The judge in El Chapo's trial denied another continuance request. Looks like trial may actually begin Nov. 5. It will last weeks. I have been following it very closely, reading every pleading and court order since El Chapo arrived here (as well those in his predecessor cases in other districts, going back to 1993.) What I won't do is speculate on expected protected witnesses before they testify. I do plan on covering the trial extensively once testimony begins. If New York weren't so expensive, I'd do it in person.

Harvey Weinstein won a round and got one sex assault charged dropped this week. He's nowhere near home free (yet).

Time for a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Hurricane Michael is scheduled to make landfall this afternoon. Last night it gathered strength and was designated a Category 4 storm. CBS reported (no link due to autoplay video):

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) says Hurricane Michael is packing even more punch: It strengthened into a Category 4 storm early Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. According to the NHC's latest advisory, Michael could produce a life-threatening storm surge as high as 13 feet and dump as much as a foot of rain in some places.

Florida, Alabama and Georgia are in states of emergency. 375,000 people have been ordered to evacuate. [More...]

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley resigned today. Lots of people are asking why. And some think Trump will name Ivanka as her replacement.

Haley said she will not be a candidate in 2020. Is she looking towards 2024?

Not as funny as last week's cold open on Kavanaugh with Matt Damon, but still quite good.

In real life last night, Donald Trump answered questions from a Fox News Host after his rally in Kansas. The depth of his fake news statements made my head spin. He can't really believe this stuff. I guess he knows his core, under-informed fanboy base can't be bothered to watch real news, which makes them over-susceptible to his nonsense.

We are three weeks to November. Please do your part to get out the vote. If you don't, your children and grandchildren may never forgive you.

The Senate voted today on the motion to invoke cloture on Judge Brett Kavanaugh and it passed by a vote of 51 to 49. It appears he now has the votes to be confirmed.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me) and Joe Manchin (D-WVA) both announced their intention to vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Manchin's statement is here. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)announced her intent to vote against him. Murkowski is the only Republican to vote against Kavanaugh

Senator Susan Collins went on and on in a speech on the Senate floor. Highlights (from my listening to it live): [More...]

Republicans assert the new FBI background report on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh adds no new details or confirmation of the improper sexual conduct claims against him that would disqualify him from serving on the Supreme Court. They say it's time to vote. Indeed, a vote will likely occur Saturday.

The Democrats and accusers are angry, claiming the FBI didn't interview enough people -- i.e., those supporting the accusers' character and other high school and college classmates of Kavanaugh. However, the people Christine Ford said were present at the party where she was attacked were interviewed and none confirmed her account or even remembered such a gathering at which both Kavanaugh and Ford were present.

This was entirely predictable. [More...]

It's a jail day for me, an open thread day for you.

All topics welcome.

Donald Trump today ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental background investigation of Brett Kavanaugh, which is to completed within 1 week and limited to existing accusations.

Mark Judge sent this letter (signed under penalty of felony) to the Committee yesterday. In it he says he never saw Kavanaugh "act in the manner Dr. Ford describes."

Today his lawyer said he will cooperate with the FBI or any confidential law enforcement agency in the probe (she did not say he would testify before any committee.)

Also today, Judge submitted this letter, again under penalty of felony, denying all the allegations in Julie Swetnick's claim.

1:51 pm: Sen. Flake says he has agreed with Democrats that the full Senate vote should be delayed for one week for the FBI to do "due diligence" by investigating existing accusations against Kavanaugh. But he's not saying the Kavanaugh committee vote should be delayed. The press is flummoxed, thinking they didn't vote. They did vote. They passed Kavanaugh on to the full Senate by a vote of 11 to 10. All Flake did was say he wants more information before the full Senate vote. If he changes his mind when the full Senate votes, Kavanaugh would not prevail. But today he votes with other Republicans to pass Kavanaugh's confirmation on to the full Senate.

The committee is now out of jurisdictional control. It's up to the full Senate now. All Flake has done is agree with Democrats that the full Senate vote should be delayed a week so the FBI can investigate pending (not future)allegations of accusers.

Original Post

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court at 1:30 pm ET. You can watch the vote live here or here.

For those who thought it was all over, think again. Brett Kavanaugh is angry, very angry. And he's credible.

The Senate Hearing on Christine Ford's allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh begins at 10:00 am. I will be in court by 8 am MT, so I'm putting the thread up early. It's meant to be a live thread for your comments as the hearing is happening and your thoughts on it afterwards.

The Judiciary Committee has posted these items:

• Ford's Written Testimony
• Kavanaugh's Written Testimony
• A letter from 64 of Kavanaugh's high school friends on the Avanatti/Swetting allegations
• A letter from 65 of Kavenaugh's female high school friends dated Sept. 14 when Ford's allegations first arose

[More...]

The finale to El Senor de los Cielos was very good. I watched it twice, just to make sure I didn't miss anything. They killed off the one good cop, and the only Cuban spy with a conscience, but everyone else survived, except Lightning, the boxing champ, and he died of old age.

Aurelio's fingers moved, but he didn't wake up from his coma. I take that as a sign they haven't decided yet whether Rafael Amaya is gone for good or coming back for Season 7.

The finale of Big Brother is tonight. It's been a better season than most. I happen to like Julie Chen. She's left The Talk but is sticking with Big Brother. It wouldn't be as good a show without her. And she's not intimidated by what's happening to her husband. She now signs off BB as "Julie Chen Moonves" which she never did before.

There's quite a few more significant topics in the news this week I haven't gotten around to writing about yet. Hopefully, you will pick up on them and keep the discussion going.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.