The Curious Cases of Brett Kavanaugh and PG&E

Let’s get this straight:

Turns out the Justice Department via the F.B.I. did not properly vet the judge named Brett! And so the symptomatic, egregious despoilation and breakdown of bodily governmental function, on cross-country Jumbotron exhibit as the US Senate voted to confirm Brett’s appointment to The Neoprene Court (50-48, October 6, 2018), a mean-spirited life-sized beer-drinking insider, former clerk to Judge Kenneth Starr, consort of George W. Bush and hence a minion-sized enabler of The Bush Administration via the 2000 Florida Bush v. Gore recount, is yet another instance of the recent failures of at least two of the three branches of federal government—the Judicial and the Legislative.

The Executive branch, however, triumphed, nominating not only Brett Kavanaugh but before him, Neil Gorsuch, and after Gorsuch and Brett, Amy Comey Barrett, having the votes in the Senate to confirm all three to lifetime appointments on The Neoprene Court, the highest court in the land.

The newly formed 4th branch of government—the People (that shadowy mob)—stormed The Capitol Building, temple of democracy, on January 6, 2021, celebrating the Executive branch victory. The People became a bit too boisterous in their celebratory zeal, egged on by the then-leader of the Executive Branch. The otherwise promising new 4th branch of government fizzled amid a flurry of finger-pointing exercises, testimony from law enforcement officials on the scene, and the absence of strong Chief Executive leadership ( The Chief Executive at the time of the insurrection having abdicated his leadership position by losing the popular vote in a national election to a man named Joe.)

Thus both the 3rd branch of government (The Executive) and the nascent, once promising 4th branch (The People) are now plummeting toward the failure mode established earlier by the two other branches, The Judicial and the Legislative.

As I said to my friend the other day, who unlike meis a actual student of political history, ‘this experiment is not working.’

In somewhat the same vein Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) recently announced that it would be compensating some of the claimants who’ve brought lawsuits against the investor-owned energy company, and won those lawsuits in a court of law, with PG&E stock.

PG&E stock traded at $71 a share on September 11, 2017; the average PG&E stock price for last 52 weeks is $10.78 per share. This downward trend is an encouraging sign to all who believe in the separate but equal branches of good government; yes, the Executive Branch triumphs once again, but only slightly.

Oil spill & cleanup with paper towel, July 28, 2021.