Senate confirms Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court

The Senate confirmed Judge Brett Kavanaugh as the 114th justice of the Supreme Court on Saturday, Oct. 6, exactly a month before the Congressional Midterm Elections. Judge Kavanaugh was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, who Kavanaugh is replacing. President Trump tweeted hours after, “I applaud and congratulate the U.S. Senate for confirming our GREAT NOMINEE, Judge Brett Kavanaugh.” Just mere blocks from the Supreme Court — and nationwide — demonstrations for and against Kavanaugh took place. The strenuous confirmation process ended in a narrow 50-48 vote, culminating more than two months of hearings since his nomination.

Banksy artwork self-destructs after being sold for more than $1 million

The iconic “Girl With Balloon” artwork by English street artist Banksy was auctioned off for approximately $1.37 million at a Sotheby’s auction in London on Friday, Oct. 5. Moments after the auctioneer slammed his gavel, the piece shredded itself. The canvas fell through its golden frame, only shredding half of the canvas. On his Instagram account, Banksy released a video detailing how he added the shredder into the painting. He captioned the video with a quote from Picasso: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.” Presently, it’s unclear if the final bidder will receive the painting as is or if they will receive a refund. There’s speculation that the shredded “Girl With Balloon” may skyrocket in value.

New York Times publishes investigation on President Trump’s wealth

On Tuesday, Oct. 2, The New York Times published an investigation into President Trump’s father Fred Trump and a series of business schemes to pass his wealth to his children. According to the Times, it took 18 months to sift through 100,000 financial documents to produce the 15,000-word deep-dive reported by David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner. The investigation also claims President Trump’s wealth was dependent on his father, reporting Fred Trump gave his son the equivalent of at least $413 million. When the print edition hit newsstands the day after, President Trump shrugged off the reporting in a tweet, saying the article is a “very old, boring and often told hit piece.”

UFC 229 ends in melee

The UFC fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor that took place on Saturday, Oct. 6 in Las Vegas ended in an unprecedented brawl. After McGregor tapped out in the fourth round, Nurmagomedov climbed over the cage and charged McGregor’s Jiu-Jitsu Coach Dillon Danis; chaos ensued. Several of Nurmagomedov’s personnel entered the cage and went on to attack McGregor who defended himself before security took over. In a post-fight news conference, Nurmagomedov apologized, saying the free-for-all was “not my best side,” while still denouncing McGregor’s pre-fight taunts.