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  1. Bob Thompson Member
    Bob Thompson
    @BobThompson

    Wow! That is really impressive.

    • #1
  2. colleenb Member
    colleenb
    @colleenb

    Thanks @Doug Watt. A beautiful moment. How many of us would be proud to just be remembered for that!

    • #2
  3. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Wow. That was incredibly moving.

    • #3
  4. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    I’ll betcha the Dems are looking for a disgruntled student to make a statement, but only after the committee vote is announced.  When you’re trying to slimeball someone, timing is everything . . .

    • #4
  5. Barry Jones Thatcher
    Barry Jones
    @BarryJones

    What a remarkable woman (both of them!)!

    • #5
  6. WI Con Member
    WI Con
    @WICon

    After the year that 2020 has proven to be, this was sure a nice pick-me-up. Made my day. 

    What an eloquent women. Kudos to Justice Thomas as well, another really impressive person.

    • #6
  7. Jimmy Carter Member
    Jimmy Carter
    @JimmyCarter

    InMy next job interview, I’m gonna ask Her to be a “personal reference.”

    Character matters.

     

    • #7
  8. Midwest Southerner Coolidge
    Midwest Southerner
    @MidwestSoutherner

    What a beautiful tribute. Thanks for sharing @dougwatt.

    • #8
  9. Goldwaterwoman Thatcher
    Goldwaterwoman
    @goldwaterwoman

    Magnificent is the best word I can come up with as I sit here with tears streaming down my face. What an inspirational young woman. 

    • #9
  10. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Wow. Just wow.

    • #10
  11. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Leaned forward and looked at me intently?

    • #11
  12. drlorentz Member
    drlorentz
    @drlorentz

    Judge Barrett is a good person. Laura Wolk is good too. Just when it seemed like the officialdom is chock-full of jackals and grifters, these two individuals show up.  These two shining lights put the shameful behavior of some senators into sharp relief. If they had any integrity, these senators would hang their heads in shame and retire from the field.

    • #12
  13. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Leaned forward and looked at me intently?

    I would assume that Ms. Wolk knowing that she was in a private meeting with Professor Barrett, and being well-read might have used that description to describe the scene based upon what she had read about in literature, and the discussion as it took place in Professor Barrett’s office.

    • #13
  14. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    If Amy Coney Barrett is not confirmed, can we appoint her as a superhero?

    Seriously, she is a real class act – a genius intellect, a genuinely kind and gracious person

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Leaned forward and looked at me intently?

    I imagine most blind people get used to using their ears for direction finding more than sighted people do.  Someone leaning closer and aiming their face directly at your head sounds a bit different compared to someone sitting back and listening to you. 

    • #14
  15. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    “Laura,” she said, “This is no longer your problem, it’s now my problem”  2:48 point

    • #15
  16. Eustace C. Scrubb Member
    Eustace C. Scrubb
    @EustaceCScrubb

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Leaned forward and looked at me intently?

    Yes, that puzzled me.

    • #16
  17. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    For some reason this passage from the Gospel of John comes to mind: “. . . that the works of God might be made manifest. . .”

    • #17
  18. Dominique Prynne Member
    Dominique Prynne
    @DominiquePrynne

    “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” 

    Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds….

    James, Chapter 2:14-19

    ACB’s faith is likely the catalyst for her deeds.

    Yes, people of no faith do good deeds as well. 

    But I bet ACB views such deeds as the natural “action step” of her faith.  It goes something like…God loves me while I am a yet worthless sinner, I am commanded to love God with all me heart, mind, soul and strength and I am commanded to love my neighbor…performing works for my neighbor is a show of love that reflects God’s love for me. 

     

    • #18
  19. Allie Hahn Coolidge
    Allie Hahn
    @AllieHahn

    Incredible – thank you for sharing! I had heard about her testimony but hadn’t watched it yet. This makes me want to be a better teacher, myself. 

    • #19
  20. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Well, that didn’t make me cry.  At all.

    • #20
  21. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Nice.  I will now have to live up to that standard myself if something like that comes my way.  

    • #21
  22. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Leaned forward and looked at me intently?

    LOL, I caught that too.  Perhaps she intuited Barret’s motions.  I find the testimony sincere.

    • #22
  23. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Can anyone tell me what kind of instrument Wolk is running her fingers across?  What exactly is it doing?  

    • #23
  24. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Has there been a better nominee for Supreme Court than Amy Coney Barrett?

    I can’t think of any

     

    • #24
  25. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Two extraordinary women

     

    • #25
  26. Freeven Member
    Freeven
    @Freeven

    Eustace C. Scrubb (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Leaned forward and looked at me intently?

    Yes, that puzzled me.

    I take the point, but this description coming from a blind person makes sense to me. It’s possible to hear, or sense, someone leaning forward purely from audio clues. Taken literally, looked at me intently coming from a blind person gives us pause, but there is a lot of context here which makes an apt phrase. First, a blind person adopts the language of the sighted world she lives in. She says things like Great to see you rather than Great to hear you — or,  in this case, looked at me intently rather than spoke to me  intently. Second, Wolk is recalling an exchange that was deeply meaningful to her, one that she’s likely reflected on many times over the years. Looked at me intently conveys the heartfeltness of the memory with an economy of language that sacrifices only a little precision. Given that heartfeltness, not precision, is the point of the telling, this is a fine choice of phrase. Third, Wolk has now known ACB for many years. Just as a sighted person comes to know that look on your face, I suspect a blind person comes to glean the intensity of a close friend or colleague over time. Given how sharp Wolk appears to be, I’d bet money that ACB did look at her intently that day.

    • #26
  27. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Eustace C. Scrubb (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Leaned forward and looked at me intently?

    Yes, that puzzled me.

    Textualism doesn’t mean you have to interpret every word literally.  There is stupid textualism and sensible textualism.

    Freedom of speech doesn’t literally mean only your “speech” is protected but other forms of expression can be censored by the state.

     

    • #27
  28. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Freeven (View Comment):

    Eustace C. Scrubb (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Leaned forward and looked at me intently?

    Yes, that puzzled me.

    I take the point, but this description coming from a blind person makes sense to me. It’s possible to hear, or sense, someone leaning forward purely from audio clues. Taken literally, looked at me intently coming from a blind person gives us pause, but there is a lot of context here which makes an apt phrase. First, a blind person adopts the language of the sighted world she lives in. She says things like Great to see you rather than Great to hear you — or, in this case, looked at me intently rather than spoke to me intently. Second, Wolk is recalling an exchange that was deeply meaningful to her, one that she’s likely reflected on many times over the years. Looked at me intently conveys the heartfeltness of the memory with an economy of language that sacrifices only a little precision. Given that heartfeltness, not precision, is the point of the telling, this is a fine choice of phrase. Third, Wolk has now known ACB for many years. Just as a sighted person comes to know that look on your face, I suspect a blind person comes to glean the intensity of a close friend or colleague over time. Given how sharp Wolk appears to be, I’d bet money that ACB did look at her intently that day.

    I understand. But if Wolk had been testifying against Barrett and said Barrett “looked at me contemptuously” would we take that as good evidence that Barrett patronizes the blind?

    • #28
  29. Freeven Member
    Freeven
    @Freeven

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Freeven (View Comment):

    Eustace C. Scrubb (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Leaned forward and looked at me intently?

    Yes, that puzzled me.

    I take the point, but this description coming from a blind person makes sense to me. It’s possible to hear, or sense, someone leaning forward purely from audio clues. Taken literally, looked at me intently coming from a blind person gives us pause, but there is a lot of context here which makes an apt phrase. First, a blind person adopts the language of the sighted world she lives in. She says things like Great to see you rather than Great to hear you — or, in this case, looked at me intently rather than spoke to me intently. Second, Wolk is recalling an exchange that was deeply meaningful to her, one that she’s likely reflected on many times over the years. Looked at me intently conveys the heartfeltness of the memory with an economy of language that sacrifices only a little precision. Given that heartfeltness, not precision, is the point of the telling, this is a fine choice of phrase. Third, Wolk has now known ACB for many years. Just as a sighted person comes to know that look on your face, I suspect a blind person comes to glean the intensity of a close friend or colleague over time. Given how sharp Wolk appears to be, I’d bet money that ACB did look at her intently that day.

    I understand. But if Wolk had been testifying against Barrett and said Barrett “looked at me contemptuously” would we take that as good evidence that Barrett patronizes the blind?

    I’d take it as evidence of bias. I take what Wolk actually said as bias as well, independent of her disability.

    But I wasn’t arguing that she wasn’t biased. Character witnesses are biased by definition. I was simply explaining why I found her choice of words (“looked at me intently”) apt, despite her blindness.

    • #29
  30. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    Manny (View Comment):

    Can anyone tell me what kind of instrument Wolk is running her fingers across? What exactly is it doing?

    It’s an electronic braille reader.  It takes the text that she’s typed out, and pushes up little braille “buttons.”  My aunt is blind, and has one.  She can read braille about as fast as I can read text, and unlike me, she doesn’t even move her lips when she gets to big words.

    • #30
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