old girl doing at a frat party with obvious drinking going on, with men older than herself getting themselves smashed. I know one answer but it is not PC. Instead I heard some deflection about "No is a No" etc. But heck, how do you KNOW that there was a NO? Or a YESSS? This was not like if goons stood outside and blocked someone's car and dragged her into the house, hain? This was a participant in the drunken orgy. Planned.

Or.. much worse.

I think the accuser could be a highly trained Lie-Detector Confuser. The Lie Detector Test was administered by obvious partisan democrats, read their shrill letter. She hates Republicans and probably considers herself to be doing a Patriotic Duty to fight a last-ditch battle to delay the SC going into the hands of Fascists. IOW, a fanatic who has completely trained herself to believe the story she tells. It's a Rosemary Rogers plot or Arthur Hailey Hotel ripoff.

The key, glaring point is

"I do not recall, when or where I went to attacked".

They should have adjourned the Proceedings right there, dismissed the witness and filed charges against her and offered her a reduced sentence if she revealed the gang who paid for her.

[UlanBatori]

Here's a happy thought: Think of the lawyers for CNN coming up in front of SC Judge BK.

I ask u to treat me by the same standards that you want applied to ur husband, son, {and ur CNN Editors on their way to Guantanamo }

Now Ms. P.R. Anha and Ms. B. Arracuda the Senator and Prosecutor, will start.
Oh! I think Ms. B. is actually an elephant setup. I can see where she's going I think... pretty expert.

[Mort Walker]

They should have adjourned the Proceedings right there, dismissed the witness and filed charges against her and offered her a reduced sentence if she revealed the gang who paid for her.

But that is not what the urban naxals want.

[Lalmohan]

I think the accuser could be a highly trained Lie-Detector Confuser. The Lie Detector Test was administered by obvious partisan democrats, read their shrill letter. She hates Republicans and probably considers herself to be doing a Patriotic Duty to fight a last-ditch battle to delay the SC going into the hands of Fascists. IOW, a fanatic who has completely trained herself to believe the story she tells. It's a Rosemary Rogers plot or Arthur Hailey Hotel ripoff.

well, that clears it up then

[UlanBatori]

Oh, yeah, "could" is definite proof of "did" today in America.

[UlanBatori]

Predictor-Corrector now predicts 55-45. He lies better than she does. Those snorts are world-class.

[ShyamSP]

Amusing to see drunken sluts & rapists Honor & Dignity ball. After all the drama in the reality TV, the two will go become judges and politicians.