We could all use a dose of good news right about now, which is why it was heartening to hear that the leader of Amazon just announced he would be raising his employees' pay so that nobody working for his company will make less than $15 an hour. That's good news for hundreds of thousands of American families, and it deserves to be praised and celebrated. But the lion's share of the thanks really should go to a politician, because if Senator Bernie Sanders hadn't publicly shamed Amazon's Jeff Bezos, this probably never would have happened.

The two are now buddies, at least if their Twitter feeds are any indication. They've both had warm words for each other since the announcement was made, with Sanders giving Bezos credit for acting and Bezos giving Sanders credit for his efforts to ensure that all full-time workers receive a living wage. Bezos even committed to pushing Congress to increase the federal minimum wage for all, and he could now bring some real weight to that argument.

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America now awaits the results of the F.B.I.'s new investigation into Brett Kavanaugh's truthfulness with bated breath. Will they uncover anything? Will they provide clarity? Will they prove he was telling the truth or blatantly lying? We've all got until Friday to wonder what will be in their final report.

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Five weeks from tomorrow, the 2018 midterm elections will happen. But, as we all know, a lot can happen in five weeks (especially these days). Up until about two weeks ago, the conventional wisdom had coalesced into a belief that the Democrats were more likely than not to take control of the House of Representatives, but also that they'd probably fall short in the Senate. However, within those two weeks, the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation fight has taken an unexpected turn. And today, perhaps as a very early "October surprise," President Trump announced a new trade deal with both Mexico and Canada. So it's time to consider what impact these two events might have on the midterms, if any.

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When we thought about what to write in today's article, we had a pretty good idea of what we were going to say. But then, as sometimes happens, events overtook us. As of this writing, the Senate Judiciary Committee has now voted to recommend Brett Kavanaugh to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. However, while Senator Jeff Flake did vote along party lines, he also apparently demanded something in return -- which was precisely the thing Democrats have been calling for all along: reopening the F.B.I.'s background investigation into Kavanaugh, due to all of the new accusations against him back when he was a student. Almost immediately, Senator Lisa Murkowski backed up Flake and said she too supported letting the F.B.I. do their job before she would be willing to vote to confirm him. Since the Republicans only enjoy a 51-49 majority, two defections is all it would take for Kavanaugh not to be confirmed in the final vote.

Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, bowed to the inevitable by punting the football to Mitch McConnell. This was appropriate, since Grassley has now done his job and secured the committee vote -- the floor vote before the full Senate is entirely up to McConnell. The rather surprising thing is that Donald Trump also completely deferred to McConnell, saying he'd agree to wait if the Senate wanted to delay the vote. Later, Trump completely caved and instructed the F.B.I. to reopen the background check into Kavanaugh, which is supremely ironic (if you'll pardon the pun), since this was exactly what Republicans have been fighting so hard against for the past two weeks. All the histrionics from the Republicans were ultimately for naught, and the F.B.I. will now be allowed to do their job anyway. As the Democrats have been demanding, all along. And as should have happened two weeks ago.

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Well, that was certainly an interesting nine hours, wasn't it?

I write this immediately after having watched the gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Christine Blasey Ford / Brett Kavanaugh hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. My strongest reaction takes the long view, because I think in 20 or 30 years' time, Christine Blasey Ford's name will be as recognizable as Anita Hill's still is today. No matter what happens next, this was definitely a historic moment.

This article's title comes from the definition of post-apocalyptic: after the apocalypse. This continues the metaphor which started when then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went with what was called at the time "the nuclear option" -- changing the Senate's rules so that all judicial appointments below the level of the Supreme Court could no longer be filibustered. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell later launched his own retaliatory nuclear strike on the Supreme Court confirmations. So, with both sides having "dropped a nuke" each, we are now in a political landscape that can only be described as post-apocalyptic.

I am reminded, in fact, of one of the most jarring lyrics from the rock band Yes (who normally wrote some rather ethereal and uplifting lyrics). In the song "Yours Is No Disgrace," however, one line appears which seems to fit what we just witnessed: "Death-defying, mutilated armies scatter the Earth. Crawling out of dirty holes, their morals, their morals disappear." At this point, that seems an apt description of our post-apocalyptic politics.

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President Donald Trump just achieved a rather dubious distinction -- one he has often falsely levelled at previous presidents, in fact. Because President Trump has now officially and quite literally become the laughingstock of the world.

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Brett Kavanaugh now stands accused of sexual misconduct by two women. The minefield Republicans already had to cross to get him confirmed to the Supreme Court just got a whole lot more politically explosive, in other words. "He-said/she-said" has now become: "He said/they said." And the lawyer for Stormy Daniels has hinted that he's got a third bombshell to drop into this fray (although, to be fair, he has made promises of future revelations before with no actual followup, so perhaps he's just trying to leverage the news to his and his client's advantage in some fashion).

The picture that has emerged from the accusations so far is one of Kavanaugh being quite the party animal, in both high school and college. Stories of excessive drinking are not in and of themselves a disqualification for Kavanaugh, but the more stories of him excessively drinking while in school that pop up, the more doubt there will be that he could even have remembered what happened during the times he's been accused of sexual assault.

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My internet provider has been having a lot of trouble today. Internet service has been occasionally up, but mostly down. They know there's a problem and they're working on it. But just to warn everyone, there may be severe service interruptions. Thanks for your patience.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Brett Kavanaugh was supposed to have been confirmed by the Senate to a seat on the Supreme Court by now. That was the original plan, at any rate. But this plan was blown out of the water last Friday when Christine Blasey Ford came forward and publicly accused him of attempting to rape her when the two were in high school. The fallout still continues, and will continue to do so for some time to come.

The overwhelming rush to confirm Kavanaugh, of course, was entirely made-up to begin with. There is absolutely nothing stopping the Senate from taking as much time as it needs to vet Kavanaugh, putting the lie to all of the Republicans' talk of it being "the 11th hour." There is no deadline. None. Republicans argue that they want to allow the Supreme Court to begin its next term (which starts at the beginning of October) with a full bench. But they were fully content to have only eight justices on the court throughout all of 2016, which completely undermines their position now.

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[Editor's Note: At least once a year, usually during the silly season in August, I indulge in writing a summer daydream article. I am probably "borrowing" this theme from the comic strip Doonesbury, I fully admit, but when the political news is slow and the weather's hot sometimes it's fun to just indulge your inner "what if..." and spin it in a pleasant direction, just for the heck of it. Today, I choose to do so once again, because it would be so supremely justified. And, yes, "supremely" is the only possible term to use, really.]

The scenario which frightens Republicans the most right now is that the chance to tilt the Supreme Court their direction for a generation to come might just be slipping away from them. This is the sole reason the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh is being rammed through as quickly as they can manage. Which led me to ponder about the worst possible scenario for them, just for fun.

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