All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

On a side note the President is completely insane. Some might even say the most insane President ever. Some delusional ****. Wtf is happening.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

And so the character assassination begins -- anything to avoid a real investigation into Kavanaugh's past.

You're more like your Republican president than you care to admit.

The irony is that you are simultaneously revealing exactly why many women don't immediately come forward to report harassment and assault, which is something else that you and your Republican representatives seem to have in common.



An idiot who is simultaneously alienating our allies and getting laughed at on the world stage while they pretend that this is just "politics" as usual.

But given the international travesty that was the last Republican administration (Bush) this is just politics as usual for them.

Name a more iconic duo than embarrassment in the world stage and Republican Presidents. You can’t

[Raiders]

I don’t understand the Republicans, why don’t they dump Kavanaugh and pick another candidate?
Why are they sticking with this guy?

[JCAll]

On a side note the President is completely insane. Some might even say the most insane President ever. Some delusional ****. Wtf is happening.

So what was everybody's favorite part of Trump's latest rantstravaganza? My favorite was when he claimed all the women that accused him of sexual assault had been paid by Democrats and the media to lie about him...and that what they said wasn't even so bad...and actually they said some really nice things...only nice things, really...

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I don’t understand the Republicans, why don’t they dump Kavanaugh and pick another candidate?
Why are they sticking with this guy?

Because the super special genius god emperor who is making this country great who wants you all to know he has a big dick wants him to have his back. And they are terrified of him.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

So what was everybody's favorite part of Trump's latest rantstravaganza? My favorite was when he claimed all the women that accused him of sexual assault had been paid by Democrats and the media to lie about him...and that what they said wasn't even so bad...and actually they said some really nice things...only nice things, really...

My favorite part was when he declared that Democrats wouldn’t have voted for George Washington because he has some things in his past... didnt he?

[Raiders]

Because the super special genius god emperor who is making this country great who wants you all to know he has a big dick wants him to have his back. And they are terrified of him.

Sad, but true

[Mister Mets]

Karma for Garland.

I'm sure many feel that way.

This is one reason Republicans think all the calls for a thorough investigation, or for Kavanaugh to drop out are being made in bad faith.

Trump needs to nominate him.

Why?

A fourth accuser on Kavanaugh just came out.
Kavanaugh was in his early 30's, he slammed a woman against a wall in a violent sexual way.
But the source is anonymous and the mother of the witness.
It was in 1998

The letter has been posted online.

Do you guys think it was worth reporting?

The letter was mailed after Ford's accusations became public.

What this needs is a proper FBI investigation Mets.

And we don't need to be "embarrassed" for demanding to know all of the facts before confirming someone to a lifetime position on the highest court in America -- to the contrary, you should be embarrassed for arguing that seating a stolen Supreme Court pick is more important than knowing the truth.

If that isn't your argument, then stop dancing around the obvious and admit that this needs to be investigated thoroughly before any vote is taken and stop trying to shift the blame to others for the deep-seated racism, sexism and corruption that is being revealed at the root of your chosen party.

I've given my thoughts on the limits of an FBI investigation in earlier posts.

In her statement, Swtrnick has said that there are multiple witnesses who can corroborate the story, including details about Kavanaugh, Mark Judge and others committing gang rape as high school students, so that can come out regardless of what the FBI does.

I am concerned that allegations of sexual assault are being used to delay a Supreme Court nomination prior to the midterms. Comments about karma for Garland, and how Trump should appoint him do not reassure me.

It's largely a moot point. The allegations are about activity so disgusting and illegal that if incriminating information were made public that would be enough to suggest he's likely to be guilty, there would be an effort to impeach Kavanaugh for multiple felonies (perjury and rape.)

Ha, again everyone is very interested in Mets opinion on the BK stuff.

You guys didn't already know what his opinion/answers were going to be?

The important question is whether I'm wrong, not whether my opinions are predictable.

You might expect me to say that an anonymous letter posted after the first allegations is piss-poor evidence of Kavanaugh's guilt, and that it reflects poorly on anyone familiar with these facts who thinks the letter should count against him. I'll admit this is what I think, but that's because the alternative isn't defensible.

[JCAll]

Just gonna throw this out there, I 100% don't believe the Democrats are engineering a sex crime scandal to stall the nomination. Oh, they're definitely going to use the scandal for that, because seriously @#$% this guy, but the scandal itself seems to be progressing naturally.

[aja_christopher]

This is one reason Republicans think all the calls for a thorough investigation, or for Kavanaugh to drop out are being made in bad faith.

It doesn't matter what people "think" -- this is a situation that demands facts.

Bad faith is only caring about facts -- and backing long and thorough investigations -- when the other party is in power.

Anyway, I'm done with this -- the standard Republican hypocrisy is at play here and I'm not even going to waste my time with it.

The important question is whether I'm wrong, not whether my opinions are predictable.

You support a homophobic, sexist, racist, Islamophobic party whose corruption, bigotry and ignorance is well known all throughout the world thanks not only to Donald Trump but to the Bush administration as well -- if you're still arguing that that isn't "wrong" then my counter argument is that you don't understand the meaning of the word.

-----
"wrong"
1. not correct or true.
synonyms: incorrect, mistaken, in error, erroneous, inaccurate, inexact, imprecise, fallacious, wide of the mark, off target, unsound, faulty

2. unjust, dishonest, or immoral.
synonyms: illegal, unlawful, illicit, criminal, dishonest, dishonorable, corrupt

[Tendrin]

I'm laughing pretty hard at any Republican crying out that the Democrats are acting 'in bad faith'... when bad faith has been the Republican playbook for quite some time now.

[Dalak]

I'm laughing pretty hard at any Republican crying out that the Democrats are acting 'in bad faith'... when bad faith has been the Republican playbook for quite some time now.

"In Bad Faith", "For Partisan Reasons", and any/or complaints about obstruction automatically relegate them to hypocrites of the highest order.

[JCAll]

I don't think Democrats are ever going to get over Merrick Garland, it's going to be the political running gag of the generation.
Like Dan Quayle not being able to spell potato, but with legal ramifications and the setting of a horrible precedent.

[Tendrin]

I don't think Democrats are ever going to get over Merrick Garland, it's going to be the political running gag of the generation.
Like Dan Quayle not being able to spell potato, but with legal ramifications and the setting of a horrible president.

Fixed that for you.

<.<

[Mister Mets]

Just gonna throw this out there, I 100% don't believe the Democrats are engineering a sex crime scandal to stall the nomination. Oh, they're definitely going to use the scandal for that, because seriously @#$% this guy, but the scandal itself seems to be progressing naturally.

I am not claiming a scandal is engineered.

I think Democrats are taking advantage of the Ford allegation, and of mistakes their ranking member of the Senate judiciary committee made in handling it. They're making decisions based on desperation, starting with the staffers who leaked information about Ford to the press when she wanted to be anonymous.

In my opinion, Ford's allegation by itself shouldn't be enough by itself to affect any decision about Kavanaugh. As far as I know, this marks the first time there's been an effort to deny a nominee for office a post due to actions they committed as a minor. If it seems likely Kavanaugh did it, it should be enough to disqualify him due to his comments about it as an adult. But there is a lack of evidence that anything occurred. We have a woman who didn't tell anyone about it until decades later, and no contemporaneous reporting of an assault, or of Kavanaugh and Ford being at the same place at the same time.

Ramirez's allegation is thinner, since she wasn't sure it was Kavanaugh until very recently (which is a big red flag- I have no reason to think she's lying but that's not an indication of a reliable memory), and no one has come forward seeing Kavanaugh do the thing she accused him of (including her- she claims others said something about it at the time.)

I am very skeptical of Swetnick, due to the outrageousness and blatant criminality of the actions she claims to have witnessed and experienced, and the lack of corroboration (so far) of any incriminating details of her story. It is suspicious that the only other person she mentions is Mark Judge, whose connection to Kavanaugh has been known for some time, when she claims there were other perpetrators and victims. It seems similar to stories that turn out to be untrue (the Duke Lacross case, the Rolling Stone UVA story, a woman interviewed in a Disinformation documentary who claims she was gang-raped by members of an alien-worshipping secret society that included Frank Sinatra and Bill Clinton.)

The anonymous letter is pretty much useless, since anyone could have written that.

I doubt there's any conspiracy of people posting multiple stories (IE- coaching Ramirez and sending out postcards). It's just desperation.

Should anyone here come to the conclusion that a specific allegation is weak or that an argument against Kavanaugh lacks merit, I hope you're all comfortable saying so publicly.

I'm open to the possibility that information will come out that will disqualify Kavanaugh, if there was an accuser or witness who has some corroborating information. There hasn't been the level of material we had about Roy Moore, or Al Franken.