With a Senate split nearly evenly between Republicans and Democrats, Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court will probably come down to the two GOP women who have emerged as the chamber's swing votes: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. The two senators are moderates compared to the average radical right-wing Republican, and they previously demonstrated that they don't always vote along party lines when they declined to go along with the Affordable Care Act repeal proposal last year. Now, with Kavanaugh facing sexual assault allegations, they'll have another hard choice to make. Before Christine Blasey Ford alleged that Kavanaugh tried to rape her in the early 1980s, pro-choice activists had already been pressuring Collins to vote against his Supreme Court appointment, fearing he could eventually decide to overturn Roe v. Wade. “A candidate for this important position who would overturn Roe v. Wade would not be acceptable to me, because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don’t want to see a judge have,” Collins said after Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement in July. Since then, activists have sent over 3,000 coat hangers to Collins's office and a PAC has raised $1 million that will go to Collins's eventual opponent if she votes to confirm Kavanaugh. But Collins hasn't seemed swayed to vote against him, either by arguments about his positions or the accusations. After Ford requested that the FBI investigate her claims before testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Collins wrote: Senator Murkowski has also previously expressed pro-choice sentiments. In 2003, she joined Collins in voting to endorse Roe v. Wade. As ThinkProgress reported, "Both Collins and Murkowski have been the deciding votes on legislation that would have defunded Planned Parenthood, and just last November, Planned Parenthood honored Collins with an award for her consistent refusal to defund the provider." ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKyUjyQ_94

Welcome to Finest News. Subscribe to the channel at https://goo.gl/VjHw6T Welcome to Finest News. Subscribe to the channel at https://goo.gl/VjHw6T If there are any residents of areas in the path of Hurricane Florence who haven’t evacuated, maybe the sight of almost 30 United States Navy warships fleeing is enough to make them rethink their decision to stay. The warships are leaving Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia after the Navy issued a “sortie code alpha” earlier this week. Sortie code alpha is the Navy’s way of telling its ships to get out of Dodge, immediately. Footage of the behemoth warships lumbering out of port was uploaded to the Navy’s YouTube channel. Although a few ships were stuck in port due to maintenance issues, they will be safeguarded by extra precautions according to a release by the Navy. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDrczzCcK-w

This was a “stunningly irresponsible” defense of Brett Kavanaugh. Ed Whelan, an attorney and president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, believes he has found the person who really assaulted Christine Blasey Ford. And it wasn’t Brett Kavanaugh. On Thursday evening, Whelan, a prominent figure in conservative political circles in Washington, set Twitter on fire by not only arguing in favor of Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh’s innocence against accusations of an sexual assault committed in 1982, but also accusing someone else of being the culprit — by name, home address, floor plan, and yearbook photo. Whelan has become one of Kavanaugh’s most prominent defenders. He became friends with Kavanaugh when Whelan served as principal deputy in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and Kavanaugh was working in the White House counsel’s office during the George W. Bush administration. On Tuesday, Whelan tweeted a promise: “By one week from today, I expect that Judge Kavanaugh will have been clearly vindicated on this matter. ... There will be no cloud over him.” He added in another tweet: “Senator Feinstein will soon be apologizing to Judge Kavanaugh.” The tweets caused a stir, particularly among conservatives and even reaching the White House. According to Politico, Whelan was so sure of his ability to prove Kavanaugh’s innocence that he “told at least three associates that his confidence level in his assertions is “close to 100 percent.” ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVixvbGcCr8

Welcome to Finest News. Subscribe to the channel at https://goo.gl/VjHw6T Republican senators are giving Christine Blasey Ford a stark choice as they prepare to weigh her sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh: Talk to us on Monday, or risk losing your chance to do so before we vote. In a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Ford's lawyers are seeking an FBI inquiry before the California-based professor testifies in public about her high school-era assault allegation against the Supreme Court nominee. Republicans are indicating little interest in any such investigation. Instead, Grassley (R-Iowa) said on Wednesday morning he will spend the rest of the week trying to persuade Ford to appear before his committee. "I'm not worried about anything other than just focusing for the next few days [on] encouraging her to come," Grassley told reporters. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcNNd8PPVgQ