GOODNESS: Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation isn’t democracy. It’s a judicial coup.

For all the justified outrage about sexual assault, involving allegations that Kavanaugh denied, the new supreme court justice represents an even bigger lie than his mindless fabrications about “ralphing” and “boofing”. He can blame his weak stomach if he likes; the rest of us are heaving at the sight of a generation-long confidence trick suckering an entire democracy.

You could hear it as Kavanaugh’s loyal supporters stood up on the Senate floor and proclaimed their sincere belief in, nay their earnest yearning for, judicial impartiality.

“Judges make decisions based on law, not on policy, not based on political pressure, not based on the identity of the parties,” said Deb Fischer, the Nebraska Republican who quoted liberally from Kavanaugh himself.

This may come as a surprise to anyone who has been awake and conscious for the last several decades of a campaign to stack the courts with conservative ideologues.

It’s hard to believe that Mitch McConnell, the wily Republican leader of the Senate, has fought so hard and so long for his legacy to be such wonderfully impartial and apolitical judges.

As I’ve said many times these last few weeks, the Left will smear and if possible destroy any institution they can’t seize or keep hold of.

Exit question: Is it “stacking the courts” when Democrats appoint progressive-left judges?

SURPRISING EXACTLY NOBODY: FBI’s smoking gun: Redactions protected political embarrassment, not ‘national security.’

From the heavy redactions, all one could tell is that FBI general counsel James Baker met with an unnamed person who provided some information in September 2016 about Russia, email hacking and a possible link to the Trump campaign.

Not a reporter or policymaker would have batted an eyelash over such a revelation.

Then, last Wednesday, I broke the story that Baker admitted to Congress in an unclassified setting — repeat, in an unclassified setting — that he had met with a top lawyer at the firm representing the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and received allegations from that lawyer about Russia, Trump and possible hacking.

It was the same DNC, along with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, that funded the unverified, salacious dossier by a British intel operative, Christopher Steele, that became a central piece of evidence used to justify the FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign in the final days of the election.

And it was the same law firm that made the payments for the dossier research so those could be disguised in campaign spending reports to avoid the disclosure of the actual beneficiaries of the research, which were Clinton and the DNC.

And it was, in turns out, the same meeting that was so heavily censored by the intel agencies from Footnote 43 in the House report — treated, in other words, as some big national security secret.

What makes this so extraordinary is that the FBI and the DOJ would have Americans believe that a contact with a lawyer for a political party during the middle of the election is somehow a matter of national security that should be hidden from the public.

It’s full-on banana-republicanism.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Did Cold War II break out last week while no one was watching?

The Trump administration’s China policy swam into view, and it’s a humdinger. Vice President Mike Pence gave a guide to the approach in a speech last week at the Hudson Institute (where I am a fellow). Denouncing what he called China’s “whole of government” approach to its rivalry with the U.S., Mr. Pence vowed the Trump administration will respond in kind. He denounced China’s suppression of the Tibetans and Uighurs, its “Made in China 2025” plan for tech dominance, and its “debt diplomacy” through the Belt and Road initiative. The speech sounded like something Ronald Reagan could have delivered against the Soviet Union: Mr. Xi, tear down this wall! Mr. Pence also detailed an integrated, cross-government strategy to counter what the administration considers Chinese military, economic, political and ideological aggression.

In the same week as the vice president’s speech, Navy plans for greatly intensified patrols in and around Chinese-claimed waters in the South China Sea were leaked to the press. Moreover, the recently-entered trilateral U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement was revealed to have a clause discouraging trade agreements between member countries and China. The administration indicated it would seek similar clauses in other trade agreements. Also last week, Congress approved the Build Act, a $60 billion development-financing program designed to counter China’s Belt and Road strategy in Africa and Asia. Finally, the White House issued a report highlighting the danger that foreign-based supply chains pose to U.S. military capabilities in the event they are cut off during a conflict.

Any one of these steps would have rated banner headlines in normal times; in the Age of Trump, all of them together barely registered. But this is a major shift in American foreign policy.

Overdue, too.

And do read the whole thing.

MORE ON THE WEEK’S MOST RIDICULOUS STORY: BLM and Antifa Agitators Take Over Street in Portland to Protest Police Shooting. “One activist accuses a homeless man of having ‘white privilege.'”

WELL, GOOD: ACT for America Pressures Hyatt to Drop SPLC-Inspired ‘Hate Group’ Ban on Conservatives.

BREAKING: Nikki Haley resigns as UN Ambassador.

It’s a shame. She’s easily the best one we’ve had since Jeane Kirkpatrick.

More: “Trump tells reporter Haley told him about 6 months ago that at end of two year period she’d want to take a break. ‘She’s done a fantastic job and we’ve done a fantastic job together.'”

MOB RULE: Antifa Protesters Block Portland Traffic, Nearly Start Riot During Patrick Kimmons Vigil.

If they aren’t getting arrested or prosecuted for their lawbreaking and thuggery, it’s because it benefits somebody’s agenda not to.

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER: Security researcher named in China spy chip story voices doubts. “Spreading hardware fear, uncertainty and doubt is entirely in my financial gain, but it doesn’t make sense because there are so many easier ways to do this. There are so many easier hardware ways, there are software, there are firmware approaches. The approach you are describing is not scalable. It’s not logical. It’s not how I would do it. Or how anyone I know would do it.”

More:

Speaking on the Risky Business security podcast, Fitzpatrick voiced his skepticism at the fact that a theoretical proof-of-concept hack he demonstrated at the Black Hat 2016 conference would be exactly the approach reported by the Bloomberg story — despite the fact that there are plenty of other, more straightforward ways of carrying out a hack.

“It was surprising to me that in a scenario where I would describe these things and then he would go and confirm these and 100% of what I described was confirmed by sources,” he said. One of the journalists who wrote the article reportedly said that while it “sounded crazy,” this is exactly what had been reported to them by “lots of sources.”

“I have the expertise to look at he technical details and I have the knowledge to look at the technical details and see that they’re jumbled,” Fitzpatrick said. “They’re not outright wrong, but they are theoretical. I don’t have the knowledge to know the other conversations — the other 17 sources and what they said, but I can infer — based on the technical side of things — that the non-technical side of things may be jumbled the same way.”

It sure would help determine the truth if Bloomberg — or anyone — would provide an actual sample of one of these spy chips.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Rosenstein’s Ride and Much, Much More. “Mitch McConnell said at a press conference in Kentucky. ‘These demonstrators, I’m sure some of them were well-meaning citizens. But many of them were obviously trying to get in our faces, to go to our homes. Basically almost attack us in the halls of the capitol. There was a full-scale effort to intimidate.'”

THE UNFRIENDLY TARMAC: US airline fined $350,000 for keeping planes too hot during tarmac delays.

Regulators found that the Las Vegas-based airline “failed to provide passengers a comfortable cabin temperature” on 10 flights delayed on the tarmac at four airports.

The airports: Las Vegas; Albuquerque; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio. Seven of the 10 flights were in Las Vegas, where temperatures routinely stay above 100 degrees fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) throughout the summer.

In one case, the DOT said, Allegiant also did not provide food and water to passengers during the tarmac delay or let them know they could deplane, as required by DOT rules.

I’ve been on more than a few delayed flights, some seriously so, and can’t recall one instance of the airline informing us we could deplane.

BLUE WAVE? Democratic fundraiser says America is racist and sexist, ‘F–k the bible voters.’ “Democrats are hoping to make gains in Republican-leaning congressional districts by running moderates with biographies that appeal to center-right voters including veterans, gun owners, and football players, and in doing so have distanced themselves from the far-left of the Democratic Party.”

This is the same bait-and-switch the Democrats used in part to win back the House in 2006. After the last fews weeks though, it seems less and less likely that voters will fall for it a second time.

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Venezuela’s annual inflation hits 488,865 percent in September.

Daily inflation is now 4 percent, according to opposition legislator Angel Alvarado, with monthly inflation rising to 233 percent in September from 223 percent in August.

In an effort to stabilize prices, President Nicolas Maduro in August cut five zeros off the ailing bolivar currency, boosted the minimum wage by 3,000 percent, and pegged salaries to an elusive state-backed cryptocurrency.

Opposition legislators have become the only source for economic indicators after the central bank stopped publishing such information nearly three years ago as the economy began unraveling.

The International Monetary Fund estimates consumer prices would rise 1,000,000 percent in 2018.

The only thing planned economies never run out of is zeros.

Related: Need to Flee Venezuela? Pay Huge Bribe or Stand in Line Forever. “The going rate for a black-market passport is more than $2,000, over 68 times the monthly minimum wage.”

ZUCKERBERG’S TELESCREEN: Facebook Portal Is The Last Device You’d Want Looking At You.

On the heels of a massive Facebook security breach, either Facebook thinks we’re all a bunch of morons ready to give more of our blood to the tech giant, or we actually are a bunch of morons engaged in active data bloodletting at Facebook’s doorstep because Facebook has announced its Portal video device to continue the bleeding, but through video.

The Facebook Portal and Portal Plus are seemingly direct competitive devices to the Amazon Echo Show, the difference being is that the Facebook devices are designed with video chatting in mind, rather than shopping. However, Facebook will surely find a quick way to work in advertisements, or at least use conversations for ad-serving, though that’s an unsubstantiated observation.

Plus: “The biggest difference between the Portal and Portal Plus appears to be a 10-inch 720p screen versus a 15.6-inch 1080p screen and better speakers and rotation from landscape to horizontal while the camera tracks you and adjusts accordingly.”

I’m sure it does.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Have We All Gone Insane?

“In war, resolution,” Winston Churchill wrote in his six-volume series of recollections on the conduct of the Second World War. “In victory, magnanimity.” This noble sentiment is the latest target of a marauding cast of censorious revisionists who perceive themselves to be enlightened. The timeless, beneficent wisdom in these words is, apparently, subordinate to the supposed evil of the man who expressed them.

Scott Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy Captain, NASA engineer, and veteran of four spaceflights, was brought low on Sunday by those possessed of neither his accomplishments nor talents for the crime of advocating Churchillian generosity of spirit. “Did not mean to offend by quoting Churchill. My apologies,” the astronaut wrote after what must have been a withering assault on social media. “I will go and educate myself further on his atrocities, racist views which I do not support.”

Read the whole thing.

I’d just add that Kelly was wrong to give into the progressive outrage mob, which simply must make Churchill an unperson for the crime of having saved Western Civilization.

THE NEW CIVILITY: Prof Who Called for GOP Senators’ ‘Deaths’ Admits to ‘Doxxing’ Her Haters’ Addresses, Phone Numbers. “The blog — ‘ShitMenSay’ on Tumblr — was launched by Professor Christine Fair in January 2017. First, she began by posting screenshots of the “hate mail” she was sent by Facebook and email, typically only including names and people’s email addresses. But as early as May 2017, Fair changed course. Instead of simply screenshotting the person’s email or Facebook message, Fair appears to have subscribed to a service that would help her figure out where these people exactly live.”

TYLER O’NEIL: Three Horrific Lies Taylor Swift Told About Marsha Blackburn.

UH-OH: Explosion and fire at Canada’s largest oil refinery.

Images posted on social media networks showed intermittent flames and a column of black smoke rising from the refinery, the country’s largest with a production capacity of 300,00 barrels of refined products a day.

Rob Beebe, who lives near the refinery, told Radio Canada he felt his house shake, followed by a blast.

The company that owns the refinery confirmed on Twitter that a “major incident” occurred there.

Just when I was hoping for some price relief at the pump.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Did the Left just create the very kind of justice they fear most, by using every foul means to stop the elevation of a much less ideological justice?

IT GOES GREAT WITH BREAKFAST: IHOP Beer Is Now a Thing.

FLASHBACK: Sen. Chuck Schumer Calls Flight Attendant ‘B****.’ “And guess who defended ol’ Chucky? Yep, that would be another raging hypocrite, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.”

WINNING: The U.S. Coal Export Boom To Asia.

MICHAEL WALSH: About Merrick Garland’s ‘Stolen’ Seat… “Dems still sore after Garland nomination was tabled. They need to move on.”

About the only hot take I didn’t actually hear during the Left’s anti-Kavanaugh circus was that Garland should get two seats on the Court.

REEFER MADNESS: Number of Colorado Springs newborns exposed to pot exaggerated, but absent statewide data, true number isn’t known.

DON’T BE EVIL: Google Exposed User Data, Feared Repercussions of Disclosing to Public. “Google opted not to disclose to users its discovery of a bug that gave outside developers access to private data. It found no evidence of misuse.”

Hey, what you don’t know can’t hurt them.

But how bad was it, really? Google is “permanently shutting down all consumer functionality of Google+.”

BRINGING US BACK TOGETHER: Americans United On One Thing: Dianne Feinstein BLEW IT!