US Politics: Judge Dread

[Fez]

13 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Why Conservatives Could Regret Confirming Brett Kavanaugh

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-vote-why-conservatives-could-regret-this-john-roberts.html

 

It's a good point, but I think in some ways they'd regret even more if he doesn't get confirmed. The conservative ethos, as some senators have explicitly been articulating this week, is that if you are rich and successful (and white) that means that by definition you are a good person who should be rewarded. For someone like to that punished instead (and punished for what many of them would consider a prerogative of their privilege; its not like he murdered someone! or cheated investors!) is such an affront to their central worldview that they cannot stand it.

Having Kavanaugh withdrawn/defeated would be a constant reminder that rich, successful, white conservatives can do bad things and can punished.

[Ormond]

2 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

I disagree.  There are already discussions of getting him off the appellate court and whether and how he can be prosecuted, and there is nothing in terms of evidence beyond accusations+hard drinking. 

I really haven't been paying enough attention to this in general media terms, but at least on this thread as I remember it those who want Kavanaugh impeached and removed from the appellate court believe it was because evidence came out in the latest hearings that he lied about issues that had nothing to do with sexual assault back when he was confirmed to the appellate court. It's not because of his drinking, past or present. 

[Martell Spy]

4 minutes ago, Fez said:

It's a good point, but I think in some ways they'd regret even more if he doesn't get confirmed. The conservative ethos, as some senators have explicitly been articulating this week, is that if you are rich and successful (and white) that means that by definition you are a good person who should be rewarded. For someone like to that punished instead (and punished for what many of them would consider a prerogative of their privilege; its not like he murdered someone! or cheated investors!) is such an affront to their central worldview that they cannot stand it.

Having Kavanaugh withdrawn/defeated would be a constant reminder that rich, successful, white conservatives can do bad things and can punished.

Because boys will be boys.

 

A woman who said she was inspired watching Christine Blasey Ford testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday has publicly accused a prominent Washington state legislator of raping her 11 years ago.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/joe-fain-washington-state-senator-rape-investigation.html

Quote

Candace Faber, in a tweet sent out Thursday afternoon, alleged that moderate Republican Joe Fain, the minority floor leader of the state senate, assaulted in her in 2007 on the night she graduated from a master’s program at Georgetown University.

 

Quote

 

I hoped that I could help change the culture of sexual assault without needing to say his name. I no longer believe that to be the case. We cannot heal without accountability.

Like Dr. Ford, I can no longer remain silent knowing that the man who raped me is in a position to influence the laws that govern my state and impact every woman who lives here. I do not believe that survivors have a civic duty to speak out. I believe that we have a civic duty to believe survivors.

 

 

[Larry of the Lawn]

26 minutes ago, King Ned Stark said:

Well, that is something.  It’s pertains to why I think it is silly to disregard presumption of innocence and burden of proof and all that.  It’s all fine and well as long as it’s a political weapon to use against your enemies; if said tactic is used against you, then it starts to seem a bit unfair.

 

To everyone who said they think Kavanaugh, even if innocent, is unworthy of SCOTUS, that’s fine.  Everyone has a right to an opinion.  

Doesn't work that way.  This isn't a trial.  Yes, I had a problem with Kavanaugh before the sexual assault allegations, and yes I have even more of a problem with him now.  Is this chump the best they can do?

I don't give a fuck if it's been a rough couple weeks for him.  He's a fucking piece of shit scumbag and he's made that abundantly clear- he's repeatedly lied under oath and even without Ford's testimony I have no issue with the Dems using any and every tool in the box to keep him out.  The GOP made their bed by stealing a nomination from Obama.  Now they have to deal with the consequences.   Kavanaugh's not getting a free pass just because he likes to drink beer with his good friends that he talks about school and sports with that he's known since he was fourteen and talked on the phone with women and had beers with friends.

[Zorral]

Frank Rich scopes it all out:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/09/ford-kavanaugh-hearings-were-a-case-study-in-gop-misogyny.html

I wish, wish, wish, WISH! he wasn't so right:

Quote

The ways in which this shitshow was not fair are many. A fair hearing would have called witnesses, and not just Mark Judge, to testify under oath about the incidents ostensibly being adjudicated, so that their unvetted public statements could be subject to cross-examination. A fair hearing would not have subjected a sexual-assault victim to a sex-crimes prosecutor while shielding the accused from equal scrutiny. A fair hearing would not have allowed men, from the doddering, filibustering chairman Chuck Grassley to Kavanaugh himself, to interrupt, condescend to, and talk over the questioners, particularly women on the committee. A fair hearing might also have been abetted by a coordinated line of inquiry from the Democrats, who often repeated each other’s questions (netting the identical answers) instead of collaborating on a comprehensive strategy that would advance the unraveling of Kavanaugh’s dishonest defense. Indeed, the Democratic men would have been well advised — as some had suggested — to turn over most of the questioning to Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris, experienced prosecutors who in their allotted five minutes each drew blood and forced Kavanaugh to bare his teeth in contempt of their gender. But alas, Democratic men will also be men. Each needed his moment center stage. So instances of Kavanaugh’s lying, including those not directly related to Ford’s testimony, both in real time and in the past, went largely unmentioned and unaddressed. The Democrats also failed to debunk Kavanaugh’s repeated misrepresentation that Ford’s friend Leland Keyser had rebutted her account of what happened that summer night in 1982.

 

[DanteGabriel]

45 minutes ago, King Ned Stark said:

Well, that is something.  It’s pertains to why I think it is silly to disregard presumption of innocence and burden of proof and all that.  It’s all fine and well as long as it’s a political weapon to use against your enemies; if said tactic is used against you, then it starts to seem a bit unfair.

 

To everyone who said they think Kavanaugh, even if innocent, is unworthy of SCOTUS, that’s fine.  Everyone has a right to an opinion.  

Do you think Kavanaugh is a worthy nominee to the Supreme Court?

[Bonnot OG]

Kavanaugh is a rapist, end of story. The men in here sticking up for him can shove it up their ass. He's a lying bag of shit as well.

[DMC]

7 hours ago, DanteGabriel said:

Go drown in a tub of SoCo

I haven't looked at any political news since this morning.  I just wanna say, with no provocation, this sounds like a great way to die.

[maarsen]

1 hour ago, Bonnot OG said:

Kavanaugh is a rapist, end of story. The men in here sticking up for him can shove it up their ass. He's a lying bag of shit as well.

By his own admission he was complicit in torture.That alone makes him unsuitable for sitting on any bench let alone the SCOTUS. Then factor in everything else...

[Martell Spy]

The Pernicious Double Standards Around Brett Kavanaugh’s Drinking

Thursday’s Senate hearing served as a reminder of the blithe impunity afforded to those privileged enough to have whole systems invested in their success.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/09/the-impunity-of-brett-kavanaughs-binge-drinking/571435/

Quote

 

Trayvon Martin was posthumously denigrated, in the effort to defend George Zimmerman’s killing of him, for being that most common of things: a young man who experimented with weed. The Dallas Police Department, in investigating the killing of Botham Jean in his own home at the hands of an armed police officer, recently reported that marijuana had been found in Jean’s home, as if its presence had any bearing on his slaughter. Substances that alter the mind, certainly, can be just that—temporary escapes from a wearying world, offering lightness and fun and relief—but their affordances are unevenly distributed in a way that mimics so many other systemic inequalities. For those who lack the privileges enjoyed by people like Brett Kavanaugh, the escapes themselves can also be profound liabilities.

This is possibly why, for Brett Kavanaugh, alcohol seems to be not just a matter of identity, but also a point of pride. He seems to understand, on some level—and to revel in the fact—that the ability to drink to such excess is a reflection of his status

 

 

[Fez]

Interview with Chris Coons has the firsthand account of what happened in the committee anteroom today. 

Interesting stuff. Including that at one point Flake kicked everyone out and had a 10 minute phone call with Rod Rosenstein (FBI Director Wray was unavailable). Presumably he wanted to know whether a one-week investigation was feasible logistically, but that's just a guess. 

[Fragile Bird]

15 hours ago, SweetPea said:

I also think it's worth mentioning that she has received over half a million dollars of gofundme donations so far. 

What the bloody hell does this have to do with anything? Do you think that half a dozen years ago she told her therapist about being sexually assaulted because she imagined one day people would decide to raise money on the internet for her?

Are you suggesting she sent the letter that started all this last July because she said to herself ‘this will mean a Go Fund Me appeal will be started for me?’

You realize that the people donating to the fund are doing so voluntarily, don’t you? And there are thousands and thousands of people donating? 

WTF is it with you people?

[Serious Callers Only]

They're fascists. And russians i guess. That old quote about how fascists/nazis are just in 'discussions' to gaslight is always applicable. Assume malice and evil and everything falls out. That's what is wrong with them.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

11 hours ago, DMC said:

I haven't looked at any political news since this morning.  I just wanna say, with no provocation, this sounds like a great way to die.

SoCo is some of the nastiness whiskey ever created.

[Fragile Bird]

I have seen comments to a news story providing a reason why the Republicans are absolutely frantic to get Kavanaugh appointed. This may have been mentioned before, but it’s worth repeating.

One of the cases on the docket for the SCOTUS is Gamble v. US No. 17-646. At stake is the ‘separate sovereigns’ exception to double jeopardy. If he and the other 4 conservative judges overrule it, people given presidential pardons for federal crimes cannot be tried for those crimes at the state level. Trump can grant pardons to whoever he wants and they won’t have to fear State DAs.

[Seli]

16 hours ago, SweetPea said:

And yet these accusations have not come to light until the very end. Which brings us to an important point. Ford herself may not think this way, but it's very possible that other people who she has confided in do, and I think that is more likely what has happened here. I don't think she wanted it to go this way, regardless of whether or not she is telling the truth.

I also think it's worth mentioning that she has received over half a million dollars of gofundme donations so far. 

In any sane world the mysterious disappearing debts and the lying he did in previous jobs would have been enough to stop his nomination flat. People, women, are aware of the dangers to them associated with going public about assaults. So it makes a lot of sense that only when normal barriers were ignored some assault victims finally gathered the courage to warn others about the true nature of this candidate.

[Zorral]

Regarding intelligent, informed persons objections to BK's fitness to be on SCOTUS, whether or not he did assault Dr. Blasey, back in 2006 the American Bar Association questioned his fitness for the judgeship he holds now, but the rethugs dismissed those too:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/28/american-bar-association-had-kavanaugh-concerns-years-ago-republicans-dismissed-those-too/?utm_term=.926993631f27

Regarding the sweet pee's unveiled assertions that so many people are doing this for personal gain:

Bromwich, one of the two attorneys representing Dr. Blasey pro bono -- he quit his law firm to do it because the  firm's other attorneys objected to him taking the case. There's another paycheck gone in order to bring this information forward to the national and congressional knowledge.  And who knows what other death threats and the rest these pro bono attorneys are dealing with -- all of which cost the target hugely.

https://www.businessinsider.com/christine-blasey-fords-lawyer-resigned-from-law-firm-to-represent-her-2018-9

 

[James Arryn]

20 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

He's condemned as a predator rapist sex criminal, all you have to do is read this thread.  It's gone beyond him not being confirmed.  And any investigation is very unlikely to come up with definitive evidence to prove or disprove the allegations, so he's guilty and no way to prove otherwise

Here’s where things are: a clear majority of Republicans surveyed want Kavanaugh to be confirmed even if he’s guilty.

https://www.salon.com/2018/09/27/poll-majority-of-republicans-want-brett-kavanaugh-confirmed-even-if-assault-accusations-are-true/

So, sorry, you were saying something about something.

 

[James Arryn]

5 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

What the bloody hell does this have to do with anything? Do you think that half a dozen years ago she told her therapist about being sexually assaulted because she imagined one day people would decide to raise money on the internet for her?

Are you suggesting she sent the letter that started all this last July because she said to herself ‘this will mean a Go Fund Me appeal will be started for me?’

You realize that the people donating to the fund are doing so voluntarily, don’t you? And there are thousands and thousands of people donating? 

WTF is it with you people?

Exactly. It’s fucking weasel bullshit. And if you call them on it, they’re just ‘adding interesting context’ or ‘just painting the full picture’.

No, no, you’re not. There are ONLY 2 ways this is in any way relevent...either you are suggesting it speaks to motive, and therefore necessarily saying she made the accusations/told her therapist et al at least in part because she anticipated making a lot of GFM money, or you are raising it to muddy the waters, period. There is no middle ground. This doesn’t ‘add’ a thing. It’s either a complete argument in and of itself, or it’s bullshit. Overt, knowing, conscious bullshit. Fuck off bullshit.

[Zorral]

In the meantime, regarding partisan gain, we have this win for Susan Collins, which happened on the 27th:

https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/money/bath-iron-works-awarded-39-billion-contract-by-us-navy/97-598932645

In the interest of whole story though -- Maine has always been a center of ship building, and building for the navy.  Collins has always lobbied hard -- and been lobbied hard on behalf of-- for the navy's funding and the firms that provide the contracts.

Plus -- Biden better kiss his Dem nom for POTUS goodbye, ya know?  As was howled by the rethugs Thursday, what goes round comes round, and it's come round for Joe:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-biden-wrote-the-gops-playbook-for-brett-kavanaugh?ref=home