#Brett abbott | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

william-r-melich · 1 year ago

Text

Shame on the Appeals Court - 03/20/2024

Late yesterday, the 5th Circuit Federal Appeals Court blocked Texas with a temporary injunction from enforcing their SB4 law which would allow Texas to arrest and deport migrants who enter their state illegally. Earlier yesterday, the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) issued an emergency appeal to remove a previous stay that was blocking SB4, a huge win for Texas. I didn't know that a Supreme Court appeal could be blocked by a lower Federal Court of Appeals, and they did so in the same day, crazy. So, Texas went from celebrating a victory for border security, to going back to being angrily frustrated at not being able to stop the stampede of illegal crossings. The 5ht circuit is entertaining arguments today on whether to stay the injunction, pending the outcome of an appeal at the SCOTUS.

“A majority of the panel has concluded that the administrative stay entered by a motions panel on March 2, 2024, should be lifted,” the unsigned order by the court reads. Yesterday, on March 19th, circuit judge Andrew Oldman disagreed: “I would leave that stay in place pending tomorrow’s oral argument on the question.” That was just hours after the SCOTUS had rejected an emergency request from the Biden jackasses to look at the administrative stay directed by the 5th Circuit's prior panel. The DOJ's (Department of Justice) stance on the law is that it violates the Constitution's Supremacy Clause which declares that states do not have the right to enforce immigration laws.

As per usual with emergency appeals, the Supreme Court did not give a reason for issuing their order. Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amey Coney Barrett issued aligning opinions. Barrett wrote on regarding actions of the high court: “never reviewed the decision of a court of appeals to enter—or not enter—an administrative stay.” She continued, that it is “unwise to invite emergency litigation in this Court about whether a court of appeals abused its discretion at this preliminary step.”

Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson had dissenting opinions. Sotomayor said the order “invites further chaos and crisis in immigration enforcement.” She went on to write that the law “upends the federal-state balance of power that has existed for over a century, in which the National Government has had exclusive authority over entry and removal of noncitizens.” - I say, bullstit! States have always had the legal right and shared responsibility for protecting their sovereignty. Yesterday, the Mexican government said that it will not accept any illegal migrants coming back to them no matter what. They said that anyone deported who is not a Mexican citizen does not have to be accepted by them.

All governor Abbott wants to do is to enforce the laws to keep his state safe and secure, and the Biden commies are doing everything they can to impede that. It's disgusting! Will this nightmare ever end? I sure hope so.

0 notes

milliondollarbaby87 · 1 year ago

Text

SAG Awards 2024 - Nominations

Here we have the Screen Actor Guild Awards nominations for 2024! Continue reading Untitled

View On WordPress

1 note · View note

sapphicandgraphic · 3 months ago

Text

The Girl Next Door—Chapter 8

Synopsis: A new neighbor turns Melissa’s world upside down.

Chapter: 8/10 (The Fight)

Series Warnings: Slow burn, angst, drama, hurt/comfort, eventual smut, protective Melissa, fem reader, age difference, WLW

Chapter Warnings: Drinking, jealous Melissa, past relationship trauma, hurt people hurt people, we’re in the home stretch of all this gay angst and I swear it will work out!

It had been one week since your ��date” with Melissa. Two days since the “fire.” Your head felt like a trashed hotel room—TV busted, sheets shredded, graffiti on the walls—and your heart was the petulant rock star doing all the damage. You were carrying one hell of a torch for the girl next door; overanalyzing all the mixed signals she was sending; replaying the sound of her raspy voice; daydreaming about the way she looked when you caught her off guard, flustered her, made her laugh. It was delicious agony, a kind of sweet torture you’d never experienced before.

After your shift on Friday, you joined about a dozen other paramedics at the bar, everyone ready to decompress from the long week. Boone had barely ordered the first round before he launched into an animated retelling of the Hot Principal hitting on you at Abbott, and the MILF Teacher watching the whole exchange with murder in her eyes.

“That’s our little heartbreaker,” he said, ruffling your hair affectionately before you could swat him away.

Everyone was roaring with laughter by the end of the story, some slapping their hands on the tabletop or razzing you with wolf-whistles.

“Really?” You shook your head at Boone as he shuffled over, cheeks already rosy from his beer. “MILF?”

“What?” He shrugged. “She’s not my type but…game recognize game.”

One of the rookie EMTs (Brett? Brent?) was holding court nearby with some other meatheads. You leaned back, downing the rest of your drink with a frown on your face.

“Hey Hotshot,” he called. “Which one do you think you’ll bag first?”

“See?” You glared at Boone and yanked your jacket off, suddenly feeling a bit hot under the collar. “You’ve created a monster.”

“Personally,” Brent or Brett continued. “I’d start with the hot principal, make the MILF jealous. Jealous girls are always so wild in bed.”

“Yeah,” you said loudly. “That’s what I love about your mom.”

Everyone in earshot, even his friends, dissolved into laughter.

“Keep him away from me,” you growled to Boone, standing up and walking toward the bar. Your partner followed, hands gesticulating an apology before he even opened his mouth.

“Ok, maybe I got a little carried away earlier,” he said. “But you’re down bad for this one, and we need get your mind off her for at least one night.”

You scrubbed a hand over your face. “How?”

“Tequila!” Boone declared. He’d always been able to sell a bad idea like no one else. You flagged down a waitress and ordered another round.

Little did you know, Melissa was across town doing almost the exact same thing—albeit with a slightly different cast of characters.

“Yeah, this week was a shit show,” Ava was saying. “But at least I got to meet my sexy lil’ Florence Nightingale.”

“Who?” Melissa huffed.

“She means the EMT,” Jacob said, oblivious to Melissa’s mounting fury. “The hot one.”

“First of all, Florence Nightingale was a nurse,” Janine corrected, before arching an eyebrow at Jacob. “And second of all…the hot one?”

“What?” He shrugged. “She’s not my type, but…game recognize game.”

Melissa stalked over to the bar, ordering another drink. Barbara appeared soon after, regarding her friend with a mixture of concern and sympathy.

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Barb,” Melissa said, throwing back most of her drink in one go.

“Well that’s too bad,” Barbara said sweetly. “Because you’re not leaving here until we do.”

Melissa groaned.

“Now I admit, I don’t have every piece of this particular puzzle,” Barbara began, with all the caution of someone entering a minefield. “But it seems like your…feelings for your…neighbor are more than…platonic.”

The redhead couldn’t help but laugh. “Real diplomatic, Mrs. Howard. As always.”

“And now, Ava’s….advances seem to have agitated you,” Barbara continued, brow furrowing slightly. “Despite the fact that anyone with eyeballs can see this girl is smitten with you.”

Melissa flushed.

“It ain’t that simple, Barb. Sure, maybe she likes me and maybe I like her…” she trailed off, a pensive look on her face.

“But?” Barbara prompted.

“But she’s too good for me,” Melissa said quietly, bitterly.

Barbara Howard sat up straight on her barstool, a look of thunderous outrage clouding her features. “Of all the absurd…downright asinine…”

Melissa looked at her friend uncertainly. Barbara leaned forward, a towering figure. “You are Melissa Schemmenti,” she growled. “Fierce, loyal, brilliant, beautiful, courageous—“

“Alright, alright,” the redhead conceded with an embarrassed smile. “Sit down, Barb, ya made your point.”

Barbara scrutinized the other woman, noticing the slouchy way she held herself, the flicker of doubt behind her otherwise brave mask. She’d always known Melissa to be an unstoppable force in the world, a wrecking ball with a heart of gold, a consummate survivor. Admittedly, the last few years had been hard: first, the messy dissolution of an unhappy marriage, followed by a trail of several unworthy suitors. Melissa had gotten through it all with her usual toughness and fortitude. But now Barbara saw—really saw—that these experiences had indeed left scars.

She reached out a hand, playing with a strand of the other woman’s auburn hair. “There is no such thing as too good for you, my sweet Melissa.”

Barbara’s uncharacteristic tenderness was rewarded with a wobbly smile. Melissa opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the phone in her lap vibrating. Looking down, she saw your name light up the screen. Barbara gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

“Tell her how you feel,” she urged, before picking up her drink and gliding away.

Melissa swallowed thickly. “Hello?”

“Howdy, neighbor.” Melissa could just picture the lopsided smile on your face.

“Hi,” she said, a little shyly.

“I wanna see you.” By now a warm, confident feeling had settled in your chest. Your head was pleasantly foggy with desire. “Tonight.”

“Bossy,” Melissa chided, even as a coil of excitement tightened in her belly. She fiddled with a cocktail napkin. “Where are ya?”

“I just texted the address.” Your tone was smooth, commanding.

Melissa glanced over at the other teachers then back down at her phone. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

When she arrived, Melissa saw that you’d invited her to a proper dive. She gave the flickering neon sign a doubtful look before stepping into the dimly lit bar. It was crowded, but she noticed you right away, easily picking you out from the crowd of EMTs gathered at a high-top. Melissa experienced a brief tremor of insecurity. Just for a second, she considered bolting.

“What are ya doing, Schemmenti?” she muttered, smoothing her shirt nervously.

Then your eyes met hers and she felt that magnetic pull again, warm and irresistible. A smug smile made its way across your face, and she couldn’t help but smile back. As Melissa approached, a few of the other paramedics looked up and whooped.

“Yeah, hotshot!” someone called.

You turned on your heel, silencing them with a glare.

“Hi,” you said, taking her hand and redirecting her away from the crowd. “Let’s go somewhere a bit more private.”

You led her through the bar and toward the mostly vacant back patio.

“I didn’t realize paramedics traveled in packs,” Melissa said dryly.

“Yeah, sorry about them,” you said. “They’re a bunch of wild animals.”

“Is that right?” Melissa smirked, tugging you suddenly by the lapels of your jacket until you were pressed flush against her. “What about you? Are you a wild animal or can ya be…domesticated?”

You bit back a moan as she slotted her leg in between yours, pressing slightly against your groin. All coherent thoughts vanished from your brain. Your whole world shrank to the feeling of Melissa in front of you, beneath you, around you. You hooked your thumbs into the belt loops of her pants, tugging her even closer.

“Domesticated?” You repeated, suddenly breathless. You walked her backwards until she was caged in by your arms against the brick wall. “I’ll be gentle as a pussycat.”

Melissa chuckled, regarding you in the low light.

You leaned down and she tipped her head to the side, giving you more access. Her breath stuttered as you ran your warm mouth over her jawline, her throat, the sensitive skin behind her ear. You could smell the faint, spicy cloud of whiskey on her. You raked your teeth over her pulse point, nipping and sucking as you gripped her hips, slipping one hand under her shirt and palming the soft flesh. She canted forward slightly, grinding against you.

“Let’s get out of here,” she suggested, voice tight, eyes dark with desire.

You sighed in agreement. “My place or yours?”

You held the door open for her, barely containing a pleasant shiver as she swayed past.

“I just gotta close my tab,” you said. “Meet me out front?”

You dashed off toward the bar and Melissa stood there for a second, dazed and smiling. The restless energy from earlier was settling, falling away.

Just as she turned to head outside, one of the other paramedics intercepted her. He had a vacant, drunken grin on his face, the kind that instantly put Melissa on guard.

“So we were wondering,” he said loudly and with no preamble. “Are you the MILF Teacher or the Hot Principal?”

“Am I what?” Melissa scoffed, affronted and confused.

“You could be either,” he said. “Which is like, totally a compliment.”

Melissa looked down and saw that he was holding a piece of paper in his hands. There were two columns, each labeled and filled with their fair share of pencil tallies.

“Most people think you’re the MILF, but I bet you’re the Hot Principal because—“ and here his eyes scanned down Melissa’s body “—well, you look like a woman who likes to take charge.”

Before she could think how to answer, you returned from the bar, instinctively putting yourself between Melissa and Brett/Brent. “Is he bothering you?”

She shook her head, zipping up her coat.

“Ya spelled principal wrong,” Melissa told him icily, before her eyes flickered to you. “Jackass.”

She stalked toward the door.

“What’s —“ you glanced down at the paper, scanning the text and then snatching it angrily away from him. “What the fuck is this?”

You gripped the front of his shirt tightly in your fist, shoving him backwards hard enough that he lost his balance and toppled to the floor. A security guard materialized almost instantly, wrapping a huge arm around your midsection and practically carrying you to the door where he dropped you on the sidewalk.

You scrambled to your feet, looking left and right.

“Melissa, wait!” you cried, taking off down the block. The older woman was trying to hail a cab.

“It’s not what it looks like, I can explain,” you panted, catching up enough to reach for her arm. She rounded on you immediately and yanked out of your grasp.

“Is this some kinda game to you?”

She noticed but chose to ignore the flicker of wounded disbelief that flashed across your face.

“Of course not.” You reached for her hand again but she stepped back. “Melissa, I swear this is just a misunderstanding.”

“Really?” she spat. “So your little friends weren’t just taking bets on who you’re gonna fuck first?”

You closed your eyes. Of course, from her perspective, you could see how bad this looked.

“I didn’t know about…whatever was going on in there, but I would never do something like that,” you explained, desperate to make her understand. “And I didn’t even text that principal.”

“You still took her number though, right, hotshot?”

You bristled at the use of the nickname, the thinly veiled implication in her words.

“What’s the supposed to mean?”

A dozen fights with Joe were rushing back to her, activating a cruel muscle memory. Over the years, she had a developed a talent for finding and exploiting weak spots.

“It means you’re a player,” Melissa hissed. “A love-‘em-and-leave-‘em fuckboy, just like your friend in there.”

“I took her number,” you said, anger lighting up your voice for the first time. “Because you had just introduced me to everyone as your neighbor, remember?”

Melissa’s cheeks went red, but she didn’t back down. If she had learned one thing from all those years of arguments, it was the power of having the last word.

“Yeah, and that’s how it should stay,” she said, turning away. “Because this was a bad idea.”

Suddenly, something inside you snapped.

“Godammit!” you exploded. “You can’t keep doing this to me! I’m not some light switch you can just keep flicking on and off!”

You took a shaky breath, trying to calm down.

“I may be young,” you said. “But I have feelings. For you. And I’ve done nothing but try and be honest about that since we kissed.”

Melissa felt a brief, familiar shadow of guilt. She knew you were right, and she couldn’t stand it.

“You’re drunk,” she said, choosing to ignore the fact that she’d also been drinking earlier.

“And you’re deflecting, again,” you accused, hackles rising. “At least I have the balls to say how I actually feel.”

“Bravo, hon,” she said, fear and pride ripping through her chest like two relentless jackhammers. “You want a gold star for spilling your guts?”

You stared at Melissa for a moment, long enough to notice the protective way she held herself, the mistrust in her bright green eyes. You knew she was scared. But there was something between you, something real and messy and magical. Didn’t she feel it?

“Can’t you just….” Your voice was suddenly rough, jagged with unshed tears. “At least admit that you—”

“Admit what?” She asked suddenly, flicking her hair out of her eyes, crossing her arms. “That I think you’d be a good fuck?”

You recoiled as if she’d slapped you, stung by the callous disregard in her voice. The sky, which had been heavy and threatening rain all night, suddenly opened up, releasing big fat drops that popped against the pavement like gunfire.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” you laughed, trying to hide your devastation.

Melissa deflated, regret and shame finally winning out over the many emotions warring within her. She opened her mouth to take it back, wishing she could unring the terrible, vicious bell of her own words. Thunder cracked overhead and you flinched, stumbling over your own feet which felt numb and heavy.

“Careful,” she said, stepping forward. But you held up your hand to forestall her approach, remaining just out of reach.

“I get it,” you said, wiping your shirtsleeve cross your face. “I wouldn’t get involved with someone like me either.”

“That’s not—” she started.

But the damage was done.

You shoved your hands deep in your pockets and walked away. When she called your name, you didn’t turn around. A few blocks over, you found another shitty dive and ducked inside to get out of the rain.

“What can I get ya?”

“Whiskey,” you croaked, parking yourself at the end of the bar. “Make it a double.”

Outwardly, you were calm, detached even. The bartender slid you a glass; you thanked him and made some small talk until he walked away. But inside, your rockstar heart was raging—breaking windows, flipping tables, lighting fires. It was time to burn it all down.

#melissa schemmenti fanfic #melissa schemmenti x you #melissa schemmenti x reader #melissa schemmenti #abbott elementary #wlw post #wlw #wlw yearning #wlw smut #wlw ns/fw

67 notes · View notes

justinspoliticalcorner · 1 year ago

Text

Ian Millhiser at Vox:

If you spent Monday morning following each of the cases handed down by the Supreme Court, you’re probably experiencing a bit of whiplash.

The biggest news out of the Court on Monday, of course, is a sweeping decision holding that former President Donald Trump was effectively allowed to do crimes while he was in office. Indeed, under the six Republican justices’ decision in Trump v. United States, it is very likely that a sitting president can order the military to assassinate his political rivals without facing any criminal consequences for doing so. Just a few minutes before the Supreme Court handed down its Trump decision, however, it also handed down another case reaffirming that the First Amendment does not permit Republican-led legislatures to seize control of what content is published by media companies. That decision, in Moody v. Netchoice, was 6-3, with three Republican justices who also held that the leader of the Republican Party was allowed to commit many crimes while he was in office joining Justice Elena Kagan’s majority opinion.

So, on the same day that the Supreme Court appears to have established that a sitting president can commit the most horrible crimes imaginable against someone who dares to speak out against him, the same Court — with three justices joining both decisions — holds that the First Amendment still imposes some limits on the government’s ability to control what content appears online. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined both decisions in full. Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the Netchoice opinion in full, plus nearly all of the Trump decision. [...]

What’s at stake in Netchoice?

Netchoice concerns two state laws, one from Florida and one from Texas, which seek to control what content must be published by major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Both laws were enacted by Republican legislatures, and signed by Republican governors, for the very purpose of forcing these platforms to publish right-leaning content that they would prefer not to publish.

As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said before signing his state’s law, it was enacted to stop an allegedly “dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas.” The two laws, and especially the Texas law, are extraordinarily broad. Texas’s, for example, prohibits major social media companies from moderating content based on “the viewpoint of the user or another person” or on “the viewpoint represented in the user’s expression or another person’s expression.”

SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in Moody v. NetChoice (and NetChoice v. Paxton) to send it back to lower courts in a case dealing with social media content moderation policies and handed a big but temporary loss to the right-wing misinformation machine.

See Also:

HuffPost: Supreme Court Bounces Back Question On Social Media Moderation

#SCOTUS #Social Media #Misinformation #1st Amendment #Florida #Texas #Censorship #Moody v. NetChoice #NetChoice v. Paxton

50 notes · View notes

earnmysong · 8 months ago

Text

thank you to the ever-fabulous @goddesspharo for looping me in on the fun! in turn, passing the baton to @scarletslippers, @somethingaboutsewing, @megalong, @event-inverse, and anyone else who wishes to participate!

last song: a little less sixteen candles (a little more touch me)... pin my reversion to younger days on my pleasure reading of late, as detailed below.

last book: bethany joy lenz's dinner for vampires, which made me want to hug her for three hours straight. such an interesting, weird, and frustrating story.

last movie: i rewatched inside out 2 for work halloween costume recon ... needed to get my hair in the correct anxiety electrocution position before i moussed the hell out of it and it ceased to move for seven hours straight!

last tv show: buffy halloween episodes! plus blood ties and potential because i just love those! ohhhh, also. abbott elementary! 'maybe wakanda just for today. and leave your mask on.' 💕 and shrinking! my brain refuses to put brett goldstein properly in his role.

sweet/spicy/savory: sweet! my addiction to out-there coffee additives and creamers knows no bounds.

relationship status: single and laughing my ass off about my history of prospects and their variety of fun baggage.

last thing googled: 'how were ben and glory connected?' because i drew a blank

current obsession: wanting to know who bethany joy lenz's friend camille is/was ... all names were changed, but she's a british actress; the NYT crossword

looking forward to: my five-day weekend!

#about e

7 notes · View notes

gop-are-corporate-socialists · 8 months ago

Text

Donald Trump killed her.

Republicans on the Supreme Court killed her. (John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett)

Governor Greg Abbott killed her.

Senator Ted Cruz killed her.

And if you voted Republican in 2016, you killed her.

If you contributed to any Republican at any level in 2024, you helped sign her execution warrant.

AND, if you continue to vote for Republicans at any level, there are thousands more women that will meet her fate - mothers, wives, sisters, aunts, cousins, friends - because of you.

The Christian Taliban must be stopped. They do not represent American values.

#Jesseli Barnica #trumptrain #greg abbott #ted cruz #taliban #christofacists

8 notes · View notes

danykindaforgotaboutdre · 8 months ago

Text

If you like and post about...

Gen V

The Boys

Heartstopper

The Batman

The Penguin

DC stuff in general

And maybe some Marvel stuff too here and there

Bridgerton

Stranger Things (but fuck Noah Schnapp and Brett Gelman in this house)

The Sandman (but fuck Neil Gaiman in this house)

The Flanaverse

Arcane

Abbott Elementary

Ayo Edebiri, Jaz Sinclair, Victoria Pedretti, Cristin Milioti, Jayme Lawson, Anna Diop or Sophie Wilde

Sarah Kinsley, Rachel Chinouriri, Arlo Parks, Japanese Breakfast, Rina Sawayama or SZA

Scary movies

Then I'm dying to follow you.

10 notes · View notes

dreaminginthedeepsouth · 9 months ago

Text

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 9, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Oct 10, 2024

Yesterday we learned from a forthcoming book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward that in 2020, while he was president, Trump secretly shipped Covid-19 testing equipment to Russian president Vladimir Putin for his own personal use at a time when Americans could not get it. To be clear, this equipment was not the swabs we now use at home, but appears to be what at the time was a new point-of-care machine from Abbott Laboratories that claimed to be the fastest way to test for Covid-19.

Journalist Karly Kingsley points out that at the time, central lab testing to diagnose Covid-19 infections took a long time, causing infections to spread. Machines like Abbott’s were hard to get. Trump chose to send them to Putin—not to charge him for them, or to negotiate for the release of Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed, two Americans being held by Russia at the time and later released under the Biden administration, but to give them to him—rather than keeping them for Americans.

It’s hard to overstate just what an astonishing story this is. In 2016, Republicans stood firm against Putin and backed the arming of Ukraine to stand against Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea. But that summer, at Trump’s urging, the party changed its platform to weaken its support of Ukraine. In 2020, it appears, Trump chose to give lifesaving equipment to Putin rather than use it for Americans. And in 2024, Trump’s willingness to undermine the United States to cozy up to an adversary his own party stood against less than a decade ago does not appear to be a deal breaker for Republicans.

As Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) put it: “What has this country come to if the revelation that Trump secretly sent COVID testing machines to Putin while thousands of Americans were dying, in part because of a shortage of testing machines here, doesn't disqualify him to be President?” He continued: “Donald Trump helped keep Putin alive during the pandemic and let Americans die. This revelation is damning. It's disqualifying. He cannot be President of the United States.”

Increasingly, Trump’s behavior seems to parrot the dictators he appears to admire.

After 60 Minutes called him out for breaking a fifty-year tradition of both candidates talking to 60 Minutes and backing out of an interview to which he had agreed, Trump today accused the producers of 60 Minutes of cutting Vice President Kamala Harris’s answers to make her look good. He suggested that such cuts were “illegal” and possibly “a major Campaign Finance violation” that “must be investigated, starting today!” “The public is owed a MAJOR AND IMMEDIATE APOLOGY!” he wrote. Trump is trying to cover for his own failure by attacking CBS in an echo of dictators determined to control the media.

In a post on his social media site tonight, Trump appears to have declined to appear at another presidential debate with Vice President Harris. After declaring he had won the previous debate with Harris and rehashing many of his grievances, he wrote: “THERE WILL BE NO REMATCH!”

As Beth Reinhard of the Washington Post recounted yesterday, a report from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, revealed that the Trump White House prevented a real investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. More than 4,500 calls and electronic messages about Kavanaugh sent to the FBI tip line went directly to the White House, where they were never investigated, and the FBI was told not to pursue corroborating evidence of the accusations by Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez although lawyers for the women presented the names of dozens of people who could testify to the truth of their allegations.

A number of senators said the lack of corroborating evidence convinced them to vote in favor of Kavanaugh’s confirmation. As Steve Benen of MSNBC recalled, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) said at the time that it appeared to be “a very thorough investigation,” while the late Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said that the 2018 FBI report “looks to be a product of an incomplete investigation that was limited perhaps by the White House.”

After he left office, Trump told author Michael Wolff that he had gone to bat for Kavanaugh, saying: “I…fought like hell for Kavanaugh—and I saved his life, and I saved his career.” Kavanaugh was the crucial vote for Trump’s right-wing agenda, including ending the federal recognition of abortion rights by overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Ken Bensinger reported in the New York Times today that Trump’s team has refused to participate in preparations for a transition to a potential Trump presidency. Normally, the nonpartisan transition process, dictated by the Presidential Transition Act, has candidates setting up teams as much as six months before the election to begin vetting and hiring political appointees and working with the administration in office to make sure the agencies continue to run smoothly.

With the election less than a month away, Trump has neither signed the required agreements nor signed the transition’s ethics plan that would require him to disclose private donors to the transition and limit them to contributions of no more than $5,000. Without that agreement, there are no limits to the money the Trump transition can take. Trump has also refused to sign an agreement with the White House requiring that anyone receiving classified information have a security clearance. Currently, his aides cannot review federal records.

Trump ignored the traditional transition period in 2016, cutting off communications with President Barack Obama’s team. He refused to allow incoming president Joe Biden access to federal agencies in 2020, hampering Biden’s ability to get his administration in place in a timely fashion. Now it’s possible that Trump sees no need for a normal transition because Project 2025, on which he appears to be relying, has been working on one for many months.

It calls for him to fire most federal employees, reinstating the policy he started at the end of his term. To fill their positions, the Heritage Foundation has been vetting loyalists now for months, preparing a list of job candidates to put in place a new, right-wing agenda.

Yesterday, on California’s KFI radio station, Trump told host John Kobylt that Tom Homan of Project 2025, who as director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement oversaw the family separation policy at the southern border, will be “coming on board” a new Trump administration.

This afternoon, Trump told an audience in Scranton, Pennsylvania, that he expects to put former rival Vivek Ramaswamy into an important position in his administration. On October 7, 2024, Ramaswamy suggested on social media that he wants to get rid of Social Security and Medicare. He wrote: “Shut down the entitlement state & you solve most of the immigration problem right there. We need to man up & fix the root cause that draws migrants here in the first place: the welfare state. But no one seems to want to say that part out loud, because too many native-born Americans are addicted to it themselves.”

Trump has expressed frustration with the independence of the Federal Reserve, expressing a desire to make it answer to the president. In an interview with Barron’s, one of his advisors, Scott Bessent, has floated the idea of creating a shadow Fed chair until the term of the current chair, Jerome Powell, ends, thus undercutting him without facing a fight over firing the Fed chair.

This agenda is not a popular one in the U.S., but Trump is getting a boost as Russian operatives work to swing downballot races toward the Republicans. In a briefing on Monday, October 7, experts from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told reporters that China and Iran are trying to influence the upcoming election and that “Moscow is leveraging a wide range of influence actors in an effort to influence congressional races, particularly to encourage the U.S. public to oppose pro-Ukraine policies and politicians. Russian influence actors have planned, and likely created and disseminated, content, particularly over social media, intended to encourage the election of congressional candidates that Moscow assesses will oppose aid to Ukraine.”

Russia, an ODNI spokesperson said, uses “influence-for-hire firms, or commercial firms with expertise in these type[s] of activities.” It also coopts “witting and unwitting Americans to work on Russia’s behalf,” to “launder their influence narratives through what are perceived as more authentic U.S. voices.”

Not all of Trump’s supporters appear eager to stick around to see if Trump will win another term. Today news broke that Patrick M. Byrne, the former chief executive officer of OverStock, who became a fervent advocate of the idea that Trump was the true winner of the 2020 presidential election, has left the country, apparently permanently, to live in Dubai. Dominion Voting Systems is suing Byrne, as is President Biden’s son Hunter. The younger Biden sued Byrne for defamation last November after Byrne claimed Hunter Biden sought a bribe from Iran.

In September, Biden’s lawyers were trying to schedule a date for Byrne’s deposition when his lawyer abruptly “claimed for the first time that Defendant has moved his residence to Dubai and if Plaintiff wanted to take his in-person deposition counsel would have to fly to Dubai to do so, to which Plaintiff responded with various related inquiries to try to resolve this matter and defense counsel stated Defendant would not be returning to the United States for the foreseeable future.”

Byrne claimed to have fled the U.S. because the Venezuelan government has put a bounty on him, but as Biden’s lawyers note, “the Defendant’s truthfulness is directly at issue.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #corruption #Kavanaugh #lies #Patrick M. Byrne #MAGA lies #Bob Woodward #Putin #COVID 19 #60 minutes #Project 2026

6 notes · View notes