jkcerda on 5/10/2018 at 02:43

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I'll be happy to slip a few peso bills on his thong....

henke on 5/10/2018 at 06:26

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I've been wanting to post something earlier but the whole thing is so depressing I don't even know what to say. A country of 320 million and this fucking guy needs to be one of the 9 people in the highest court in the land?

curseofnight on 5/10/2018 at 10:25

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LOL!

I just wanted to say the pigeon comment was hilarious.

As to the topic - I kinda hope Kavanaugh does lose. Then Trump can nominate Mike Lee...

Edit: Also, overturning Roe v Wade would save countless lives... but it won't happen so don't worry dude. :)

Purgator on 5/10/2018 at 11:12

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We're gonna need a bigger thread!

Nameless Voice on 5/10/2018 at 13:28

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Okay, then, I'll bite.

Before this whole situation, I only knew these things about Brett Kavanaugh:


* He's the man that the Republican Party, and Trump, want to put into the Supreme Court
* He wants to overturn Roe vs Wade and criminalise abortion in the USA


The second one of those already makes me suspicious of him, because it means that he thinks he has the right to take away women's control over their own bodies. The fact that he's being nominated by someone who we already know is extremely sexist and misogynistic doesn't really help, though it's anecdotal.


Then we get the actual case. I haven't seen the full testimony of either parties, just the parts that were on the news here, plus I watched the episode of Last Week Tonight that was linked earlier, which also had some footage.

I obviously don't know if Ford's testimony is true, but it certainly seemed plausible.
Points in her favour are that:

* Women don't usually lie about these sort of cases - yes it happens, but it's rare.
* She's putting herself and her family in a spotlight where she will get a lot of hatred. Would she willingly do that to herself if she didn't believe it was the right thing to do?
* She answered questions clearly and to the point, even when she found them stressful, which speaks of either actually remembering what happened, or being extremely well coached.


Now, people are saying that the Democrats are using this as a political stunt to try to wrest power away from the Republicans. Of course they are. The Demorats are no saints, and will use anything they can to get an advantage, just like the Republicans would. But the question is if there's some kind of a conspiracy orchestrated by the Democrats to make Ford step forwards, or if they are just taking advantage of the situation. I'm inclined to believe the latter, because:


* What do the Democrats stand to gain that would be worth the huge risk of the backlash if they were caught out?

* They could keep Kavanaugh out of the Supreme Court, but the Republicans have a whole list of others who they could nominate and who would also oppose Roe vs Wade (though possibly aren't quite as strong Trump supporters).
* They could delay the nomination until after the election, when they hope to have a majority and then be able to nominate their own candidate, but the problem here is again that the Republicans could have just chosen to nominate one of their other candidates instead - it was certainly not guaranteed that they would instead dig in to support Kavanaugh. So, again, a risky gamble that the Republicans would react in the way that they did.

* Why would Ford volunteer to make this accusation?

* She's a professor at a respected university, which I'd imagine would mean that she's rather well paid, so she presumably wouldn't need the money (there is a fair bit of assumption on my part here, but she does appear to come from a rich family and be fairly well-to-do.)
* Her and her family will be remembered for this for a long time, more so than any other achievement she may be involved in, and will undoubtedly get a lot of hate as a result of coming forwards.
* The only even slightly plausible explanation would be that she believes so strongly in stopping the overturn of Roe vs Wade that she would come forward to prevent it, e.g. coming forward on moral reasons, rather than political ones. It's possible that she believed in that cause enough to come forwards and lie, but that seems unlikely. Again, how would it make that cause look if she were lying and got found out?




Then, we get to Kavanaugh's testimony.

* He very clearly avoided and dodged many of the questions directed at him, refused to answer them, and antagonised the questioners.
* He lied under oath, at least about some of the smaller details. If he is willing to lie about those, then what else might he be lying about?
* He spent a lot of time digressing into random anecdotes and rambling tales to avoid directly answering questions.
* He acted, in my opinion, like someone who was guilty and/or heavily embarrassed about past deeds and unwilling to admit to them. His manner reminded me of a child who knows they have been caught doing something wrong, and doesn't want to admit it to their parents, standing there with their head bowed and their face red.


Now, none of those directly tell me that he did or did not do what he was accused of. They do, however, paint him as someone who is willing to dissemble, mislead and lie in a hearing, and who therefore has no respect for the truth.


So, in summary:

* We have a woman who has made a reasonably believable accusation.
* We have a man who we know to have a flexible relationship to the truth.
* And who seems to have little respect for women's bodies.


To me, it seems fairly likely that he did what he was accused of, though I couldn't say for sure.
What I can say is that, depressing as this sounds, it doesn't even matter. Even if the accusations were false, his response to them have clearly painted him as someone who is not suitable for the highest court of the land - especially when you consider that it's a life-long position.