BRETT KAVANAUGH/HEARING/SENATE/SEX ABUSE/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh and his accuser faced off Thursday [9-27-18] in an extraordinary, emotional day of testimony that ricocheted from a woman’s tremulous account of sexual assault to a man’s angry, outraged denial, all of which played out for hours before a riveted nation and a riven Senate. The two very different versions of the truth, unfolding in the heated atmosphere of gender divides, #MeToo and the Trump presidency, could not be reconciled. The testimony skittered from cringe-worthy sexual details to accusations and denials of drunken debauchery to one juvenile exchange over flatulence. Washington has not seen anything like it in a generation. For people not used to watching government in action, it was a spectacle of tantrums, tears, preening and political ambition — what Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, called, ‘Sadly one of the most shameful chapters in the history of the United States Senate.’ Senators must ultimately take sides, and their decisions in the coming days will determine the ideological balance of the Supreme Court for decades.”
–Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Nicholas Fandos, “Brett Kavanaugh and Accuser Square Off in Emotional Hearing With Court in Balance,” The New York Times online, September 27, 2018