UB-Forties. Wonkagenda For Tues., Oct. 2, 2018

Brett Kavanaugh's drinking problem, Trump's nu-NAFTA, and another Seth Rich retraction. Your morning news brief!

  Morning Wonketariat! Here's some of the things wemaybe talking about today.

One of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's former classmates at Yale, Chad Ludington, is telling the FBI and reporters about a bar brawl Kavanaugh started in 1985 following a UB40 concert. Ludington describes Kavanaugh as an "angry" drunk, though other previously vocal supporters of Kavanaugh who were present dispute Kavanaugh's presence.

NBC News obtained text messages from some of Kavanaugh's other Yale classmates that show Kavanaugh directly pressured a friend into refuting the claim of Deborah Ramirez that Kavanaugh got shitfaced and shoved his dick in her face, in anticipation of the New Yorker story.

 Julie Swetnick sat down with NBC's Kate Snow for an interview about a young, boozed-out Brett Kavanaugh. NBC does caution that it can't verify Swetnick's claims, and is asking for people to come forward to corroborate her story.

Trump's White House caved to pressure from key Democratic and Republican senators in expanding the FBI probe of Brett Kavanaugh just as Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell stressed that the Senate will vote "this week" on Kavanaugh's nomination to SCOTUS, whether you want them to or not.

Following testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, a number of new polls show support for Kavanaugh continuing to crater, now sitting at 42 percent. Clearly he's too emotional and shrill to serve on the SCOTUS.

Conservatives are having pity parties for themselves and mansplaining how rich, white male lives matter to all the godless Heathers trying to #MeToo Brett Kavanaugh.

Roger Stone's obnoxious friend Randy Credico told the Senate Intel Committee he plans to plead the Fifth after he was subpoenaed in the ongoing Trump Russia investigation. By Trump's standards, he's guilty.

Politico is reporting that Paul Manafort's lawyers were spotted outside Robert Mueller's office yesterday. Something tells us they weren't discussing the definition of "boofing" or Devil's Triangle."

A federal investigation into the hacking of Cheri Jacobus, a vocal anti-Trumper and PR operative, has been referred to Robert Mueller after FBI officials found the investigation hitting a jurisdictional wall. We're not saying it was Russia (but it was Russia).

Trump's new NAFTA deal, the "US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement," is a lot like the old NAFTA deal, except now with more milk, car parts, and a higher minimum wage for Mexican workers. Pencil pushers note this won't do much for the US economy beyond making cars more expensive and adding more paperwork, and it's unlikely to pass through a Democratic House next year.

WaPo has obtained an internal DHS OIG report that examined how Trump's baby jail policy was implemented, and it's far more horrific we thought. TLDR: A lack of communication and coordination led to a cascade of logistical and humanitarian failures that could have been foreseen by anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size.

Immigration activist groups have been pressuring their local leaders and police to cancel information sharing and detention contracts with ICE in order to protect undocumented immigrants. They might not be able to #AbolishICE, but you can certainly slow them down.

As part of the Trump administration's push to deregulate the financial industry, the Fed wants new rules to change the amount of quick cash smaller regional banks have to keep on hand in the event of a financial crisis. What could go wrong?

New polling data shows the Trump tax cuts (for the super rich) aren't trickling down to the proles as many of the companies getting cash windfalls aren't raising worker wages, they're reinvesting it to their bottom line so CEOs can make more money. REAGANOMICAL!

Trump spent much of his rally in Tennessee name calling potential Democratic 2020 contenders, boosting Marsha Blackburn, and rambling about the future to a bunch of xenophobic geriatrics who probably won't even live long enough to vote in the next election.

Embattled House Freedom crazies like Republican Rep. Dave Brat are trying to gaslight swing voters with ads about bipartisanship while they canoodle with Trumpian greaseballs like Sebastian Gorka at rallies and vote for Republican tax fuckery.

Beto O'Rourke is profusely apologizing for a 1991 review of "The Will Rogers Follies" he wrote for his college newspaper where he pans the movie, and refers to an actress's only redeeming qualities as "phenomenally large breasts and tight buttocks." It's still not half as bad as young Ted Cruz professing his desire for "world domination" and to star in a "teen tit film."

A swath of new data show Democrats rebuilding the old Midwestern blue wall in states like Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa as Democrats surge in the polls. #BlueWave.

Indicted Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter is trying to paint his Democratic opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, as a straight up Islamic terrorist in new ads that gloss over Hunter's grift by calling him a GI Joe.

Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia has decidednotto jump in to the overcrowded Chicago mayoral race. Garcia will instead stick to his original plan and succeed outgoing Rep. Luis Gutierrez in Congress.

 The dean of Catholic University in DC has been suspended after making tweets critical of Julie Swetnick. Tweeting from his official school handle, the dean questioned why Swetnick, a senior, would have been drinking with freshmen, and stated Swetnick was screwing underage boys in high school. The dean has since apologized.

The dean of Harvard Law is telling students that Kavanaugh's class on the Supreme Court since 2005 has been canceled from the January 2019 term.Womp womp.

A woman has retracted sexual harassment claims against Gil Cisneros, the Democratic candidate for California's 39th. In speaking with WaPo the woman says, "It was a huge misunderstanding."

Missouri state Auditor Nicole Galloway has revealed that police in Missouri have lost track of almost 1,300 registered sex offenders after state and local officials failed to keep an eye on the creepy bastards.

A Chinese warship attempted to play chicken with the USS Decatur a couple miles off the Spratly Islands while it was engaged in freedom of navigation exercises. The Navy reports the Luyang made "a series of increasingly aggressive maneuvers" and came within 45 yards before the Decatur blinked and took emergency evasive action to avoid a collision.

A massive 7.5-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Indonesia has left 1,234 people dead, and hundreds of thousands of people are attempting to flee as widespread shortages of food, fuel, and water begin to take hold.

Former ESPN host Jemele Hill is moving to The Atlantic where she's less likely to damage the delicate constitutions of yuppie people who get butthurt when they hear someone talk about the intersection of of race, class, gender and politics.

The super conservative Washington Times has issued a retraction to the Seth Rich conspiracy as part of a settlement that also forced the paper to issue an apology to Rich's family.

Vic Berger has a GROSS video of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross eating his boogers. You're welcome.

And here's your morning Nice Time! MEERKATS! 

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