Locked and Loaded: President Trump said the US is prepared to strike when it gets verification of who was responsible for drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oil production facilities over the weekend.

  The attacks knocked out half of Saudi Arabia’s oil processing capability which is about 5 percent of global supply. Oil prices are spiking.

  Yemeni rebels who have been at war with Saudi Arabia claim responsibility, but the Trump administration appears ready to blame Iran. The government released satellite photos showing the weapons came from the direction of Iraq and Iran.

  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that there was “no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.” Nonetheless, Yemen’s Houthi rebels are threatening more attacks. 

  Trump tweeted that, “There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack.”

Braking News: The United Auto Workers went on strike overnight against General Motors, pulling 46,000 workers from 31 GM factories and 21 other facilities across nine states. It’s the first work stoppage in the US auto industry in 12 years.

 The union claims GM is putting profits ahead of the employees who helped save the company after its bankruptcy and a federal bailout ten years ago. GM said it’s made a good offer of better pay and profit sharing for union members.

  The two sides are scheduled to keep talking today.

Justice “Bart”:The puerile behavior of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh  when he was a student is on the national agenda again with the publication of a book by two NY Times reporters who say they have confirmed incidents thrown to the ash can of angry denial during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings.

  Notably, Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kellywrite in “The Education of Brett Kavanaugh” that there were witnesses to an incident during a party at Yale in which Kavanaugh is reported to have pushed his penis in the face of a fellow student named Deborah Ramirez

  They write that, “During his Senate testimony, Mr. Kavanaugh said that if the incident Ms. Ramirez described had occurred, it would have been ‘the talk of campus.’ Our reporting suggests that it was.”

  They write that, “A classmate, Max Stier, saw Mr. Kavanaugh with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student.”

  Ramirez said she gave the FBI a list of 25 people who might corroborate her story and none were called because of limits put on the investigation by Senate Republicans.

  Along with their article, Pogrebin and Kelly publish a letter Kavanaugh wrote in high school in which he described his friends as “loud, obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers.”

  Hanna Rosin writes in her review in the Times that, “The conclusion Pogrebin and Kelly come to about Kavanaugh is therefore pretty narrow. He was a teenager whose heavy drinking may have led to a bad memory. That’s the working theory. And he grew up to be a man skilled enough at evading questions about his teenage drinking to stop just short of a lie.” 

  Democrats, including presidential candidate Kamala Harris, are lining up to call for Kavanaugh’s resignation or impeachment. President Trump has rushed to his defense tweeting, “Brett Kavanaugh should start suing people for libel, or the Justice Department should come to his rescue. The lies being told about him are unbelievable. False Accusations without recrimination. When does it stop? They are trying to influence his opinions. Can’t let that happen!” 

The Obit Page:Rick Ocacek, the songwriter, guitarist and lead singer for the Cars, a groundbreaking rock band, was found dead yesterday afternoon at his Manhattan townhouse. Reports of his age differ, but he was between 70 and 75.

  From 1978 to 1988, Ocasek and the Cars created a new sound that appealed to both the punk rock crowd and a more mainstream pop audience. Their big hits included “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “Shake it Up.”

Fear This:President Trump is making it clear that his 2020 campaign will be one of enemies, not ideas. 

  Like a tinpot dictator, he is identifying the enemies his followers need to fear. He tweeted, “I am fighting the Fake (Corrupt) News, the Deep State, the Democrats, and the few remaining Republicans In Name Only (RINOS, who are on mouth to mouth resuscitation), with the help of some truly great Republicans, and others. We are Winning big (150th Federal Judge this week)!”

  What needs to be feared is a leader who says he is the only source of truth.

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