Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation Hearing Now with Poll

[Great Franconia and Verana]

For the last time, none of the witnesses, save Kavanaugh himself, have said Ford is lying or wrong. They have said tjey do not remember. Lack of memory =/= refuting someones claim.

Similarly, your statement about women waiting for so long to come forward is ludicrous. You clearly do not understand the effect that an event like this has on someone. You really think she would make it up, destroy her life, for a tiny bit of airtime? Thats insane. People like you are the reason people who are assaulted do not come forward.

Okay, so?

Maybe, maybe not, I still have not seen or heard any incentive to agree with her other than "B-but he's a rapist and a sexual assaulter" when nothing has been given to suggest that at all.

Maybe come forward before someone get's a high position in power or, y'know Report it immediately instead of hiding it for decades.

Again, you do not understand.
When you are assaulted, its terrifying, its painful, its shocking and its life altering. Reporting it, making it a matter for the public record, is a horrifying prospect because of societies views on sexual assault.

No one wants be known as the girl who was assaulted or raped, no one wants to be looked at differently than everyone else, no one wants people calling them liars or skanks for reporting it. So for many people they keep their mouths shut.

Clearly, you have never been assaulted, otherwise you would understand this.

[San Lumen]

Yeah all those accusations against Harvey Weinstein are false too. The DA is prosecuting because they dont like him.

Wow what a strawman, is that all you have is put words into people's mouth?

Its not a strawman. Your the one who asked why they dont come forward when it happens. Its because of people like you.

[Holy Tedalonia]

Okay, so?

Maybe, maybe not, I still have not seen or heard any incentive to agree with her other than "B-but he's a rapist and a sexual assaulter" when nothing has been given to suggest that at all.

Maybe come forward before someone get's a high position in power or, y'know Report it immediately instead of hiding it for decades.

Yeah all those accusations against Harvey Weinstein are false too. The DA is prosecuting because they dont like him.

The main difference, in this is that every other witness has said “they don’t remember this happening,” which questions Fords credibility.

Harvey Weinstein on the other hand, had multiple women testified against him, and other sources of information was gathered against him.

Theres a difference when multiple people testify or say it happened, whereas one person saying it happened is more questionable.

[Freezic Vast]

Okay, so?

Maybe, maybe not, I still have not seen or heard any incentive to agree with her other than "B-but he's a rapist and a sexual assaulter" when nothing has been given to suggest that at all.

Maybe come forward before someone get's a high position in power or, y'know Report it immediately instead of hiding it for decades.

Again, you do not understand.
When you are assaulted, its terrifying, its painful, its shocking and its life altering. Reporting it, making it a matter for the public record, is a horrifying prospect because of societies views on sexual assault.

No one wants be known as the girl who was assaulted or raped, no one wants to be looked at differently than everyone else, no one wants people calling them liars or skanks for reporting it. So for many people they keep their mouths shut.

Clearly, you have never been assaulted, otherwise you would understand this.

Because you soo understand more than I do.

Wow what a strawman, is that all you have is put words into people's mouth?

Its not a strawman. Your the one who asked why they dont come forward when it happens. Its because of people like you.

Yes it is.

Yeah sure it is, and not their own woeful ignorance of waiting and waiting until the time is right to ruin a person's career as some act of karma and revenge.

[Ifreann]

For the last time, none of the witnesses, save Kavanaugh himself, have said Ford is lying or wrong. They have said tjey do not remember. Lack of memory =/= refuting someones claim.

Similarly, your statement about women waiting for so long to come forward is ludicrous. You clearly do not understand the effect that an event like this has on someone. You really think she would make it up, destroy her life, for a tiny bit of airtime? Thats insane. People like you are the reason people who are assaulted do not come forward.

Okay, so?

Maybe, maybe not, I still have not seen or heard any incentive to agree with her other than "B-but he's a rapist and a sexual assaulter" when nothing has been given to suggest that at all.

Maybe come forward before someone get's a high position in power or, y'know Report it immediately instead of hiding it for decades.

How many times now have you been told why victims of sexual assaults or rapes don't come forward immediately?

[The Black Forrest]

Yeah lets put a partisan conspiracy theorist on the court.

Ginsburg is a partisan hack, do you support impeaching her?

Is she now? Why was she friends with Scalia?

[The Black Forrest]

Okay, so?

Maybe, maybe not, I still have not seen or heard any incentive to agree with her other than "B-but he's a rapist and a sexual assaulter" when nothing has been given to suggest that at all.

Maybe come forward before someone get's a high position in power or, y'know Report it immediately instead of hiding it for decades.

How many times now have you been told why victims of sexual assaults or rapes don't come forward immediately?

Save that line somewhere. It will come up again.

Ford's credible, Kavanaugh's acting guilty, we don't need to pretend that this insufficient for reasonable people to make a call about who they believe.

Passing thought on that. If he frequently drank as much as suggested; he may not remember.

[San Lumen]

Again, you do not understand.
When you are assaulted, its terrifying, its painful, its shocking and its life altering. Reporting it, making it a matter for the public record, is a horrifying prospect because of societies views on sexual assault.

No one wants be known as the girl who was assaulted or raped, no one wants to be looked at differently than everyone else, no one wants people calling them liars or skanks for reporting it. So for many people they keep their mouths shut.

Clearly, you have never been assaulted, otherwise you would understand this.

Because you soo understand more than I do.

Its not a strawman. Your the one who asked why they dont come forward when it happens. Its because of people like you.

Yes it is.

Yeah sure it is, and not their own woeful ignorance of waiting and waiting until the time is right to ruin a person's career as some act of karma and revenge.

I guess the whole MeToo movement then is just disgruntled employees or people trying to take down they don't like. Bill Cosby was wrongly convicted right?

[Vassenor]

How many times now have you been told why victims of sexual assaults or rapes don't come forward immediately?

Save that line somewhere. It will come up again.

Do I put it on the bingo card or in the drinking game?

[Aclion]

This is not a trial, this is not a child telling on their sibling, this is not random interpersonal conflict. This is a hearing about a judicial appointment. US Senators are under no obligation whatsoever to presume that Kavanaugh is innocent, or presume that he is fit to serve on the Supreme Court, or to presume fucking anything. The idea is that they apply their own judgement to what they hear in the hearing.

Do you not see how horrifically dangerous it is to make these decisions based on completely unsubstantiated accusations?

[Vassenor]

This is not a trial, this is not a child telling on their sibling, this is not random interpersonal conflict. This is a hearing about a judicial appointment. US Senators are under no obligation whatsoever to presume that Kavanaugh is innocent, or presume that he is fit to serve on the Supreme Court, or to presume fucking anything. The idea is that they apply their own judgement to what they hear in the hearing.

Do you not see how horrifically dangerous it is to make these decisions based on completely unsubstantiated accusations?

Why don't you educate us?

[The Black Forrest]

Save that line somewhere. It will come up again.

Do I put it on the bingo card or in the drinking game?

Well? Since donnie likes saying that....probably fits on a drinking game.

[Bolkenia]

Dude, this guy is a judge in America. As far as I'm concerned, his selection won't change anything.



he's still a creep tho

[The Black Forrest]

This is not a trial, this is not a child telling on their sibling, this is not random interpersonal conflict. This is a hearing about a judicial appointment. US Senators are under no obligation whatsoever to presume that Kavanaugh is innocent, or presume that he is fit to serve on the Supreme Court, or to presume fucking anything. The idea is that they apply their own judgement to what they hear in the hearing.

Do you not see how horrifically dangerous it is to make these decisions based on completely unsubstantiated accusations?

Kav: "Please investigate this matter. I have nothing to hide"

Accusation game suddenly weakens.

[San Lumen]

Dude, this guy is a judge in America. As far as I'm concerned, his selection won't change anything.



he's still a creep tho

Him getting on the Supreme Court will have a profound effect for a generation

[Great Franconia and Verana]

Again, you do not understand.
When you are assaulted, its terrifying, its painful, its shocking and its life altering. Reporting it, making it a matter for the public record, is a horrifying prospect because of societies views on sexual assault.

No one wants be known as the girl who was assaulted or raped, no one wants to be looked at differently than everyone else, no one wants people calling them liars or skanks for reporting it. So for many people they keep their mouths shut.

Clearly, you have never been assaulted, otherwise you would understand this.

Because you soo understand more than I do.

Its not a strawman. Your the one who asked why they dont come forward when it happens. Its because of people like you.

Yes it is.

Yeah sure it is, and not their own woeful ignorance of waiting and waiting until the time is right to ruin a person's career as some act of karma and revenge.

You know fucking what, I do fucking understand more than you.

You know why? I have been sexually abused before, twice, for your information. Once when I was very young, and once when I was in High School, and you know what? I never reported it, I have never spoken publicly about it, the only people who know are myself, my girlfriend, and my best friend.

Why did I not report either case? Because I was, and am, terrified, terrified, of being labeled, harassed, and known as the guy who was abused, the guy who needs pity, the guy who was violated in one of the most basic ways a human can be. I went to counseling for terrible anxiety, with the intention of telling someone, anyone who could help, and even then, I was too scared to say it. The idea of someone violating you is terrible, the idea of your entire social network, knowing you were violated is almost as bad. The pain that you experience while its happening, the pain you carry with you after it has happened, is amplified by peoples judgements, peoples looks, peoples attempts to be kind, or people disbelieving you.

And do you know why it is so scary to come forward? It is because of people like you, people who do not believe victims, who think that just because it happened so long ago it does not matter, people who think it is easy to say "Hey, I was abused, or assaulted, or raped." It is NEVER easy, and until you get that through your head, you cannot, cannot say that you would report it, because you have not lived it.

I know both people who abused me, I may not know where they are now, or what they are doing. I really could care less, I hope to never have to see them again. But you know what, if our Prime Minister nominated one for our Supreme Court, I am not sure if I would have Dr. Ford's courage, I am not sure I could come forward, even years after.

Because of people like you.

[Ifreann]

This is not a trial, this is not a child telling on their sibling, this is not random interpersonal conflict. This is a hearing about a judicial appointment. US Senators are under no obligation whatsoever to presume that Kavanaugh is innocent, or presume that he is fit to serve on the Supreme Court, or to presume fucking anything. The idea is that they apply their own judgement to what they hear in the hearing.

Do you not see how horrifically dangerous it is to make these decisions based on completely unsubstantiated accusations?

Don't know what rock you've been hiding under, but Senators have more to go on than unsubstantiated accusations.

[Gravlen]

As I said, I haven't seen her being dishonest and accusing "the left" or the like of conspiracies against her, nor have I heard that the ABA for a time removed her from the "gold standard" of Well Qualified (even though a minority thinks she's only Qualified) for the position. If you have examples of behaviour similar to Kavanaugh, I'd of course be interested to see it.

Kavanaugh never had his rating changed by the ABA,

Actually...

But in May 2006, as Republicans hoped to finally push Kavanaugh’s nomination across the finish line, the ABA downgraded its endorsement.

The group’s judicial investigator had recently interviewed dozens of lawyers, judges and others who had worked with Kavanaugh, the ABA announced at the time, and some of them raised red flags about “his professional experience and the question of his freedom from bias and open-mindedness.”

“One interviewee remained concerned about the nominee’s ability to be balanced and fair should he assume a federal judgeship,” the ABA committee chairman wrote to senators in 2006. “Another interviewee echoed essentially the same thoughts: ‘(He is) immovable and very stubborn and frustrating to deal with on some issues.’”

A particular judge had told the ABA that Kavanaugh had been “sanctimonious” during an oral argument in court. Several lawyers considered him inexperienced, and one said he “dissembled” in the courtroom.

The reviews weren’t all bad.

In the end, the ABA committee weighed Kavanaugh’s “solid reputation for integrity, intellectual capacity, and writing and analytical ability” against “concern over whether this nominee is so insulated that he will be unable to judge fairly in the future.” In a split vote, it downgraded the rating of the nominee to simply “qualified” — meaning he met the ABA’s standards to become a judge but was not necessarily an outstanding candidate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/28/american-bar-association-had-kavanaugh-concerns-years-ago-republicans-dismissed-those-too/?utm_term=.3e77798599df

Barrett should be far more worrisome for people on the left given her refusal to recognize things like Roe as settled superprecedent that can't be changed and given how deeply religious she is I doubt she has much love for Obergefell either. Add to that the fact that she'll probably fall in line on things like guns (which thus far hasn't come up in her judicial career) and she's pretty much the trifecta of everything social conservatives have been hoping for.

Yeah, but that's a question of her political bent, not whether she's suitable to work as a Supreme Court Justice.

iirc she's also vocally against the Democrats because she feels like they attack her Catholicism a lot but I might be misremembering that bit.

A link would be nice.

[Tahar Joblis]

Do you not see how horrifically dangerous it is to make these decisions based on completely unsubstantiated accusations?

Kav: "Please investigate this matter. I have nothing to hide"

Accusation game suddenly weakens.

TBH, given that strategy didn't work for Franken, I'm not sure how effective a strategic move it would be for Kavanaugh.

[Vassenor]

Graham gets triggered by an audience not feeling sufficiently sorry for Kav.

[The Black Forrest]

Kav: "Please investigate this matter. I have nothing to hide"

Accusation game suddenly weakens.

TBH, given that strategy didn't work for Franken, I'm not sure how effective a strategic move it would be for Kavanaugh.

There was photographic evidence for Franken. It was a stupid ass college boy type of stunt and he should have known better.

[The Black Forrest]

Graham gets triggered by an audience not feeling sufficiently sorry for Kav.

Graham can go fuck himself. She was treated respectfully because they had no choice. She seems to be a "mouse" type of woman and any "tough questions" would have been perceived as bullying and worse slut shamming.

If she had acting like Kav, they would have went after her.

[Aclion]

Do you not see how horrifically dangerous it is to make these decisions based on completely unsubstantiated accusations?

Why don't you educate us?

Consider the incentives it creates. It means that every time a party opposes a candidate all they need to do to kill their career is find someone, anyone, willing to level an accusation against them. Since the accusations doesn't need to be substantiated, or even investigated rape accusations are at this point a hollow political tool. This means that
1. Men with political ambitions will be wary of working with women, harming those who which to pursue careers that require working with politicians: Politics, journalism, law, public service. This is already happening in business.
2. People who have been raped by a now successful politician will be assumed to be making political maneuvers, not legitimate claims.
3. Accusations will be a common occurrence making even substantiatable accusations as easy to dismiss as shady corporate dealings are now. ("all politicians are subject to these accusations, even my opponent").
4. My signature

Do you not see how horrifically dangerous it is to make these decisions based on completely unsubstantiated accusations?

Kav: "Please investigate this matter. I have nothing to hide"

Accusation game suddenly weakens.

It's basically a show.. Investigation at this point doesn't matter because all the evidence has already been brought to the congressional committee. An investigation at this time is just a transparent excuse to delay the confirmation until after the election, which is all academic anyway, because if they confirm him and it turn out he did rape someone they can still impeach him.

[Gravlen]

I smell slut shaming.

Hmm, isn't an accuser's credibility also fair game?

What does enjoyment of (presumably consensual) group sex have to do with her credibility?

Or that she didn't tell the guy whom she dated for a couple of weeks?

[Tahar Joblis]

TBH, given that strategy didn't work for Franken, I'm not sure how effective a strategic move it would be for Kavanaugh.

There was photographic evidence for Franken. It was a stupid ass college boy type of stunt and he should have known better.

There was photographic evidence for Franken staging - in his comic persona - a scene showing him as a horndog by pretending to grope another comedian.

There was not photographic evidence for Franken engaging in any actual groping - unlike with, say, the David Mueller / Taylor Swift lawsuit.