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No! Just, No!
Sorry, but with all due respect to everyone trying to be respectful and even-handed, the Senate should not devote a single second, a tenth of a second, a microsecond, to the supposed charges against Brett Kavanaugh.
Line it up. Senator Feinstein has for over a month sat on an unsubstantiated 30-year-old allegation of teenage misconduct brought by a progressive activist against a respected jurist, and then brought it forward at the last minute in an attempt to stall the process and if not thwart the nomination, to smear the integrity of the nominee so that he is forever tainted.
Considering the circumstances, the burden of proof should be entirely on the accuser and her supporters. When the return on a successful lie is so high, the presumption should be that the accuser is lying. Until there is overwhelming proof not only of the instant allegation but a pattern of behavior, the Senate should adamantly refuse any consideration whatsoever.
Published in Law
I think the opposite. Ford’s parents probably related everything to her. Heck, they may even have called her when Kavanaugh was nominated and planted the idea of nuking him in her brain.
Regardless, we’ll see how this pans out. I’m still amazed at how many on our side are willing to believe this woman, given she’s liberal, DiFi is involved, it concerns smearing the reputation of a conservative appointee, and the timing – last minute, as usual . . .
Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit notes
Has anyone pointed out to the Jeff Flakes of the world that this smear only works because Kavanaugh is an honorable, upright, principled man whose reputation actually matters to him? Again, again: this is how we got Trump. You want more Trumps in office? Allow this [CoC] to happen.
Incidentally, I heard Trump’s reaction to this whole thing. He was reasonable to a fault. He says let the hearing go forward, and if it takes a little longer to get him confirmed, then so be it. He doesn’t seem worried.
I think he sees it as an excuse to unleash on the Russian Collusion nonsense.
Maybe he’s just glad that no one’s accused him personally of high crimes for fifteen minutes and counting.
And the fact that there appears to be no corroborating behavior on his part since the alleged incident. Girls he dated around that time claim that he was a gentleman. Women he’s been friends with, women he’s worked with, women he’s mentored all paint a picture of an upstanding guy who hasn’t given them an ounce of trouble. No rumors of misbehavior at all that I’ve heard. That fact alone makes it really hard for me to take the accusation seriously.
Exactly. With the Weinsteins of the world, there’s a widespread pattern of bad behavior. However, we’re supposed to believe whatever hotness this Ford woman had, Kavanaugh wanted it so much, he attempted to rape her.
Yeah, right . . .
No, they are not even going to show up to the hearing.
https://twitter.com/AlexPappas/status/1042076213966249984
It’s all delay, delay and more delay.
They do not want an additional hearing, this is entirely about dragging things out.
With all do respect to the elderly Diane Feinstein should be in an institution eating green jello and complaining that nobody ever visits her.
Pelosi could room with her . . .
We give all of these idiots far too much power over our lives. Now the “leaders” we entrust to do the right thing by their citizens just pull levers that generate benefits for themselves, 24/7. Everything is an opportunity for power and re-election.
Pitch and Forks. The only rational solution.
Something Dennis Miller did years ago has stuck with me. He was on O’Reilly and went on a rant about Harry Reid. It might have been after the Romney tax return lie, but by this time Senator Reid had demonstrated himself to be a horrible person. Dennis started his rant with, “With no due respect to Senator Reid…”. I’m sure Dennis isn’t the first to use the “no due respect” line, but it was fresh to my ears.
We need to stop thinking of these people as “leaders” and start thinking of them for what they really are – elected representatives who do our bidding, but who [should] use their own judgment, knowledge, and principles when it comes down to a vote in the House or Senate.
Think of them (elected officials) as people you hire to do stuff for you – electricians, lawn care, plumbers . . . you want them to do a job, and do it right.
That’s the point – we can think of them any way we want, but they are not in it for you or me, despite what we hire them to do. They are in it for themselves, and provide no value.
Would we pay contractors to ruin our house when we asked them to fix it? No? So why do we pay Congressmen/Women to repeatedly and extraordinarily fail? Why am I and as yet unborn Americans burdened with their pension payments?
What would happen if they didn’t show up to “work” tomorrow? Absolutely nothing, which is the definition of useless. You wouldn’t pay someone at your company to do nothing of value. Why should we pay them? Why should they have lifetime tenure at the club where you don’t do anything but tell other people how to live, and how much money they can keep?
In what irrational world are we living in?
Fantastic, I was becoming concerned that the hearings were insufficiently circus like.
What is “post and forfeit?”
This is exactly my point. There are people out there who would “pay” for an elected official to do the wrong thing, because they are convinced to “ruin our house” is the right thing to do.
However, our houses are not their houses. They would hire an incompetent contractor to work on my house, whether I want the work done or not.
Isn’t his name appropriate? Why do we keep electing flakes to high office? I’d love to represent South Carolina in the Senate if I could do so from the comfort of my home in Aiken . . .
The only weapon we have is a primary challenge. When you have multiple challengers, the opposition gets diluted, even with a one-two runoff. If you’re like California, you don’t even get your own party represented in the one-two runoff (which is one of many reasons why Cal is doomed – no mechanism for change).
Yes, they are in it for themselves – it’s human nature. But when our satisfaction becomes a big part of their self-interest? They behave . . .
I’m thinking that Ford’s attorney, Katz, may have missed a day or 2 of 1st year law when she said her client DID NOT NEED to corroborate her story— which leaves us with the fact that she demands, by inference, Kavanaugh prove a negative despite the presumption of his innocence.
Just a guess, but I think it means if arrested, the person can “post” bail, and then when they do not show up for a hearing on the charge of misdemeanor trespass or whatever, they “forfeit” the bail money.
It’s a neat trick. This way they are not technically employing these thugs, they’re just kindly posting their bail when they inevitably get arrested. Makes it far more difficult to hold the financial backers accountable for the criminal actions of the rioters, “Hey these people don’t work for us, we’re just posting bail.”
I doubt that fiction would survive a vigorous challenge in court.
Corroboration is necessary in legal proceedings, not to a lynch mob. #metoo did a sterling job of laying the groundwork for this. #metoo may not have started as a political hit but the potential for mob action was seen early on and intentionally organized to facilitate attacks like this.
The attack on Kavanaugh is part of a larger effort to delegitimize originalist jurisprudence and groups like the Federalist Society. The goal is to make being associated with Federalist Society activities or originalist opinions, or originalist academic legal writing– or voting to confirm a justice with things like that in her background – a career killer and a risk of violence directed against your family.
Watch out for the followup hit. If this accusation starts to sputter and fizzle, another allegation will be made. Money can buy plenty of lies from an idealogue.
Credit where due, Flake said if she doesn’t go through with testimony he will proceed
She will go through. She will also have evidence and maybe other witnesses. This is what the GOP gets for putting up an Ivy League frat boy with a drinking problem past. They should have played the game to win and put up a minority pick, that way they would have some minority cards to play. They even could avoided this entirely if they went with a womyn. It is like the GOP is trying to lose.
Good news! Flake (to the Flaky News Network):
So it turns out that you have to actually show up and lie in person to derail a SCOTUS nominee. The Republican Senate caucus has so far exceeded my expectations. The plan is two-fold:
1. Lock her in: When and where did the incident take place?
2. Pin her down: Who else was there who is willing to corroborate her version of events?
Without answering both questions, we go straight to a vote.
She wants a complete FBI investigation before she’ll say anything.
F’d_up_news_network:
The ball’s in your court, Flaky.