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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
To be completely honest, I'm not so certain I believe his accusers. I'm going to withhold jumping on the hatred until actual evidence is presented, because that's how our justice system works. Like everyone else in the U.S. accused of a crime, he's innocent until proven guilty. This has been my attitude for every previous prominent sexual assault or similar case.
I believe the accusers. We've had corroborating accounts already.
I do believe that the accusation never would have come out if Kavanaugh had not been nominated for Supreme Court Justice. That is not, however, the same thing as the accusers making it up. Kavanaugh has entered into a process that involves sweeping out one's closets to see if there are any skeletons there; having awful truths about one's past come to light is part and parcel of the process.
This is the entire reason for why there is a hearing at all. The reason the process is not "The President selects a new Supreme Court Justice and he takes his seat instantly," is to put the nominee through this exact level of scrutiny. Republicans are trying to treat the hearing like a formality, but this is its actual function.
And not just for Congress, but for all of America. Nobody went to Ford and went, "Hey, can we use your story to take down Kavanaugh?" She heard about his nomination and came forward to go, "Hey, uh, here's a skeleton. You probably didn't check this closet, but there's totally a skeleton in it."
The fact that the nomination does not get approved overnight is a feature, not a bug.
My biggest concern, however, is that it's next to impossible to prove a rape accusation and that gets much harder when facing a hostile judiciary. Republicans control the Senate, and they're going to go into this thing with the "PICS OR IT NEVER HAPPENED" attitude. I have no doubt that the Senate Judicial Committee will clear Kavanaugh of all suspicion, and that Republicans will take that as proof that the Democrats just made it all up.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 25th 2018 at 11:38:59 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.The things about that is that the question isn't 'is he going to go to jail?', it's 'is he going to be part of the most powerful court in the country?'
If it was the former, then yeah, innocent until proven guilty. But since it's the latter, ensuring that there's absolutely no chance of a serial rapist becoming a Supreme Court Justice is more important than that principle.
Though, I mean, 'innocent until proven guilty' doesn't mean 'assume people who taking huge risks by telling their story are lying'. Considering how horribly the accusers tend to be treated when it comes to stuff like this, the fact that they're willing to come forward anyway strongly suggests they're telling the truth. Not strongly enough for, like, a conviction maybe, but that hasn't been what's at stake in any of these.
Incidentally, if we do manage to block Kavanaugh and then fortune smiles on us enough to blue-shift the Senate, I look forward to two years of Republicans unironically whining about how "Democrats are trying to STEAL a Supreme Court Justice!" as we wind up having to reject toxic nominee after toxic nominee.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 25th 2018 at 11:41:22 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.But not necessarily inaccurately.
From today's developing WTF Just Happened Today feed:
Ted Cruz was forced out of a restaurant in D.C. on Monday night by protestors who heckled him about his ties to Brett Kavanaugh. A video posted to Twitter shows activists chanting "We believe survivors!" and demanding to know his stance on Kavanaugh's confirmation as Cruz and and his wife attempted to eat. Cruz then told the crowd "God bless you" before asking them to let him and his wife through so they could leave the restaurant. (Daily Beast / CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/25/politics/ted-cruz-heckled-restaurant-brett-kavanaugh/index.html
I mean, honestly, I feel like they're not gonna be able to stall for two whole years. Unless they somehow manage to win the senate by enough that the Republicans have a higher bar to clear than 'find someone that Joe Manchin's willing to vote for' it's just gonna be a matter of them doing that, which I'm pretty sure they can with a full two years to try.
So I'm personally settling for 'making sure there aren't any serial rapists on the Supreme Court' as a victory condition. Which is a pathetically low bar, I know, but still.
Edited by Gilphon on Sep 25th 2018 at 1:58:43 PM
Ah, this was a much-needed bit of schadenfreude. Trump tries to feed the UN the same bullshit lines he gives his cult. They laugh at him.
At this point, it's clear that Kavanaugh is just too toxic to push forward. Is none of the Republicans think it's better to find a better candidate to push forward quickly, especially when they are clearly desperate and running out of time? Is there something I'm missing like there is a special quality that only Kavanaugh have? Sorry, I'm busy lately, so I'm still catching up to all the new international news.
It feels like Kavanaugh is blackmailing the Republicans to make him a supreme court judge or else here.
They absolutely have time to drop Kavanaugh and push somebody else through. The problem, however, is that dumping Kavanaugh isn't the Republican's call, it's Trump's call. And he's decided to go all in in support of Kavanaugh instead, because when he's forced to choose being a smart politician or an awful person, he'll choose the latter every time.
Edited by Gilphon on Sep 25th 2018 at 2:15:01 PM
It feels like Kavanaugh is blackmailing the Republicans to make him a supreme court judge or else here. tongue
1. Trump likes him: The reasons for this are fairly simple, Kavanaugh previously has supported the idea that the President should not be charged while in office (if they're Republican) and it should be obvious as to why Trump would strongly back him for that reason if nothing else. Furthermore, these allegations also give Trump reason to double down in that he too is faced with many accusers and thus has a strongly vested interest in stopping powerful white men from facing consequences for sexual assault because he would likely be next.
2. To Own The Libs: The Republican Party as whole is dedicated to giving a giant FU to the liberals who dare to exist and fight the Republican agenda, thus now that Democrats and progressive activists have gone against Kavanaugh there is very strong pressure from the voters and the right-wing media to get him through damn the consequences.
Thus the Party as a whole simply cannot drop him for those two reasons, but we don't need the Party to drop him when two defections are more than enough. So if I were you I wouldn't make any assumptions about the Kavanaugh nomination until he's actually sitting on the Supreme Court.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Sep 25th 2018 at 2:23:00 PM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang![]()
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Thanks, I'll check it later.
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Oh, that makes sense I guess. Trump did it is going to be Republican's version of a wizard did it, huh?
Thanks for the detailed explanation. I appreciate it.
Edited by SteamKnight on Sep 26th 2018 at 1:18:33 AM
I'm not as witty as I think I am. It's a scientifically-proven fact.Also, if Trump disavowed Kavanaugh it'd be a tacit admission that he was wrong when he vouched for Kavanaugh's strong moral character - and Trump will never admit that he was wrong about something if he can help it.
Edited by TyeDyeWildebeest on Sep 25th 2018 at 2:28:12 PM
No beer?! But if there's no beer, then there's no beef or beans!I think one of the worst things I saw with the Kavanaugh allegations was a reaction in a CNN clip where they interviewed a group of GOP women who still supported him.
Paraphrasing a bit, but the sentiment boiled down to her excusing the idea that Kavanaugh had done it via I'm a Man; I Can't Help It.
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"However, most of those women were not merely Republican voters, but actually active in party politics (holding positions, running for office, etc.).
So it's not all that indicative of broader "Republican women," due to them being more closely tied to the party. However, it could still be indicative how Republican politicians see the issue. And it's awful. But we already knew that.
And yet I am fairly sure that none of the 15 year old boys I was ever with were rapists... And I suspect that these womens' experience is the same.
Ttansparent excuse making is transparent.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Yeah this is only a 4.5 on the WOW scale, it's barely worth a wow.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang