Kavanaugh—"Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh cleared a major hurdle Friday morning in his quest for the Supreme Court, as the Senate voted narrowly to cut off debate on his nomination and move to a final vote as early as Saturday," reports the New York Times.
This is very bad news, and the next few days will likely be rough ones, with horrific long-term and short-term consequences. Help where and how you can, support vital organizations like SARC and Call to Safety, and take care of yourself.
Nobel Peace Prize—Meanwhile, in a less craven and misogynistic part of the world, the "2018 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict," writes CNN.
Working more and making less—"The U.S. jobless rate dropped to 3.7 percent in September—the lowest since 1969," reports NPR. But as the cost of living continues to rise, the Washington Post adds, "Economists continue to be surprised that wages are not growing faster now that competition for workers is so fierce. Annual pay for the average worker increased only 2.8 percent in the past year."
Raccoons and vegans—The Guardian has two excellent headlines: "Whole Foods v Vegans: Berkeley Store Gets Restraining Order Against Activists" and "Raccoons v Toronto: How 'Trash Pandas' Conquered the City." I've got 20 bucks that says the vegans and raccoons advance from the semis, and $20 more says the raccoons easily and bloodily take the championship.
The Second Amendment is still a great idea—"A Portland mom was arrested Thursday after her gun apparently fired by accident in a Northeast Portland elementary school cafeteria while she was picking up her child," writes the Oregonian. Granted, it's not ideal when any news story begins with the phrase "A Portland mom was arrested," but in this case... yes, okay.
Mandalorians 'n' midichlorians—Disney has announced a live-action Star Wars TV show! The Mandalorian will "follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic," and obviously there are a lot of questions here, such as: "Why doesn't the Mandaloiran have a rangefinder on his helmet, when all other sets of Mandalorian armor we've thus seen thus far—including, but not limited to, those worn by Boba Fett, Jango Fett, and Sabine Wren—have all had rangefinders?" Wait. What do you mean, "Desperately retreating into a children's fantasy world of space wizards is a poor and unhealthy way to deal with the soul-crushing reality of today's terrifying news"? Either answer my question about the rangefinder or not!
Things are fine. Everything is fine.
