Big book deal for Christine Ford coming right up. cha-ching!!!! She will be able to afford her own private plane with two doors.
The Australian NATIONAL AFFAIRS SPORT LIFE TECH ARTS TRAVEL HIGHER ED MEDIA PROPERTY HOME NEWS INQUIRER Brett Kavanaugh resistance is partly about abortion A protester rallies against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh outside the Supreme Court on September 27 in Washington, DC. ANGELA SHANAHAN 12:00AM SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 72 Facebook Twitter Email Readers must be in turn fascinated, confused and astounded by the increasingly lurid fiasco surrounding the US Supreme Court confirmation hearing of judge Brett Kavanaugh. When I read that this 53-year-old man with a seemingly unblemished character and all the right credentials in jurisprudence had suddenly been accused by a woman of molestation when he was 17 and she 15, and that despite years “recovering” her memory of the incident, she still couldn’t remember any concrete facts about it, and what’s more, no one else could confirm her accusation, I laughed. Not the standard feminist response but this episode had turned into the theatre of the absurd. I didn’t laugh when I heard the second accusation from a woman who, 30 years ago while playing a drinking game at college, found herself on the other end of a lewd act. Despite being plastered and “foggy”, and her memory full of gaps, with the help of her lawyer the gaps were filled in — with the memorable hips of the now might-be-serial molester Brett Kavanaugh. Whether this happened (unlikely), whether there were witnesses (none) and whether Kavanaugh was a drunken lout at uni (possibly, so what?) — all this was starting to sound suspicious. Egged on by a theatrical and partisan media, the American people are urged to find out the “truth” of these matters, although, according to the badge-wearing devotees of #MeToo, we must believe these accusations simply because a woman has made them. Very few people are asking why any of this until-now-undiscovered youthful behaviour is relevant to Kavanaugh’s judicial fitness. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has called the hearings a “highly partisan show … embarrassing to anyone with a conscience and a grown-up brain”. The answer, of course, is the Democrats are desperate not to have the conservative Kavanaugh appointed and will do anything to delay his confirmation until after the midterm elections in November, when the make-up of the house or the Senate may change and Trump’s appointees can be blocked. However, these accusations are not just a last-minute attempt to smear Kavanaugh’s character for political gain. The allegation by the first accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, is particularly nasty and dangerously close to an accusation of criminal behaviour. In Maryland, where it is supposed to have happened, there is no statute of limitations on assault and 17 is the age of consent. This could actually be an attempt to pin the crime of sexual assault on the judge, as he himself said when he appeared on television. This absurdist fiasco has actually become quite sinister. So what is the hounding of Kavanaugh really about? Why are the Democrats so desperate to get rid of him? Is it about trying, as Republican Ted Cruz has claimed, by delaying Kavanaugh’s confirmation, to “relitigate the 2016 election”? That may be part of it. The Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections was a significant focus of much of the confirmation hearings with Kavanaugh, as were his views on executive authority. Kavanaugh wisely refused to answer hypothetical questions from Democrats on the panel, a common practice for a judicial nominee. On whether the president could be exempt from criminal prosecution, he stated: “No one is above the law. (As judges,) we are not supposed to be influenced by political pressure from the executive or from the congress. We are independent.” He was even accused of having conversations with Trump’s law firm, an accusation denied by Kavanaugh and the law firm. The real reason Kavanaugh is being hounded from a seat on the Supreme Court is not only his views on any of these things, it is also about abortion. This sinister absurdist drama is a proxy fight for the real fight that the pro-abortion lobby is gearing up for — the fight to preserve Roe v Wade. Having Kavanaugh, a pro-life practising Catholic, on the bench is their worst nightmare. Abortion is the standard by which all libertarian feminist values have been measured. It is the fundamental credo of the elitist feminist class, many of whom, such as Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein, run the liberal agenda in the US. For that group of well-educated women who came to maturity in the 1970s being able to dispense with a pregnancy is the fundamental symbol of female autonomy. However, the tide of opinion on abortion has started to turn. Americans are no longer as comfortable with the destruction of unborn children as were that generation. Several states have reduced the time limits an abortion is permissible. Other states have “trigger laws” so that if Roe is overturned or even modified, they can automatically ban abortion. Twenty-one states limit when a woman can get an abortion based on the age of the foetus. Twenty-four legislatures are deemed to be pro-life. But the real fear of the pro-abortion lobby is the young. The biggest survey of American opinion on these issues is the General Social Survey. In the 70s and 80s, young adults were likelier than other demographics to think abortion should be a legal option in a wide variety of circumstances. But beginning about 2000, there was a significant shift in the attitudes of young adults. The GSS surveys taken after 2000 consistently show young adults are the age demographic likeliest to oppose abortion as a legal option in nearly all circumstances. No longer can the abortion lobby rely on false reasoning about personal liberty because the young are too well informed about foetal development. They know a baby when they see one on a 3-D ultrasound monitor. Science is on their side. They reason that a human being is a human being, and they know that they were once unborn because many of them have seen pictures of themselves before they were born. No wonder the handmaids of the abortion lobby are scared stiff of Kavanaugh. ANGELA SHANAHAN COLUMNIST Angela Shanahan is a Canberra based freelance journalist and mother of nine children. She has written regularly for The Australian for 18 years, The Spectator (British and Australian editions) for over 10 years
Major Catholic magazine rescinds endorsement of Kavanaugh over sexual assault allegations Brett Kavanaugh cites his Jesuit education to defend his integrity. Now a Jesuit magazine has disavowed his nomination. https://www.vox.com/2018/9/28/17914064/america-jesuit-catholic-magazine-brett-kavanaugh-allegations
Nope, he handled them very poorly. Honesty would have won the day for him comfortably. He became exactly the deny everything, angry asshole the Jesuits have seen with priests many times. You want experts in who is covering their ass? The Jesuits have thousands of case files. When winning becomes a pyrrhic victory you stop seems to be their line.
It's not the charges, though they don't help. It's the lying. Even if the charges prove false, the lies stand. That's the remarkable thing, and it explains how he dug such a deep hole for himself.. He lied to the committee about his record, and the committee knows it because there is hard documentation. He lied about the depth of his inebriation -- there are witnesses. He lied about the meaning of Devils Triangle and Boof -- there is hard documentation and the knowledge of an entire generation of high school students to prove it. He lied when he said the others say "it didn't happen." there is hard documentation to prove it. These are lies regardless of, and independent of, the truth of Ford's accusation. Do you want a liar, a drunkard, and a person with flawed self discipline on the court? I don't want him because of his ridiculous Imperial Presidency theory that he put in writing, making it becomes impossible to disown. But, frankly, the lies alone are enough for me to not want him on the Court. When we consider what knowledge of government, history, and world affairs Trump has demonstrated, it shouldn't come as a surprise to us that the candidate Trump picked for his own personal reasons is a bad one. Even McConnell warned Trump against Kavanaugh; said he would be hard to get confirmed. (Remember Gorsuch was picked for Trump. But Kavanaugh was picked by Trump. That, unfortunately, explains much more than we would like, as it confirms are view of Trump's competence as president.) The Republicans are showing very poor judgement in sticking stick with such a flawed candidate. He will get confirmed and be elevated to the Court, but there imprudent actions will come back to haunt them. They should ask him to step down, then after the election select a conservative Justice with impeccable record for integrity. And please not some extreme ideologue. Such a selection would have no problem being confirmed and voted in by both parties.