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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#255626: Sep 26th 2018 at 8:38:27 AM

Neil Gorsuch's gotta be thinking, "Whew, I got off easy compared to this guy."

Also, if these allegations against Kavanaugh are true (and two more people speaking up is certainly making it more likely), I take back what I said a few months ago about how Kavanaugh was the least bad option for a justice Trump picked. Ugh.

EDIT: Also, if the allegations are true, and the GOP votes him in anyway, history is not going to look kindly on them.

Edited by speedyboris on Sep 26th 2018 at 10:47:12 AM

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#255627: Sep 26th 2018 at 8:46:27 AM

Up until Ford's letter came to light, I think we were all pretty much convinced he was a shoo in. Any resistance was more or less symbolic.

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#255628: Sep 26th 2018 at 8:47:24 AM

[up][up]Just because history doesn't look kindly on people doesn't mean they won't get to do a lot of damage in the meantime. In fact, it usually means the opposite.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#255629: Sep 26th 2018 at 8:54:33 AM

Remember when I posted that we shouldn't rush to judgment: that Kavanaugh deserves a fair hearing no matter what he is accused of, and that a single bad act doesn't necessarily merit permanent condemnation? Well, it looks like he and his prep school buddies had a party rape gang going on. Fuck him; fuck all of them; this is exactly the sort of thing that defines "rape culture". We're looking at it right here and right now.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#255630: Sep 26th 2018 at 8:56:59 AM

There's a clear pattern of behavior going on now, further snowballing is likely.

Can't wait for the Republicans to pass drugging and raping people as normal stuff every young boy does...

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#255631: Sep 26th 2018 at 9:00:55 AM

Every young, rich boy in prep school with his parents shielding him from repercussions and grooming him for the conservative machine, yeah. It's not an accident that these people became our business and political leaders of today, retaining and preserving the male-dominated social model.

This view of women is sustained and perpetuated within conservative culture. (Not entirely, of course, as seen in folks like Al Franken.)

Edited by Fighteer on Sep 26th 2018 at 12:01:17 PM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
TyeDyeWildebeest Unreasonably Quirky from Big Rock Candy Mountain Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: How does it feel to treat me like you do?
Unreasonably Quirky
#255632: Sep 26th 2018 at 9:01:38 AM

[up][up] ...which I think men ought to be offended by. I know I am.

A lot of people don't realize how condescending and misandristic the whole "boys will be boys" attitude is.

Edited by TyeDyeWildebeest on Sep 26th 2018 at 12:01:15 PM

No beer?! But if there's no beer, then there's no beef or beans!
StarOutlaw Since: Nov, 2010
#255633: Sep 26th 2018 at 9:12:46 AM

[up]Couldn't agree more. I spent a good chunk of my childhood avoiding that kind of behavior, even now. It is not easy; dudebros expect all guys to act like meatheads and pervs and if they don't then they must be gay. That is what they really believe, and boys get peer pressured into this stuff. Male culture is screwed up.

NickTheSwing Since: Aug, 2009
#255634: Sep 26th 2018 at 9:18:51 AM

When I said Orrin Hatch would defend Bryce from 13 Reasons Why, I didn't expect that to be literal.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#255635: Sep 26th 2018 at 9:19:17 AM

One thing for sure, none of his denials sound even remotely believable.

Regarding Trump and the UN...I am not quite sure how his view on it can be considered reasonable?

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#255636: Sep 26th 2018 at 9:37:19 AM

He's also accusing Beijing of election meddling, without evidence.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45656466

Who wants to bet that he's prepping to paint any Democratic gains as a foreign backed plot against him?

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#255637: Sep 26th 2018 at 9:54:27 AM

I mean, at this rate it's still an ominous possibility that if the Dems make gains in the midterms, the Russians will "botch" a hack job on the RNC or something shortly afterward, get caught red-handed, and basically make it look like the correlation means that they've been on Soros's payroll since 2016.

It's been fun.
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#255638: Sep 26th 2018 at 10:07:50 AM

These morons could’ve dumped this scum bag a week or so ago but nope they had to be principled in how evil they are so they stuck to their man and fell in line.

New Survey coming this weekend!
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#255639: Sep 26th 2018 at 10:11:39 AM

So Kavaungh's now more or less radioactive. Yippe.

Robrecht Your friendly neighbourhood Regent from The Netherlands Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Your friendly neighbourhood Regent
#255640: Sep 26th 2018 at 10:17:42 AM

Remember when I posted that we shouldn't rush to judgment: that Kavanaugh deserves a fair hearing no matter what he is accused of, and that a single bad act doesn't necessarily merit permanent condemnation? Well, it looks like he and his prep school buddies had a party rape gang going on. Fuck him; fuck all of them; this is exactly the sort of thing that defines "rape culture". We're looking at it right here and right now.

I hate to say it, but when you said that initially, you were already influenced by, and contributing to, (not massively and certainly not intentionally, but nevertheless) rape culture.

This whole notion of asking 'But what if the accusation is false? You'd be ruining the man's life over nothing!' is something that was put in the public consciousness by sexual predators and sexual abuse apologists in positions of power decades ago.

The reality of the matter is that in this context, the accusation would never have gotten to the point of public knowledge if it wasn't credible. And indeed such accusations are almost never false, because the civil (and to some extent criminal) penalties for knowingly making a false accusation of rape are huuuuuuge (which, itself, is a part of rape culture, as threats of getting counter-sued are frequently used to silence survivors who already have a reasonable fear that they will not be believed).

Angry gets shit done.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#255641: Sep 26th 2018 at 10:17:47 AM

This administration is a magnet for scum.

Disgusted, but not surprised
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Friendperson Since: May, 2018
#255643: Sep 26th 2018 at 10:24:49 AM

Well, with the new information offered in the case, I'll stand with his accusers.

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#255644: Sep 26th 2018 at 10:30:47 AM

[up]x4 Nonetheless, he deserved a fair hearing, because everyone is entitled to at least try and defend themselves—or at least accept that what they did was wrong and step down. But he dug his heels and denied it, so eh.

Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#255645: Sep 26th 2018 at 10:51:27 AM

What he deserves is an FBI investigation. If he is innocent, they can clear his name. Oddly he doesn't seem to be interesting in getting one...

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#255646: Sep 26th 2018 at 10:51:32 AM

And he would have gotten away with it had Trump not nominated him, in a fucking Me Too! climate

Edited by TacticalFox88 on Sep 26th 2018 at 2:09:29 PM

New Survey coming this weekend!
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#255647: Sep 26th 2018 at 10:54:49 AM

[up]Actually he might've. If Trump hadn't nominated him, everyone may not have felt the need to speak out.

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#255648: Sep 26th 2018 at 11:09:57 AM

Damn autocorrect. Meant to say would have

New Survey coming this weekend!
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#255649: Sep 26th 2018 at 11:25:47 AM

This whole notion of asking 'But what if the accusation is false? You'd be ruining the man's life over nothing!'

It's not that so much. I am not qualified to judge the truth or falsehood of the accusation; that's for law enforcement to handle. I tend to give accusers the benefit of the doubt in cases like these due to the incredible risks they take by coming forward at all. If they're lying, it comes out in short order. Rather, it's more that kids of all sorts do dumb things and it's not always worth destroying lives over mistakes made without malice. I've been stinking drunk a time or two in my life, after all, and did things that I regretted later, although I've never committed sexual assault.

However, the act in question is serious enough that, when combined with all the other problems in the Republican Party regarding women's rights, it speaks very poorly of Kavanaugh as a candidate who will act as a deciding vote on matters affecting those rights. The question of whether he will or should be punished legally for what he did is largely irrelevant: the Senate isn't holding a felony trial but voting to confirm a Supreme Court Justice.

What I was waiting for in order to pass judgment was for the other shoe to drop. Acts like this, if they represent a person's attitude towards women, never occur in isolation. When more accusers started showing up, it confirmed that for me.

All of this is beside the point, though. I do not want Kavanaugh to be on the Supreme Court, but he's got so many obvious problems that this shouldn't have been the deciding factor at all.

  • He lied to Congress during the judicial confirmation hearings when he was a Bush nominee. Indeed, there's enough dirt on him that he could easily be subject to impeachment proceedings himself.
  • He's being nominated by a President who is in serious legal jeopardy, and "coincidentally" maintains a vocal opinion that the President should not be subjected to legal jeopardy while in office.
  • His nomination is being advanced by Senate Republicans in a way that is so disgustingly biased and hypocritical that it makes me want to puke, especially given what they did to Merrick Garland.

Any or all of those things should have kept him light-years away from the Court. To have the deciding factor be not his qualifications for office or his perjury to Congress but his sexual behavior is... tawdry. It's beneath us as a country. But hell, if it's what does the job, then I'll be satisfied at the outcome even if the process is deeply disturbing.

Edited by Fighteer on Sep 26th 2018 at 3:15:40 PM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#255650: Sep 26th 2018 at 11:55:42 AM

Yeah, pretty much. He was an awful and questionable nominee from the get go and should never have been in the conservation. So even if it had turned out that there is actually not a lot to see (which I don't think for the record, I am sure there is a LOT to see there), I would have felt relieved if it had been enough to stop the process long enough until the Democrats are in power again.


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