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

[Iron Maiden]

I doubt that Bush or Romney would ever nominate Kavanaugh. The "establishment" republicans had a list. Kavanaugh wasn't high on it. McConnell didn't want him at first simply because he has a lot of documents to slog through. Way more than the average nominee. But if by some miracle Kavanaugh was given the nod we would be talking about perjury in general. There are still issues because of that one appointment that Kavanaugh said that he didn't have a hand in(but documents say that he did) and with that document stealing secret mole incident(because Republicans just can't get enough of stealing/leaking Democratic information). We don't really know what other issues of that nature would come up because too many of his documents were held back from review. The sexual assault allegations would just be hopping on the dogpile. He would definitely bow out/be pressured to bow out by now in a normal presidency.

Don't forget how Kavanaugh once wrote an opinion that a sitting President should not be indicted. I'm sure someone in the GOP inner circle noticed that.

[kmeyers]

Republican's seem to be repulsive, rapists, and racist, (can't spell Republican without that R kids!) and that's grounds for dismissal. Specifically I am referring to Rape, which seems a big problem the GOP has. I'm curious in the following years if we will start making the same connections that we do with Republicans and rapists that we do with Catholic priests.

It's also especially problematic when you consider that the Republican push to overturn things like Abortion are also coming from people who force themselves onto others and in some cases have rumors of illegitimate children as a result.

Actually, most of them are for abortion, but only when the pregnancy inconveniences them personally.

[ZombieHavoc]

Ethically, are we allowed to even push for that considering the backgrounds of the people pushing for it? I'm just saying, maybe we shouldn't have the people pushing for what is essentially Alpha breeding culture take charge over a woman's vagina.

Well, some people are arguing that if someone tried to rape someone in high school, that shouldn't affect them from obtaining positions as an adult (not even as a lifetime judge on the highest court in the country).

The idea of a Supreme Court with appointed, not elected, lifetime judges, is pretty anti-democratic and totally authoritarian. Partisan political puppets are given the privilege of dictating how our society progresses or, with the current state, regresses. It's really fucked up.

I wish people had understood the whole lifetime judges being appointed thing when they went, or didn't, to the polls in 2016.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Don't forget how Kavanaugh once wrote an opinion that a sitting President should not be indicted. I'm sure someone in the GOP inner circle noticed that.

And that certain someone no doubt brought it to the attention of Trump who saw Bob 'n' Weave Brett as his lifeline in case Democrats win big in November and push for impeachment hearings.

[Iron Maiden]

I know the Supreme Court issue was on my mind when I voted, esp when Yertle the Turtle McConnell arrogantly refused to even have talks with Merrick Garland.

On another note, Judge Judy wannabe Justine Pirro pulls this "repressed memory" assertion out of her posterior in referring to the people coming forward about Kavanaugh's connection to "train" parties while he was at Georgetown Prep and Yale. I caught about 10 minutes of her show on Saturday night and that's 10 minutes is more than I can take of her. She also had tea party activist Katrina Pierson on and some random guy they could yell at who represented the opposing viewpoint. Intelligent discussions seem to be forbidden on that show and her M.O seems to be to just rag on any talking head that isn't a Fox News shill. I doubt if any legitimate expert appears on this harpy's show.

[BeastieRunner]

Team Mueller talked about the Steele Dossier for the first time publicly today.

Mueller makes rare mention of Trump dossier author. Prosecutors were responding to an indicted Russian company's complaint that the special counsel 'selectively' targeted the firm while giving Steele a pass.

“Acting as an anonymous source for media articles is not similar to conducting 'information warfare against the United States of America,'" was their main point.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I know the Supreme Court issue was on my mind when I voted, esp when Yertle the Turtle McConnell arrogantly refused to even have talks with Merrick Garland.

On another note, Judge Judy wannabe Justine Pirro pulls this "repressed memory" assertion out of her posterior in referring to the people coming forward about Kavanaugh's connection to "train" parties while he was at Georgetown Prep and Yale. I caught about 10 minutes of her show on Saturday night and that's 10 minutes is more than I can take of her. She also had tea party activist Katrina Pierson on and some random guy they could yell at who represented the opposing viewpoint. Intelligent discussions seem to be forbidden on that show and her M.O seems to be to just rag on any talking head that isn't a Fox News shill. I doubt if any legitimate expert appears on this harpy's show.

Legitimate experts are probably forbidden on Pirro's show anyway since they could tear her a new one in seconds flat.

[Malvolio]

What you need to remember about Jeanine Pirro (besides her first name) is that she was supposed to run for the US Senate seat in NY against Hillary Clinton in 2000, but when the Republican Party of NY saw that Hillary was way ahead in the polls, they talked Pirro into running for Attorney General instead and prop up that stooge Rick Lazio instead to take one for the team against Hillary. Pirro lost the race for AG too, though and still hates Hillary and by extension, all Democrats for her defeat. She is a bitter, bitter woman.

[BeastieRunner]

Legitimate experts are probably forbidden on Pirro's show anyway since they could tear her a new one in seconds flat.

My parent's cite her as an "expert" all the time.

I always ask then why isn't she practicing law now. Why didn't she win NY AG?

If she goes back, she has to answer New York about the Deskovic Case and why he was falsely convicted of killing a 15-year-old girl and then spent 16 years in prison until he was exonerated by DNA evidence. She refused to reopen the case 17 times when the DNA evidence came to her. If she went back to law, she'd probably lose her ability to practice.

Then my parent's scoff and don't know what to answer.

[JCAll]

I know the Supreme Court issue was on my mind when I voted, esp when Yertle the Turtle McConnell arrogantly refused to even have talks with Merrick Garland.

On another note, Judge Judy wannabe Justine Pirro pulls this "repressed memory" assertion out of her posterior in referring to the people coming forward about Kavanaugh's connection to "train" parties while he was at Georgetown Prep and Yale. I caught about 10 minutes of her show on Saturday night and that's 10 minutes is more than I can take of her. She also had tea party activist Katrina Pierson on and some random guy they could yell at who represented the opposing viewpoint. Intelligent discussions seem to be forbidden on that show and her M.O seems to be to just rag on any talking head that isn't a Fox News shill. I doubt if any legitimate expert appears on this harpy's show.

Hell, this whole business is so big that the actual Judge Judy weighed in on it.
She basically just said that people need to see all the evidence and make an informed decision.
Sane, middle of the road advice. What you would expect.

[Iron Maiden]

The scary part is Pirro has been angling for the Attorney General for months now.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Personally, I think it is a sign of lack of intelligence on Kanvanugh's part that he doesn't just give up and walk away. Either that or call for an investigation to 'clear his name'. Assuming he knows his name can't be cleared, he should walk. Assuming he knew from the get-go that he had so many skeletons in his closet, he was stupid to even agreeing to apply for the SCOTUS.

One standard rule of politics is, before running for public office, investigate yourself as others might investigate you. If you find anything in your background that can't be explained or defended, if you find anything that can be used against you, then don't run. Same applies to political appointments, anything that brings you into the public eye.

If Kavanaugh knew all of these things were hiding in his closet, he was a complete idiot to expect that they could be hidden from the media and the public for long.

I don’t think that’s true. He’s a judge, he knows any real convictions against him are an uphill battle. He knows he has the Presidents backing and the Republicsns are terrified of failing him. He knows the GOP doesn’t want to wait until midterms and risk not getting a conservative on the court. He knows it’s a lifetime appointment once they confirm him. He also knows the Democrats won’t vote to remove him because they don’t want a shitshow with Republicans trying to remove liberal judges in retaliation. He’ll just pull a Clarence Thomas and call the allegations bullshit the rest of his life and Republicans will rally around him.

And the reward for that is he achieves the highest office in his line of work

[Jack Dracula]

I don’t think that’s true. He’s a judge, he knows any real convictions against him are an uphill battle. He knows he has the Presidents backing and the Republicsns are terrified of failing him. He knows the GOP doesn’t want to wait until midterms and risk not getting a conservative on the court. He knows it’s a lifetime appointment once they confirm him. He also knows the Democrats won’t vote to remove him because they don’t want a shitshow with Republicans trying to remove liberal judges in retaliation. He’ll just pull a Clarence Thomas and call the allegations bullshit the rest of his life and Republicans will rally around him.

And the reward for that is he achieves the highest office in his line of work

Plus if he backs out now, whether the allegations are true or not, everyone will assume they are and he'll be stigmatized for the rest of his life.

[Iron Maiden]

I'm curious to see what Avenatti's got. Like him or not he usually is right. There's no doubt he's got ambtions beyond this but IMO I wish some Democrats would get a little of his attitude and stop being nice to the GOP. Guys like the spineless Lindsay Graham, or jerks like McConnell, Nunes, are allowed to run amok and no one among the Dems really stands up to them.

[BeastieRunner]

Cosby gets 3-10 years. Possibility for good behavior to serve closer to 3. Gets the "sexually violent predator" label, which is the highest it goes in the state.