The White House has just placed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in charge of its effort to appoint Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Ross will be the public face of Kavanaugh’s defense.

SING IT.

When you meet a boy
That you hate a lot
And you want to say
All the hate you’ve got

If a trope should start
As you stand and jeer
Better keep your art
Out of danger, dear

For a “serpent covered
In Vaseline”
Is a bit too strange
To be truly mean

So try once again
To consult your muse
If you really want
To revile Ted Cruz

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PS: For inspiration, go here – see esp. “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”

You’ve had a ringside seat for ‘thesdan snobbery for years on this blog … I mean, in my Snapshots from Home category I’ve tried to educate you on the inner workings of the place Brett K. and I call home…

And while it’s true that UD‘s ‘thesdan coordinates (father a scientist at NIH; mother president Mason/Dixon English Cocker Spaniel Club; Garrett Park Elementary, Kensington Junior High; Walter Johnson High; performing with voice and guitar, when a teenager, at a ‘thesdan McGovern rally; local school named after my rich important Uncle Mario) are less impressive than Kavanaugh’s (more money; private schools), she knows her way around the local status markers.

And when it comes to which nearby beach a ‘thesdan chooses, I’m afraid Mark Judge – just discovered hiding in Bethany Beach – has somewhat fallen down. While raucous working-class Ocean City is totally out of the question (though Brett K. apparently went there for Beach Week, which is acceptable) (and careful readers will recall my father’s family, the Rapoports, owned property there as early as 1905), boring Bethany (scattered big houses on the ocean) is only a bit better. The socially acceptable place to be is of course UD‘s beloved Rehoboth Beach (she’ll soon be there with a bunch of friends for their traditional Sea Witch Festival get-together), with its lively, civilized, commercial as well as residential life. (Henlopen Acres, steps from Rehoboth, is the richest town in Delaware – the ‘thesda of Delaware, in other words.)

UD plays online robots (and gives herself only sixty seconds per move). She’s wondering when/if all of the new Scrabble words will actually be added…

She’s especially excited about OK and ZEN. It’s about time!

Read this.

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As sexual violence against American women grabs the headlines, it’s important to remember what much of the rest of the world looks like.

[Mona] Eltahawy … attributes [violent hatred of women in the Muslim world] to “a toxic mix of religion and culture”. And to this I would add the political oppression and stasis that enabled these structures to become de facto governance, where entrenched tribal allegiances, pre-Islamic mores and social tradition trumped weak political culture. A general retardation that extends not just to women but to every aspect of personal freedom and civic rights.

That benighted world is watching, which makes it all the more important that women here shed light on what happened to them when they became a focus of male hatred.

State Sen. Martha Hennessey (D) wrote on Facebook Friday that she was sexually assaulted in front of “a dozen” classmates more than 40 years ago as a student at Dartmouth College.

… Fellow New Hampshire lawmaker U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D), thanked Hennessey in a post, telling WMUR that the “Me Too” movement was encouraging women like her and Hennessey to come forward. Kuster, according to the outlet, came forward in 2016 about being sexually assaulted at Dartmouth when she was a student in 1979.

LOL. A New Yorker writer does a cruel takedown of Brett Kavanaugh’s bizarre boy-world just down the street from UD‘s house – Georgetown Preparatory School.

In 1990, seven years after Kavanaugh graduated, four students were expelled from the school for participating in a hazing ritual called “butting.” According to the Washington Post, which reported on the fallout from the expulsions, in the ritual, “a student is held down while another student places his naked buttocks close to the victim’s face.” One of the students, whose father was an alumnus, filed a lawsuit with his parents contesting his expulsion, arguing that he and his classmates had taken the fall for a common practice at the school. [A] county judge rejected the lawsuit…

Step aside, priests-abusing-little-boys scandal; make room for the head-up-everyone-else’s-ass scandal…

… jump to the New York Times, so UD now feels comfortable passing them along to you. (She saw them yesterday in the New York Post, but…) Unlike routine professor-mischief allegations, these are so lurid and extensive as to paint – in the words of the NYT – an entire “academic underworld” of sex and drugs, operating out of the offices of lots of professors.

A sample of office etiquette, John Jay College-style:

[One student said a professor there] poured her straight whiskey during a meeting in his office, locked the door and performed oral sex on her.

Without wanting to sound a prude, I will say that this seems pretty irregular to ol’ UD…

…drops.

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[His Yale roommate] said that he never witnessed Kavanaugh engage in any sexual misconduct, but did recall him being “frequently, incoherently drunk.” He described [Deborah] Ramirez as a vulnerable outsider. “Is it believable that she was alone with a wolfy group of guys who thought it was funny to sexually torment a girl like Debbie? Yeah, definitely. Is it believable that Kavanaugh was one of them? Yes.”

This rings so true to ol’ UD — the terrible coincidence of sophisticated entitled men and a clueless female innocent. Whatever else the truth and falsity of the charges against Kavanaugh, this statement, which goes to the cruelty and danger of men in certain kinds of groups, rings true.

‘If you’re like me, contact your local Dawoodi Bohra chapter.’

Sponsored by Twitter.

There will be a national referendum on the question as well. Expect the Swiss to vote in favor of a country-wide ban by a similarly comfortable margin.

As the enterprise collapses, photographers vie to see who can take the most compelling shot of a virtually empty stadium.

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Go here for the glorious history of Colorado State University’s brand new empty stadium.

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UD thanks John.

… agriculture. Ahem!”

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[About Christine Ford, Senator Mitch McConnell recently said:] “We’re going to plow right through this.” Plow right through this, meaning, we’re going to plow right through this woman’s, you know, accusations and she’s, you know, presumably, if she does testify, it’s going to be her trauma and her — it’s going to be a very emotional kind of presentation.

Lisa Lerer, New York Times

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UPDATE: Schumer can’t resist opening his remarks today with the same quotation.

And why is it so popular to hit McConnell on the terminology? Because, uh…

Royal wench! She made great Caesar lay his sword to bed. He plowed her, and she cropped.

Taraf Alasiri kicks off a now-viral facial equality movement in Saudi Arabia. Much like Iran’s My Stealthy Freedom, Solidarity with Taraf features Saudi women photographing themselves unveiled and writing about personal freedom.

Two women in burqas who were refused entry to London’s Ritz hotel expressed serious annoyance.

But the hotel has a dress code and the code includes people who refuse to show their faces. End of story.