Come Heller high water …
- Dr. Ford seemed direct, detailed and emotionally honest. Judge Kavanaugh seemed, at turns, smug, frat-boyish, rude, bullying, explosive (great quality for a judge), weepy, evasive, defiant and childish. Winner by several miles: Dr. Ford. I’ll be interested to hear your views.
- Prediction: There’s too much smoke here for Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to succeed at this point. He’ll withdraw by Monday. And is there really anything
wrong with that? When it comes to Supreme Court justices, shouldn’t we insist the Senate and the president err on the side of caution? It’s not as if Kavanaugh is the only qualified person out there. - Sen. Lindsey Graham was an utter train-wreck. He said: “This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics.” Really, Lindsey? How about stealing a presidency from Al Gore or stealing a Supreme Court pick from Obama? How about the Trump campaign colluding with the Russians to win the White House? That ring a bell? Idiot.
- During a CNN interview, former Florida Republican congressional candidate Gina Sosa suggested all high school boys have done what Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is accused of doing. “We’re talking about a 17-year-old boy in high school with testosterone running high,” she said. “Tell me what boy hasn’t done this in high school, please. I would like to know.” Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on there a second, Gina. I didn’t. And I’ve raised two sons who didn’t. The vast, vast, vast majority of young men don’t. Maybe we need a #HeyWaitaSecondIdidn’t movement to combat “boys will be boys” nonsense like yours. Boys will be boys is a horrible way to explain away sexual assault.
- Did you hear this? Marathon gas stations this week began selling pumpkin spice-scented unleaded gas in stations nationwide. Can you believe it? You shouldn’t. Because I just made it up. But the fact that you almost, sort of believed me for a millisecond tells you that this is pumpkin spice’s world and we just live in it.
- Wednesday was National Pancake Day. Pancakes are useless things, aren’t they? They’re just dry, dull delivery vehicles for the stuff you put on them – syrup, butter, blueberries. No one eats just pancakes. Because pancakes don’t taste like anything. You could skip the pancakes altogether and just eat the stuff you put on it and be just as happy. And skinnier.
- Where do fruit flies materialize from in the fall? The kitchen is full of them – circling the bananas, the sink trap, the cabinet where the garbage can resides, the dog dish. Why now? It’s not cold enough yet outside to kill them. I think. And what do they suddenly want inside that isn’t available to them outside? There’s so many of them, I expect the dog to be carried off at some point.
- Someone reminded me that just last week I predicted the Detroit Lions wouldn’t win a game this year, and yet a few days later they did. I have no idea what this person is talking about. As with all of my bold and inevitably inaccurate sports predictions, I make it a practice to have no functioning memory of ever writing such words when they prove to be wrong.
- Why would anyone feel sorry for Bill Cosby? He’s a convicted rapist who got what he deserved. The only problem is he deserved it a long, long time ago. I wonder if they serve Pudding Pops in there?
- Uber is paying $148 million to settle lawsuits in 50 states stemming from a 2016 data breach that affected 50 million people. I didn’t even hear about the breach or the lawsuits. But maybe it’s because I don’t pay attention anymore. My personal info has been hacked from so many companies that I wouldn’t be surprised to see my Social Security number written in the sky in smoke.
- “Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverent than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue.” – Francis Bacon
The real reason that Democrats are going full bore on trying to derail Judge Kavanaugh is the fact that he would not state during earlier interviews with the Democrats how he would rule on a Roe v Wade type of case.
If Judge Kavanaugh would have stated that he was for abortion and he would rule in favor of abortion, the Democrats would have had no problem with him being on the SCOTUS.
Utter bs jimiii. People like you are what’s wrong with this country.
Can anyone give me one rational reason Dr. Ford would put herself and her family through this ordeal if it wasn’t true? Gotta believe her.
Money.
Well now we know just what was going on in all those White House meetings. Speech writing and acting lessons!! He deserves an Oscar for that performance. And that is just what it was. From calm cool, to tears, to bring the little children with prayers into it, to outrage, to accusations about revenge. The whole gambit. After this day IF they put him on the Supreme Court any laws or issues brought forth by the Democrats or a democratic lawyer will have an ice cube’s chance in hell of passing by him. As for Dr. Ford- God bless her courage for coming out to speak. I believe her.
Exactly. Don’t really know that a ten year old would say let’s pray for that lady dad. This guy really deserves an Oscar for his acting. Maybe not. It was bad acting.
I predict that Kavanaugh will be confirmed tomorrow for two reasons:
1. Right wingers are shameless.
2. Heller jinxed it with his prediction.
Isn’t the “boys will be boys” defense an admission that they believe he is guiltly, but they don’t care?
Dr. Ford welcomes an FBI investigation and she understands that lying to the FBI is a crime. When Senator Booker asked Kavanaugh if he too would welcome an FBI investigation, Kavanaugh deflected several times. Then Trump supporters everywhere said; “He sounds like an honest guy to me.”
Right wingers can’t defend Kavanaugh, so they retort to attacking democrats, as Jimiii so predictably has shown us.
Should he be held accountable for the actions of his youth? I guess that is debatable. If he is lying to the American people today or refusing to take responsibilty for past behavior, that is not debatable. That is why an investigation is warranted.
Remember, Bill Clinton was not impeached by the House for having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. He was impeached for lying about it. Did you know Supreme Court Justices can be impeached?
I welcome a confirmation just so Republicans can shoot themselves in the foot four weeks before the midterm election.
Did anyone see the Fox News segment where a Trump supporter was telling her two teenage daughters that groping is no big deal? And right wingers wonder why women don’t report sexual assault. But then again, they never doubted Bill Cosby’s accusers, even though they too were decades late in coming forward. I am sure the fact that he is black has nothing to do with it.
Before Jimiii starts lying about how Democrats supported Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton, I will point out that I sure didn’t and neither did many other Democrats.
I do not remember any Democrat supporting Bill Cosby. Nor do I remember any Republican supporting Bill Cosby. If a politician of any political party supported Bill Cosby the lamestream media did not report it, neither did Fox News.
While a lot of rank and file Democrats may not have supported Slick Wiley, the DNC supported him.
One of the reasons some may not report sexual assaults is because of democratic women like Hillary Clinton. Any women that dared tried to bring accusations about slick willey’s treatment of women, hilliary went on a full frontal assault against them. She did everything in her power to destroy, vilify, and otherwise destroying their lives.
Then, Fred has a selective memory about the various activities of Ted Kennedy (Mary Jane Koepeckiney (sp) is not available for comment). Keith Ellison, the number 2 man at the DNC, the ex-girlfriend has police reports and medical evidence of Keith abusing her on more than one occasion. What has the lamestream media done to report this information? They have ignored it completely. If a Republican does the stupid thing and abuses anyone the lamestream media goes ballistic. If a Democrat does the same thing the liberal media either downplays it or completely ignores it as much as possible.
Listening to Ford being asked questions by the Republican questioner she was asked if she knew
that the 4 persons she named as witnesses all wrote statements that they do not remember the party in question or they had no memory of Brett Kavanaugh being as such a party.
The Democrats have been whining that they need another FBI investigation of Brett Kavanaugh’s background. The man has already undergone at least 6 FBI background checks.
I do not think that Fred has undergone a background check by the FBI. I have had the FBI do background checks for the security clearances that held while in the military. I forgot to mention in 20 or so pages of the questionnaire that I had to fill out. The FBI agents interviewed a number of my neighbors going back years. Someone mentioned that shortly after I graduated from high school that I had stayed at a relatives house while working on their neighbor’s house. I forgot to mention that on the document. It was only for a month or so.
The FBI does not come to conclusions when they conduct a background check. They basically say this is what this person said and what this other person said.
Hannity just showed a quote from Joe Biden sometime in the 1990’s about what the FBI does and does not do in a background check results.
Democrats are the ones who have no shame. Ford is just a pawn in these hearings.
Do you mean like how Donald Trump does everything is his power to destroy and vilify any women who dares to come forward with accusations about him or his Supreme Court picks?
I am not going to get into the partisan bickering and “BS” about the Kavanaugh hearings. If he really wants to clear his name, why doesn’t he support an FBI investigation. (An “investigation” not a “Background Check.”) If I knew I was innocent of such an accusation, I would sure ask for one. I listened to most of the hearing and was a bit surprised when he went wishy/washy when asked if he would like a full investigation.
Now, do i believe that this accusation was brought forward in a timely manner? Hell NO! It should have been brought up as soon as it surfaced.
I do not think you know what a background check is. When the FBI does a background check they go into a lot of questions of your neighbors, friends, and relatives. It is out in the open. IF someone says something that does not correlate to the information that you put on your background check, you will be asked about it.
When I was in the Cub Scouts in the early 1960’s, they even wanted to know about a day trip that we took to London, Ontario to visit Storybook Gardens. That is really getting into someone’s life.
Like it is been stated, Judge Kavanaugh has gone through 6 background checks and the FBI did not find something amiss.
It was brought out during Ford’s questioning that she said that she did not like to fly. It turns out that she has been flying during the past year. She was not in California when the committee was attempting to get her to appear in front of the committee. She was in Delaware the whole time.
When the Republicans offered to sent staff to California to interview her, the Republicans were led to believe she was in California. Democrats like Feinstein knew that she was in Delaware.
Ford did not know this information. Her lawyers did not tell her.
Like I said in an earlier post if Judge Kavanaugh had during his multiple interviews with the Democrats had stated that he was pro-abortion, we would have never heard of Ford.
But it was ok for the republicans to deny President Obama an opportunity to nominate someone at the end of his term.
jimiii, As a retired USAF E8 whose security clearance went above Top Secret, I am well aware of the difference. Some times (it would appear to be most of the time) you tend to overestimate your knowledge and disparage that of others. Yes, I know he cannot directly request that such an investigation be done. BUT, he could have let the committee know he was amenable to one.
Many women never report being sexually assaulted in their teens, I am one. And so help me God if the jerk was going to be on the Supreme Court for 40 years and making decisions that would affect the people of the United States, I would be doing what Dr Ford is doing. I will never forget it and did I ever tell my parents. No, I did not. And it happened close to 50 years ago in the late 1960’s. I have carried it with me for that long. And I remember almost every detail. And I am as old as all those white old Republicans on the judiciary committee. It is not right, it has never been right. But in the 1960’s when a girl was raped and reported it they put her on trial not the rapist. The courts made you feel like you asked to be raped and it was up to you to prove you didn’t.
I find it ironic that Mr. Graham went from leading the anti Trump brigade in the Senate to being his biggest cheerleader after a round of golf with the Prez. Russian photos of the “Confirmed Batchelor” perhaps?
His buddy John McCain is gone, now he gets to show his real colors.
If the Republican Senate succeeds in confirming Kavanaugh, I don’t think that will stop the drip…drip…drip of more women coming out and revealing his past indiscretions. And if any of them choose to pursue judicial action against him, the impact on the Supreme Court will not be positive. A confirmation of Kavanaugh will put a black stain on the reputation of our highest court.
So the rules have now been written: Sexual harassment/assaults/rape reports and accusations are not to be taken seriously unless there are witnesses who are willing to testify under oath. Accusations made years later will be subject to: she can’t possibly remember after all these years, but he states that he remembers exactly and denies that it happened. And for those parents who self-righteously state that their daughters would always report any incident immediately, you might want to sit down and have another talk with your daughter, because she just may be another victim who sadly made the choice not to tell anyone at the time. We have just sent a horrible message to our daughters, and we are sending a worse message to our sons (“most boys drink, most boys act out when they drink, and your youthful indiscretions shouldn’t be held agains you”). And you are shocked that we didn’t report…
I believe that the reason Judge Kavanaugh was acting frat-boyish, rude, explosive, defiant and childish was because it was the nature of most of the stupid questions they asked him. I would think that the educated intelligent Ms. Ford would have brought her issue to light when she was in the tenth grade; or at some point prior to this circus.
Now really, would you feel the same if your son was in Kavanaugh’s chair, just about to be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice, and some girl from his old high school decided to jump on the band-wagon of all those who crawled out of the woodwork in the past several months for their 15 minutes of fame, and nearly ruin your son’s future? and hers?
I am getting sick and tired of these embarrassing antics in the government.
How important are first impressions? I would think Ms. Ford or her supporters would have given her a glass from which to drink her coke rather than sucking it out of a bottle at a very high-profile
gathering. Maybe her supporters should have suggested that she tie her hair back. It was very distracting to see it in her face all the time. Her glasses were also very distracting. I have a feeling she was probably coached to some point on how to dress, etc.
Funny how the judge didn’t have a problem lying to his parents or coaches in high school about his drunken behavior. But, he was picked by the president, so what do we expect.
Let’s see your stupid line of thinking should also be be asking why didn’t they give Kavanaugh a box of Kleenex so he could blow his nose. It was more important than what he had to say right? Constant snorting was very annoying or maybe he’s a coke head right? Also I would feel very sorry for your children, God forbid that you have any. Geez my son is gonna be a Supreme Court Justice and somebody that he tried to rape is trying to ruin it for my Johnny. Don’t you see something wrong in that statement? I hope you do. But I really doubt it.
Mr Jims: I am so sorry to have riled you up with my comment (my opinion). God has indeed blessed me with 3 intelligent, respectful, generous and loyal children. Johnny is in fact my son’s name and he has a Ph.D. When I brought our written exchange to his attention, he agreed with every word you said.
So I don’t think you have to feel sorry for him. He is also as cultured and refined as you are.
I am hoping she doesn’t have any daughters, I am one of the women that chose not to tell. My parents went to their graves not knowing. If you haven’t been there how dare you judge…….. The one being sexually assaulted has always been the one that is on trial not the asshole who assaulted her. The man gets patted on the back about his sexual prowess. But the asshole that did it, has never run for public office, let alone could he be a Supreme Court Judge making decisions that could affect people for generations. I stand with Dr Ford. And I will never forget his name, where it happened and all the other details.
jimiii, As a retired USAF E8 whose security clearance went above Top Secret, I am well aware of the difference. Some times (it would appear to be most of the time) you tend to overestimate your knowledge and disparage that of others. Yes, I know he cannot directly request that such an investigation be done. BUT, he could have let the committee know he was amenable to one.
If you think that you are superior then you should be smart enough to understand the difference between a background check and an investigation.
The FBI cannot do an investigation of the alleged assault that Brett Kavanaugh is accused of. Why? No Federal law has been violated.
They can do a background check #7 on Brett Kavanaugh. In this check, they basically can only go back to the persons that they have questioned so far and go over their earlier statements.
Will the FBI check some other sources of other alleged conduct by Brett Kavanaugh? I do not know.
You sound like some of the men that I have known and read about over the years. The term is an old one called “shiny butt”. That is someone who worked in the trenches for some years and then transitioned to a desk job. After a while, they forgot what it is like to be in the trenches.
The 2nd definition I apply to someone during the LBJ years in Vietnam. Where LBJ’s college/university educated, never served in the military group, controlled the troops in the trenches. They had book knowledge, but no common sense military knowledge. That is why a lot of soldiers died needlessly. The ROE’s that they came up with were and are dangerous to the front line troops.
I also apply it to the civilian advisors of Clinton, Bush II, and Obama. To a lesser extent, so far, to President Trump’s advisers.
Yes, jimiii , you remind me of another old term–“butthead.” When I questioned the difference between BG and Investigation to an old friend , his response was, “If the president says, ‘Investigate” it ain’t a background check.”
Has anybody ever asked Judge Kavanaugh whether he remembers Dr. Ford? Has Kavanaugh confirmed that he used to know her? He has denied her story about him, but has he denied even knowing her? That seems important.
Judge K. seemed off-target in a couple ways:
1. He said he did not even listen to Dr. F.’s testimony yesterday, before he took the podium. Odd!
2. He said something about “the Clintons” being out to get him. Right Wing kookiness?
I wondered that same thing. And he said he wasn’t at that party — did anyone ask anyone at the party if they remember him there. (Honestly, I couldn’t remember that far back.)
He claims he never went to such parties. He never hung out with people from her school. He only hung out with certain catholic schools in the area. Said he didn’t know her but couldn’t rule out that they might have crossed paths. I believed he knew her. I couldn’t remember anything that far back especially If I had been drinking.