So it sounds like Kavanaugh only surrounded himself with the best - BEST - people as a kid. The guy he's accused of drinking and assaulting with that night is a real piece of work.
Holman wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:09 pmMeanwhile, it turns out there is a letter from alumni of Dr. Ford's school: nearly 600 women signed on to a statement that the kind of behavior she described was rife in the culture they shared with Georgetown Prep. Obviously this doesn't make them witnesses to the exact event, but it adds weight to Ford's request that the FBI corroborate that she told people well before Kavanaugh was nominated.
In terms of "Not Helping The Cause" - the article casts shadows over the people signing on.
As far as Dr. Ford’s specific allegations, it is inconsequential/irrelevant to us whether anyone has heard them before, and in no way affects our belief that she is telling the truth. What we are referring to in our letter is the nearly ubiquitous experience of high school girls as they try to navigate coming of age in a society dominated by toxic masculinity.
They didn't sign a letter saying they were aware of her version of events that night from school rumors and whatnot. They signed a letter saying there was a general toxic atmosphere.
What they need is a letter with names that actually remember hearing about the event.
Last edited by Paingod on Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Black Lives Matter
2021-01-20: The first good night's sleep I had in 4 years.
“For those of you who don’t know, I went to Georgetown Prep, where both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch went as well,” wrote Ruyak. “When I came forward with allegations regarding Gary Orr, a former priest, sexually assaulting me…Mark Judge (Kavanaugh’s friend in this who despicable story of sexual assault) reached out to alums saying that Gary Orr was a great priest and that I had obviously been corrupted by liberalism into a homosexual and therefore was most definitely lying.”
Once Orr admitted to molestation, Judge alleged said: “Orr was raping kids because of the unchecked liberalism at Prep, and that regardless of whether or not I was telling the truth, I was a homosexual and had it coming.”
“So…for me to hear that this son of a bitch is involved in the allegations of Kavanaugh attempting to rape a girl in high school comes as no surprise to me,” said Ruyak. “It’s always the loudest most arrogant voices that are trying to hide the truth beneath the din of their own pompous voices.”
He went on to say that the story Dr. Christine Blasey Ford “is one that I know was repeated dozens of times in my 4 years at Prep.”
This just disgusts me, no wonder they don't want Judge to testify. He's a living piece of shit.
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream
“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 12:01 pm
It won't stop his confirmation, but it will harm GOP candidates' standing with women going into the midterms. I am mystified how any woman can be a Republican in the Trump era, but I guess this will peel some of them away.
Interesting column from Ross Douthat (the most interesting / thoughtful of the NYT conservatives IMO) about that. Basically that confirming Kavanaugh has major potential perils for the pro-life movement - if Roe gets overturned as the result of confirming Kavanaugh while he was facing rape allegations, and as a result women flee from the GOP en masse, the result could be a reality where states have the constitutional right to ban abortion, but most legislation (outside of a few very red states) winds up being fairly pro-choice.
So maybe Democrats are losing the battle and winning the war, or losing the skirmish and winning the battle, or something like that. Although if Kavanaugh is on the SC for 30 years, the GOP can counterattack long after the Trump administration is just a bad memory.
Indeed. And honestly, sometimes I wonder if it would really be a bad thing if Roe v. Wade is explicitly overturned. It's already borderline dead letter - under current precedent states can already pass regulations that are pretty explicitly intended to shut down all or substantially all abortion providers in their state, as long as they don't say in the legislation itself "This bill is written to de facto eliminate any women's right to have an abortion under any circumstances". But I don't think most people are aware of how bad it is. I suspect that Roe getting overturned would wake a lot of people up, and get a lot more people engaged in abortion legislation battles at the state level. It seems plausible to me that abortion access legislation might wind up being in a better state 5 or 10 years post-Roe.
If that leading progressive country Ireland can do it...
Speaking of progressive, isn't that where Andy Capp is from?
Ok, no, but it's fun to pretend.
If it weren't for all the state sanctioned murders and anti-abortion legislation, America might be considered almost as enlightened as Ireland, is my point. Instead these two things are a significant reason why America is often viewed as another religious fundamentalist country.
I say these things not to be hurtful or critical, but I know most Americans don't get their media from outside the US, so they may not be aware of how citizens of other countries can view them. I think it's worthwhile to have an outsider's (not mine, specifically) viewpoint every once in awhile.
Obviously the world isn't united in any particular viewpoint of anything, and Americans just love to tell the world how little they care about their opinion, so does it matter? Like I said, I think it's valuable to at least understand how some people view things. Knowing is better than not knowing. You can always dismiss it afterward.
The tit and clit secret society? What a revolting sexist man, so gross. Hey I know, to avoid this awfulness in the future, maybe it would help for the Republican party to nominate the first R women to the judiciary committee in it's 200+ year history.
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream
“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:10 pm
What they need is a letter with names that actually remember hearing about the event.
The twitterization of truth. Likes and retweets (or signatures) are now evidence.
I don't care who signs what letter. Guy is an asshole unsuited for the position. As such, he will enevitably get the position because a venal, self-serving gaggle of more assholes was tasked with selecting him by a nation of reactionary, self-serving suckers.
" Hey OP, listen to my advice alright." -Tha General "No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer." -Stigler's Law of Eponymy, discovered by Robert K. Merton MYT
Paingod wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 12:54 pm
Did any recant their support, though?
Did they even ask at the right high school? From what I'm hearing, Kavanuagh was rubbing elbows with kids from other schools on that night, and the victim isn't someone he went to school with. Do we get a letter from the kids at her school?
*Edit: One of the women on the letter lets us know his school is all boys, and hers was all girls. Now I'm more curious where all the girls who knew him well enough in high school to sign on as character witnesses came from. If they only ever saw him in formal events, he will most certainly be well behaved.
*Edit: Another says he was well behaved at church and social events. He would never have done this sort of thing.
*Edit: And the NYPost reports that 200 people (of possibly uncertain origin) have signed a letter supporting the accuser.
Instagram post and text from former Obama White House photographer:
Attention Mr. Grassley, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Corker, Mr. Graham, Mr. Cornyn and Mr. 46 minus 1: this is Mr. Merrick Garland. Remember him. You held his Supreme Court nomination open for 293 days without a single hearing. During those 293 days, no one came forward with a shred of evidence about anything that would disqualify him. You just didn’t schedule a hearing or vote for purely political reasons. There is now a credible attempted rape allegation against your Court nominee. For a lifetime appointment. Whose nomination has been open only for 71 days. And your plan is to rush a vote on his nomination without an FBI investigation into a sexual assault he may have committed? Because 46 minus 1 says about the FBI, “this is not their thing.” The “I” in FBI stands for “investigation.” Even I (and everyone that works at the White House) had two FBI investigations into my background as the White House photographer, though I had never committed a crime. So you don’t want the FBI to investigate someone for the Supreme Court about a credible attempted rape allegation? Please explain.
El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 3:56 pm
Curious why Monday (as opposed to other days) is a showstopper. Also curious what are the "fair terms" for a hearing that she's looking for.
For the record I had been meaning to comment that the next strategic play is for Ford to agree, but postpone. I know it's too late now (because it's already being done), but that's the play I envisioned if I gave my cynicism free rein and start looking at doing as much damage to Kavanaugh's nomination as possible.
I personally would have agreed to Monday and then had an "event" on Monday that caused Ford to be unable to attend due to circumstances beyond her control, presumably resulting in a rescheduling. If the GOP decided not to reschedule, and missing the hearing is not Ford's fault, then the PR mess falls right back into the GOP's lap. If they do reschedule, more delays, closer to elections, etc, etc. You might even get 2 or even 3 (3 is pushing it, I admit) reschedules out of it before the mess is back in the Dems court.
"Fair Terms" might include things as simple as the right to present written testimonials from people supporting her claim to have spoken of this assault years ago.
Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Wed Sep 19, 2018 8:43 am
Probably the strategy is simply to delay the vote as long as possible. Longer delay = less chance of a shoe in.
That would imply this is all just dirty politics. Is it?
It's probably not ALL dirty politics, but I have no idea, nor does anyone here, but I'm not a naive sheep, either. Both parties' leadership are out for blood of the other, and will do or try to do things to "win" at costs we would probably blanch at if the real truths were known. Conjecture.
If you made me bet on it, I would come down on the side of a "happy" coincidence for the Dem leadership that this lady's story was available and that she was willing to speak out. They likely "took it from there" wrt timing, coaching, etc.
To put it another way: much of the democratic voting base is at LEAST disturbed by the Gorsuch Garland fiasco, and that Dem leadership at the time did not fight as much as they should have. So I would guess that behind closed doors, you might hear something like "OK, guys, we HAVE to do something about Kavanaugh being crammed down out throats. Anybody got anything to slow this thing down until after the midterms? You know our voters are not happy about the GorsuchGarland situation - we MUST do something this time"
Not implying that Ford is lying, or has any strategic interest herself in her speaking out, but it was like manna from Heaven for a desperate Feinstein and Co, and they scooped it up.
I know it's gauche to quote yourself, but I blundered a name which without correction, makes no sense: Instead of Gorsuch, I meant to write Merrick GARLAND. Gah.
Things just took a desperate-looking turn for Team Kavanaugh:
Jake Tapper wrote:A prominent DC conservative, trying to promote an alternate theory that someone else (and not Kavanaugh) may have sexually assaulted Professor Ford, named that person, showed photographs suggesting Ford confused the two and more. This is stunningly irresponsible.
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream
“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
That thread is also funny because while attempting to disprove her account, he also finds photos and floor plans that directly corroborate her account and also mansplaining. Good work!
I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two Sheds
Whelan did not respond to requests for comment. He had told people around him that he had spent several days putting together the theory and thought it was more convincing than her story, according to two friends who had talked to him.
Whelan has been involved in helping to advise Kavanaugh’s confirmation effort and is close friends with both Kavanaugh and Leonard Leo, the head of the Federalist Society who has been helping to spearhead the nomination.
Kavanaugh and his allies have been privately discussing a defense that would not question whether an incident happened to Ford, but instead would raise doubts that the attacker was Kavanaugh, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Edit, and there was the earlier story that reported Kav told Hatch it was a case of mistaken identity. Hmm...
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream
“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream
“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
Enough wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 9:35 pm
From the WAPO article,
Whelan did not respond to requests for comment. He had told people around him that he had spent several days putting together the theory and thought it was more convincing than her story, according to two friends who had talked to him.
Whelan has been involved in helping to advise Kavanaugh’s confirmation effort and is close friends with both Kavanaugh and Leonard Leo, the head of the Federalist Society who has been helping to spearhead the nomination.
Kavanaugh and his allies have been privately discussing a defense that would not question whether an incident happened to Ford, but instead would raise doubts that the attacker was Kavanaugh, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Edit, and there was the earlier story that reported Kav told Hatch it was a case of mistaken identity. Hmm...
So now we have a Supreme Court nominee not only accused of sexual assault 35 years ago but quite possibly involved in framing someone else for just this afternoon...
When questioned about the message that such a view sends to sexual abuse victims Graham said, "Well, there wasn't a crime committed. These are two teenagers and it's obvious that she said no and he respected it and walked away."
Graham then noted that Kavanaugh has denied the accusation. "He just flat out says that's not true. Regardless if it was true, these are two teenagers and she said no and he respected that so I don't know what the issue is."
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream
“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
Enough wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 9:59 pm
Franklin Graham ladies and gentlemen,
When questioned about the message that such a view sends to sexual abuse victims Graham said, "Well, there wasn't a crime committed. These are two teenagers and it's obvious that she said no and he respected it and walked away."
Graham then noted that Kavanaugh has denied the accusation. "He just flat out says that's not true. Regardless if it was true, these are two teenagers and she said no and he respected that so I don't know what the issue is."
1) Is there a stronger word for hypocrite? Because that seems too light for the evangelicals he speaks for.
2) Whoa. Looking at the front page of that website is like walking into a weird parallel dimension.
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream
“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
I saw that tweet earlier and was wondering how many were in on this? Did they share this supposed intel with the authorities about a potential rapist? Doesn't this make an even stronger case for an FBI investigation?
My blog (mostly photos): Fort Ephemera - My Flickr Photostream
“You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn’t waste either.” ―Galen Rowell
Enough wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 9:35 pm
From the WAPO article,
Whelan did not respond to requests for comment. He had told people around him that he had spent several days putting together the theory and thought it was more convincing than her story, according to two friends who had talked to him.
Whelan has been involved in helping to advise Kavanaugh’s confirmation effort and is close friends with both Kavanaugh and Leonard Leo, the head of the Federalist Society who has been helping to spearhead the nomination.
Kavanaugh and his allies have been privately discussing a defense that would not question whether an incident happened to Ford, but instead would raise doubts that the attacker was Kavanaugh, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Edit, and there was the earlier story that reported Kav told Hatch it was a case of mistaken identity. Hmm...
So now we have a Supreme Court nominee not only accused of sexual assault 35 years ago but quite possibly involved in framing someone else for just this afternoon...
"What? What?What?" -- The 14th Doctor
It's not enough to be a good player... you also have to play well. -- Siegbert Tarrasch
you literally cannot come up with a more midcentury literary canon plotline than "prep school friends covering up a sordid decades-old secret decide the outcome of a high-stakes political contest"
pr0ner wrote: ↑Fri Sep 21, 2018 8:58 am
Whelan has deleted his entire Zillow theory from Twitter and "apologized".
Needless to say, his apology tweet is getting ratioed.
I don't know what ratio'd means but the twitter thread was clearly a "let's float this out there and see how it does". It was a political strategy that failed, so "Oops, my bad". There should be some fallout for anyone who decided to push this narrative.
Ratioed means that a tweet has a high ratio of responses to retweets. Often, a ratio like this means that a tweet was controversial and had a lot of people jumping on the OP and each other. It's similar to on Reddit where you can tell that there's probably an argument in the comments of a post when it has more comments than upvotes.
Black Lives Matter
2021-01-20: The first good night's sleep I had in 4 years.
