President Donald Trump said that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un "fell in love."

While speaking at a rally for Senate candidate and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) in West Virginia, Trump spoke about his evolving relationship with Kim.

"I was really being tough and so was he," he said. "And we would go back and forth. And then we fell in love. No really. He wrote me beautiful letters."

"They were great letters. And then we fell in love."

Trump praised Kim at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, saying that he was proud of his courage.

"I would like to thank Chairman Kim for his courage and for the steps he has taken, though much work remains to be done," he said.

A second Trump-Kim summit seems to be in the works, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accepted an invitation to visit Pyongyang to being planning.

https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/409104-trump-kim-jong-un-and-i-fell-in-love

This is BAD. Those disgusting repugs are going to use this to justify their disgusting decision.

After a full day of hearings on Thursday — and after being cast aside by Republicans during Brett Kavanaugh’s portion of the proceedings — lawyer Rachel Mitchell told Republican Senators in a GOP conference meeting that as a prosecutor, she wouldn’t charge Kavanaugh with a crime, Politico reported.


She wouldn’t even attempt to get a search warrant, she reportedly added.

Mitchell was retained by Republican Senators to question Christine Blasey Ford during the hearing on Thursday in order to avoid appearing insensitive. Mitchell, a prosecutor from Arizona, has a respected background in investigating years-old sex crimes.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) told Politico that Mitchell gave Republicans in the room a half-hour presentation on “facts that were established and not established.” According to a person briefed on the meeting, she shared her analysis of the hearing overall, but didn’t tell lawmakers how they should vote.

he is doing that weird incoherent babbling & lashing out that trumpy does when he can't answer a direct question

While she sits quietly & respectfully as that monster speaks, part of me wishes she would stand up go over to him and slap him across the face!

(not just in the future as scotus) but every single darn day as they keep trying to beat into us the message of "shut up & stay down" I can't help but wonder - haven't any of those republican senators had their wives, or mothers, daughters, or granddaughters tell them their Kavanaugh-like story too?

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Dozens of students dressed in black staged a sit-in at Yale Law School on Monday to protest the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and demand an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him.

Organizers said allegations of sexual assault and harassment should be taken seriously, and Kavanaugh poses a “real threat” to the country. Other Yale students traveled to Washington to protest Kavanaugh’s nomination on Monday.

(snip)

Some Yale faculty members cancelled or rescheduled law classes Monday to accommodate the protest.

“The allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are rightly causing deep concern at Yale Law School and across the country,” Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken said in a statement. “As dean, I cannot take a position on the nomination, but I am so proud of the work our community is doing to engage with these issues, and I stand with them in supporting the importance of fair process, the rule of law and the integrity of the legal system.”

Gerken said 50 faculty members have signed a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging a “fair and deliberate” confirmation process. (read more)

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/yale-law-students-protest-kavanaugh-nomination

Yet more evidence that Vladimir Putin has continued to ply President Trump with opposition to US intelligence and the so-called “deep state” during their conversations since President Trump entered the White House. Not surprising and yet stunning passage in this excerpt from Greg Miller’s new Trump book:

Trump’s admiration for the leader of Russia was inexplicable and never wavered after taking office. He praised the Russian leader, congratulated him, defended him, pursued meetings with him, and fought virtually any policy or punitive measure that might displease him.

A trained intelligence operative, Putin understood the power of playing to someone’s insecurities and ego. On cue, he reciprocated with frequent praise for the president he had sought to install in the White House.

In phone conversations with Trump, Putin would whisper conspiratorially, telling the U.S. president that it wasn’t their fault that they could not consummate the relationship that each had sought. Instead, Putin sought to reinforce Trump’s belief that he was being undermined by a secret government cabal, a bureaucratic “deep state.”

“It’s not us. We get it,” Putin would tell Trump, according to White House aides. “It’s the subordinates fighting against our friendship.”

Why do we think President Trump insisted on a private meeting with Putin in Helsinki, with no aides present?

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/in-secret-calls-putin-cultivated-trumps-anger-at-the-deep-state

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday dismissed recent news reports that tensions between him and President Donald Trump point to his exit soon.


Asked by a reporter whether such reports should be taken seriously, he replied, “No. I wouldn’t take it seriously at all. It’s like most of those kind of things in this town” that he said are fanned by baseless rumor.

“Somebody cooks up a headline. They then call to a normally chatty class of people, they find a couple of other things to put in, they add the rumor, somebody else on the other coast starts writing the same thing — next thing you know you’ve got a story,” he told a small group of reporters on the steps of the Pentagon as he awaited the arrival of his Philippine counterpart.

Several news organizations have reported that Trump has become weary of Mattis, a retired Marine general who was one of his first Cabinet selections. He is seen by many as a steadying influence on Trump in the face of sometimes impulsive moves on national security issues.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that Trump has “soured” on Mattis, and that the president is considering whether he wants someone running the Pentagon who would be more vocally supportive. The newspaper also reported that Mattis is becoming weary of pushing back against various Trump proposals.

(read more)

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mattis-dismissive-of-news-reports-of-tension-with-trump

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) rejected professor Christine Blasey Ford’s request to hold off on hearings on her sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh until the FBI can conduct an investigation into the claim.


In a statement released Tuesday, Grassley said that there is no reason for “further delay” since “nothing the FBI or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee.” (read more)

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/grassley-rejects-blasey-ford-request-to-delay-hearing-for-fbi-probe

The Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated an earlier stay issued in the case of a conservative group fighting against a ruling that it and others like it must disclose their donors publicly.

As a result, the politically active, Karl Rove-run conservative nonprofit Crossroads GPS, and hundreds of other groups like it who’ve raised anonymous money to influence elections, will have to disclose their donors in many more circumstances.


For now, in the words of the Center for Public Integrity, “Secret money in politics will soon be a lot less secret.” The outlet noted it was unclear whether the ruling will apply retroactively to groups’ past donors.

Crossroads GPS will appeal the lower court’s ruling, but, crucially, the Supreme Court’s decision not to grant an emergency stay means a decades-old loophole allowing groups to keep donors secret has been closed, at least through the midterm elections.

“Moving forward, these groups will need to disclose to the public any donor that gave money for the purpose of influencing a federal election, regardless of whether they want to sponsor a particular race or specific communication,” election law expert Matthew Sanderson told the Washington Post. (read more)

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/with-two-sentences-supreme-court-lifts-veil-on-2018s-secret-megadonors