Lest it fall through the cracks amid attention so focused on the Dr. Christine Ford's letter, there were A LOT of strong reasons to vote against Brett Kavanaugh even before it emerged.  For starters, perjury is never a good quality in a Supreme Court Justice.  Or a Federal Judge, for that matter...

There's a question concerning all this that hasn't really been discussed must yet.  It's possible, of course, that the charges being made in the letter turn out to be false or unproven.  However, it's just as possible (and being totally subjective, I'll say it's probable, or even likely) that they're true.  If the former, then the nomination moves forward as before, and Mr. Kavanaugh will be voted on based on all the rush-through reasons the committee has allowed.  But -- IF belief in the charges or evidence of them progress to the degree that Kavanaugh withdraws or enough Senators believe the accusations and reject him, that raises the little-discussed question.  If Brett Kavanaugh is not approved for the Supreme Court because of having committed attempted rape over 30 years ago and lied about it today, doesn't that suggest he shouldn't be on the federal bench at all?   And that he should be impeached or resign?  

By the way, one of the Republican talking points through all this is to ask if one should be judged on the actions a person took over 30 years ago when in high school.  I would suggest that we're not talking about applying for a job at Burger King, but a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, when standards of employment are the highest -- and should be.  And attempted rape is most probably disqualifying from that job.  (Not to mentioned, as noted above, any lifetime job on the federal court.)  But far more to the point is that this is NOT just about what happened over 30 years ago...but today.  If Republicans want to talk about how a person grows from their past transgressions, and that we should look at them today, great!, let's look at Brett Kavanaugh today.  Because today, if the allegations are true, Brett Kavanaugh is a man denying vehemently that he he ever committed attempted rape, and assuming he's brought back before the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the matter, he's a man who -- today -- (unless he decides to confess) is willing to lie under oath about it.  That's who Brett Kavanaugh is today.

(Side note: I think it's proper for the press to report, as they have, that when Brett Kavanaugh has denied the charges, he "vehemently" denied them.  But I think it's proper, as well, that if the press does that, for them to make just as clear that Dr. Ford has "emphatically" affirmed her charges.)

I don't know for absolute certain what the truth is here.  I have my belief and reasons for it (among them, as I noted on Monday, it turns out that I have a distant overlap with someone who is longtime friends with Christine Ford.  They talk often, and he is absolutely sure she is telling the truth), and think that the action did happen.  But make no mistake, the issue at hand isn't only about three decades ago, but today.  And what should be done in full, beyond just the Supreme Court, should the charges turn out to be true.

It will not come as a shock to anyone who knows me that I was busy last night with the Chicago Bears and Chicago Cubs both on television.  So, it completely slipped through the cracks that the Emmys were on, and I missed them.  In fairness, I probably wouldn't have watched, since I tend not to.  I may have recorded them, had I remembered, and the fast-forwarded through to specific moments, like I do with most awards shows, but who knows? 

The larger point here is I only recently found out the winners.  And readers of these pages will recall me raving here about the Amazon Prime series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and singling out the show's star Rachel Brosnahan and supporting actress Alex Boorstein.  So, I’ll note that it had seven wins, including Best Comedy Series – as well as wins for Ms. Brosnahan and Ms. Boorstein, as well as writing.  And three others.

I tries nots to steers ya wrong.

I was also told by a friend who watched the show about the broadcast's high with the award for Best Director of Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special, won by Glenn Weiss -- who proceeded to  propose on stage to his girlfriend.  Actually, for all the attention that got, my favorite moment was when he looks up to the control booth and (being a director of live events, who understands such things like the tight schedule they're under) apologizes to "Hamish" -- the Emmy broadcast's director, and clearly a friend -- for taking more time that he's allotted.

(After the show, I saw an interview with Glen Weiss where ​he was asked about what if he hadn't won, was there a Plan B.  He answered that, no, that there was no Plan B.  It was all Plan A, everything with his now-fiance was always Plan A.)

​Here's that segment.

If you didn’t see it, here is Anderson Cooper’s almost-10-minute takedown of Don Jr.  (Or as he keeps calling him, “Donny Jr.”)

Several years back, I wrote here about a wonderful, though lesser-known musical called Snoopy!!!, which was a sort-of sequel to You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.  It was written by a different team of songwriters, Larry Grossman and Hal Hackady, and began life in a 1975 production in San Francisco, which is where the original cast recording is from.

The show has a terrific, charming and often very funny score and even had a big, popular song to come from it -- which had a very difficult mandate: as the final song in the show, it had to equal the beloved closing song from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which was "Happiness".  And impressively, they did just that with a great song, "Just One Person."  Oddly, because it was one of Jim Henson's favorite songs, The Muppets performed it a great deal, and it's now largely believed by people to be a Muppets song -- indeed, the Muppet performers movingly sang it at Henson's memorial, which I posted here -- but it's not, it's from Snoopy!!!  (The article linked in the first paragraph above embeds the song from the cast album.)

I mention all this for a bizarre reason.

Yesterday, I was being shown around to an open house by my wonderful realtor and all-around lovely person, Carla Winnie.  For some reason afterwards (oh, I remember, we had been discussing the new Reprise! series in Los Angeles that just opened a new show we'd both seen), we began talking about musicals.  And after a while, mentioned that she didn't know I liked musicals so much -- clearly she doesn't read this site... -- and then noted she did, as well, and had even been a performer earlier in her life, and done some stage shows.  I had no idea.  And all the better, it turns out that one of those shows was...Snoopy!!! -- in that original San Francisco production, 43 years ago!  She was performing under her maiden name then, Carla Manning.  And not just was she in the show, but you can hear her on on the cast album where she sang the role of 'Lucy'!

Several years ago, when I transferred most of my LPs to CDs, I made covers for the CDs and tried to duplicate the LP cover art as much as possible.  So I checked through my files, and – 

She sang in the group numbers, of course, and though there is no solo number for 'Lucy' in the show, she does sing in a trio for a very funny song, "I Know Now."  And here that is -- she's the first voice, singing the line, "I know know, you can’t trust a daisy. / They blab every chance they get!"

The other two performers are Roxann Pyle as 'Sally' and Pamela Myers (who went on to have a Broadway career) who comes in third as 'Peppermint Patty.'  I was able to pick out Carla throughout the song, too, since she has the most "straightforward" voice -- 'Sally' coming across as a little girl, and Pamela Myers having a distinctive, high-pitch.

​I have no doubt that Carla was a wonderful performer.  In fact, she toured in quite a few shows.  And one additional thing for certain is that today she's also quite a wonderful realtor...

That's one thing that...well, I know now.

It must be noted that George Conway is the husband of Kellyanne Conway.

Also, though his tweet is clearly directed at Trump, it would be near impossible to not recognize that he is inches from it being referenced at his wife. 

Still, that he of all people is responding like this to Trump is good enough.

There's a very detailed, interesting article in the Washington Post about the letter and charges on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and it includes an interview with the women, Christine Blasey Ford, who is a research psychologist in Northern California.  There are a few difficult things in the story for Mr. Kavanaugh.  Among them: she’s highly regarded in her profession.  She did talk about it in therapy years ago, and to her husband.  She brought it up back in July, not last minute, contacting the Washington Post on their tip line, which is anonymous.  And…perhaps most importantly, the other guy in the room -- Kavanaugh's friend -- has a history of alcoholism which he has been public about in the past.
 
The issue though is less what the public thinks than how Republicans on the committee deal with it – or not.  Anita Hill was well-regarded, too.  However, this can't be positioned as a disgruntled former-employee reacting to her boss.  And unlike Ms. Hill, she’s white.

Without going into any details, it turns out that I discovered yesterday I have a distant overlap with someone who is longtime friends with Christine Ford.  They talk often, and he is absolutely sure she is telling the truth. There's more, but it's not my place to make it public without asking first.  You can believe me or not, dealer's choice. 
 
I have no idea what will come from the letter, but oddly enough I do think that if anything about this scuttles Kavanaugh, it’s not the story but – as is so often the case – the cover-up.  If Kavanaugh had said upfront in a simple, almost-dismissive manner that he and some friends were at a party in high school and he tried to kiss a girl, but it went nowhere, and his memory of the situation is totally different from hers, then it all would have been embarrassing, but I suspect Republicans would have accept it as a “youthful indiscretion.”  And his word against hers.  But categorically denying it and lying is another matter entirely when going for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.  Not that all the Republicans would be bothered by the story, they won’t be.  And I suspect he will be confirmed.  But if he isn’t, it will be because he tried to cover it up and it got out of hand.

You may recall on the the TV broadcast of the 85th Oscars in 2013, the cast of the movie version of Les Miserables performed the medley-song "One Day More" medley live.  This is a behind-the-scenes video of the rehearsal for that number.  Actually, it appears to be a rehearsal for an audio of the song in a recording studio, rather than the staging.  I suspect they did it to either have a backup, in case there was a problem during the live broadcast, or so that they could lip-sync to it.  But I strongly believe it's the former, having tracked down a video of the performance and it looks pretty clearly sung live.

The performers are Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit and Samantha Barks.  Fittingly, given the roles they played in the film as comedy foil con-men, keep an eye on Cohen and Bonham Carter later in the video, having a fun time among themselves, as he also records the whole thing on his phone, 

Also there are music supervisor Stephen Brooker, composer Claude-Michel Schönberg next to him, director Tom Hooper standing in the back with his arms crossed, producer Cameron Mackintosh (who produced the stage production), and next to him original French lyricist Alain Boublil with a scarf around his neck.

​And here's the end result on the Oscar telecast.  You can check for yourself that it does appear to be sung live.  The sound quality is poor, the user seemingly having recorded it second-hand, probably with their cel phone, not from the direct TV feed. But it comes across well enough.

By the way, as long as I was giving credit above, the English lyrics to the show were written by Herbert Kretzmer.

From the archive.  This week's contestant is Mirabai Knight from New York, New York.  At first, I  thought I knew the hidden song right off, but then it went off into a different direction.  And in fact, the contestant had the same guess.  But then halfway through I figured it out right and got it.  And the contestant's guess on composer style was mine, too -- and wrong.  But close.  In fact, the correct answer was my first thought.  So...yep, I should have stuck with my instinct.  Especially since it quotes a well-known piece.
​

I’m not even going to attempt to write coherent passages and analysis here.  Friday was a random thoughts kind of day.
 
Trump attorney Michael Cohen -- guilty and cooperating.
 
Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort -- guilty and cooperating.
 
Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg -- gets immunity and is cooperating.
 
Trump friend David Pecker -- gets immunity and is cooperating.
 
And Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells us this isn’t about Trump.
 
These above aren’t just major names for the prosecution – these are among the closest people to Trump that exist in the world, outside of his family.  These include people who said they’d take a bullet for Trump, people who said they would never flip on Trump.  And they all flipped on Trump.  So, with this, with the anonymous New York Times op-ed, with Bob Woodward’s book, Trump is most likely spinning in angst-ridden, dervish circles knowing he can’t trust anyone.
 
Paul Manafort was the one person Trump singled out for being brave and not flipping.
 
Previously, I couldn’t imagine how much Robert Mueller knows.  Now I feel pretty sure he knows almost everything – it’s just not known how deep and wide “everything” goes.
 
Manafort flipping is not only massive, it may be the whole ball game. Consider –
 
He has to testify honestly about anything the Special Counsel's team asks.  Anything.  And he was in the Trump Tower meeting with Don Jr. and Jared Kusher.  He knows  what was said at the meeting, before the meeting, and after. 
 
Manafort knows if Trump ever discussed pardons with him, and perhaps even if Trump told him he discussed pardons with others.
 
It was Manafort who personally hand-picked Mike Pence to be Vice President, and Pence oversaw the Trump transition which gave security clearance to Mike Flynn...who had to resign after just two weeks in office.  So, Pence is at risk. 
 
I wonder if Republican officials have already started putting together names of possible VP candidates who would be acceptable to Democrats and QUICKLY approved if Trump leaves office and Pence becomes president  but is himself investigated for impeachment, so that if Democrats take control of the house, the Democratic Speaker of the House doesn’t become president.
 
Manafort likely knows if Russian oligarch money was paid to any Republican members of Congress.  So, THEY are at risk, as well.
 
He likely knows about Russian money paid to the NRA for them to launder.
 
He pleaded guilty to the ten charges that had a hung-jury at his previous trial, when one member didn't think he was guilty and wouldn't vote to convict.
 
Though Manafort only pleaded guilty to two charges yesterday – those two charges included all the other charges, put together in one indictment.
 
With Manafort pleading guilty and flipping – on top of Michael Cohen, and all the others cooperating -- it’s hard to imagine anyone on the White House staff thinking it makes sense to not tell the Special Counsel everything they know.
 
John Dean sent out the following tweet today -- “Manafort has flipped! BOOM (the sound of broomsticks breaking the sound barrier crashing to earth - NO witches). The entire Trump family now in jeopardy. No pardon for Paul from Trump. No nice things to say about Manafort by Rudy. Nightmares at the White House will be unending.”
 
 “The entire Trump family” being in jeopardy.  The heart breaks.
 
At this point, a lot of legal experts are saying it’s getting too late for pardons for some people, but especially Paul Manafort.  Even Alan Dershowitz said today it’s too late to pardon Manafort.  And besides, legal experts are saying that Manafort has already been testifying to the prosecutors to show what he can give them for the plea deal.  And he’s not only required to testify under the plea deal, but a pardon removes 5th Amendment protections and requires him to testify for that, as well.
 
A year ago, I wrote that anyone who is counting on Trump pardoning them likely knows Trump better than most, and in the end they more than most people know they can’t rely on him for that.  They know that the only thing they can rely on with Trump is that he’ll act in what’s his own best interest.  And if that means pardoning someone could hurt him in some way, he won’t pardon them.  And that includes his children.  I think there are many reasons Manafort pled guilty and flipped.  But one of those reasons is probably that he knew he couldn’t count on Trump for a pardon.

To be clear, this isn't just about impeachment.  All of this -- not just what he pleaded guilty to but every different levels it touches -- is about federal crimes along with state crimes committed by not only Trump but also his family going back decades, which raises the risk involving prison time for everyone.  It's not that that is likely -- there are still so many hurdles to get to that -- but it's seriously on the table now, I believe.  And I suspect The Trump Family Gang suspect the risk, too.

You know it’s a horrific day for Trump when there’s a monster hurricane with massive disastrous flooding and five deaths with more devastation to come -- and it’s not the main story.
 
And I don’t think the Mueller investigation is close to wrapping up.
 
I look forward to next week’s approval ratings.  And the weeks after.  As we’ve discussed, this can’t get better for Trump – not just because there is mountains of guilty evidence pilled on him from years as what is probably a crime family, but there is no one competent at the White House left who can help him with his problems.
 
One fine day, indeed.