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

[Carabas]

Chances are that won't happen. Republicans either fear Trump too much to do the right thing, or, they just don't give a **** that Kavanaugh is bad news for the bench. My money's on the latter.

I'm going with option three: today's Republicans don't believe there is anything wrong with Kavanaugh and would be the best Supreme ever.

[PaulBullion]

[InformationGeek]

Well this is horrible. The president everybody.

The radical left lawyers want the FBI to get involved NOW. Why didn’t someone call the FBI 36 years ago?

Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a fine man, with an impeccable reputation, who is under assault by radical left wing politicians who don’t want to know the answers, they just want to destroy and delay. Facts don’t matter. I go through this with them every single day in D.C.

I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!

[Kal-El Summers]

Was wondering when Ol' Shitbag's Twitter fingers would get to shaming Dr. Ford.

[PaulBullion]

Was wondering when Ol' Shitbag's Twitter fingers would get to shaming Dr. Ford.

There a rumors about supposed White House sources that everybody has been working very hard to keep him from a full attack on Dr. Ford.

[Kal-El Summers]

Don't doubt that at all. We've seen far too often how he has no problem going after people even if it'd benefit him to shut the hell up. That they held him off til today is pretty impressive.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

There a rumors about supposed White House sources that everybody has been working very hard to keep him from a full attack on Dr. Ford.

All things considered, they would’ve had an easier time keeping the sun from rising than stopping Trump from attacking Dr. Ford. Makes me wonder why they even bothered as that was a lost cause.

[Tami]

The NYT put out an article About Rosenstein. Be wary of it, it's misleading. The talk is about Rosenstein wearing a wire to record Trump. Other news agencies are reporting it more accurately, saying that Rosentin was having a heated argument and said, sarcastically, something like, 'What do you want me to do, wear a wire?' Also the source is questionable.

Point is, the Republicans might jump on this, and Trump might use this to try and get rid of Rosenstein.

[Gray Lensman]

All things considered, they would’ve had an easier time keeping the sun from rising than stopping Trump from attacking Dr. Ford. Makes me wonder why they even bothered as that was a lost cause.

It could have merely been a delaying tactic - hold him off until it's too late for any damage to matter...

[Gray Lensman]

Kavanaugh's fraternity is the one that later started the infamous chant of "No means yes! Yes means anal!"

And while it was well after he graduated, I doubt the culture sprang up overnight.

[PaulBullion]

Kavanaugh's fraternity is the one that later started the infamous chant of "No means yes! Yes means anal!"

And while it was well after he graduated, I doubt the culture sprang up overnight.

That kind of thing has me wondering if it isn't just a question of time before more of his victims come forward.

[PaulBullion]

Well this is horrible. The president everybody.

Just saw Sen. Susan Collins use - for her - unusually strong language in condemning Trump's tweets. He may have shot himself in the foot if it makes her less likely to vote for Kavanaughmeansyes.

[Mecegirl]

Just saw Sen. Susan Collins use - for her - unusually strong language in condemning Trump's tweets. He may have shot himself in the foot if it makes her less likely to vote for Kavanaughmeansyes.

Don't hold your breath.

[InformationGeek]

What the hell is this nonsense? Does fit what is going on with Kavanaugh.

An Anchorage man who strangled a woman unconscious on the side of a road, all while threatening to kill her, and then masturbated on her, walked out of court on Wednesday with no future jail time under his belt.

KTVA reports that Justin Schneider, 34, was indicted on four felony charges including kidnapping, assault, and one misdemeanor count of offensive contact with fluids. But he ended up striking a plea deal with the state by pleading guilty to a single felony assault, for which he got two years of jail time with one suspended. He then also received credit for wearing an ankle bracelet and staying at home. Oh! And, he’s not even going to be labeled a sex offender, because apparently the details of his crime don’t meet the standards. After Schneider’s victim woke up, he reportedly told her “that he wasn’t really going to kill her, that he needed her to believe she was going to die so that he could be sexually fulfilled.”

But apparently a slap on the wrist is all Schneider needs. Assistant District Attorney Andrew Grannik told KTVA that Schneider losing his job was basically “a life sentence” and that he “hope it doesn’t happen again.” The Judge presiding over the case was similarly optimistic, noting that he’s a member of the community. “This can never happen again,” he told Schneider.

Well, that’ll sure do it, don’t you think! Although I’d argue that it’s better to hear “it won’t” and “it will not” happen again as opposed to “I hope it doesn’t” or “it can never” happen again. But what do I know? I’m just a woman who doesn’t want to be strangled and assaulted, and who lives in constant fear all the time of the sometimes covert and widely unbelieved violent behavior men love to inflict on women.

To make matters worse, Schneider doesn’t seem that remorseful. “I would just like to emphasize how grateful I am for this process,” Schneider said. “It has given me a year to really work on myself and become a better person, and a better husband, and a better father, and I’m very eager to continue that journey.”

[InformationGeek]

Hey WBE, another one for the pile. Thankfully, this is the last you'd cover him.

Republican state Rep. Jim Knoblach abruptly ended his re-election campaign Friday as MPR News prepared to publish detailed accusations from his daughter of inappropriate behavior toward her since childhood.

The announcement came hours after an attorney for Knoblach denied the allegations in an interview.

Knoblach, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, declined to be interviewed after being approached more than a week ago.

In a written statement, Knoblach called the allegations "indescribably hurtful" and said he would work toward healing his family.

"I love my children more than anything, and would never do anything to hurt them. Her allegations are false," Knoblach wrote. "I and other family members have made repeated attempts to reconcile with her in recent years, but she has refused."

The timing of his exit could make his St. Cloud-area seat, already a top target for Democrats, impossible for Republicans to hold, barring some kind of court intervention or a write-in campaign by a substitute candidate. Knoblach was seeking a ninth term and was being challenged by Democratic candidate Dan Wolgamott, also of St. Cloud. Knoblach plans to serve out his term.

Also, another charmer!

North Dakota GOP Senate nominee Kevin Cramer said on Friday that the accusation against Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh was "even more absurd" than Anita Hill's accusation against Clarence Thomas because Kavanaugh and his accuser were drunk teenagers when the alleged incident occurred.

Cramer added that Ford's allegations were less legitimate than Hill's in part because the assault she describes "never went anywhere."

Cramer, who currently represents North Dakota as a congressman, was comparing Hill's 1991 allegations of workplace sexual harassment against the later-confirmed Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas to California professor Christine Blasey Ford's current allegation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh.

"If to the degree there was any legitimacy to Anita Hill's claims, and she tried and didn't prevail -- Clarence Thomas did and America did -- this case is even more absurd because these people were teenagers when this supposed alleged incident took place," Cramer said on the Jarrod Thomas Show on 1310 KNOX, a local North Dakota radio station. "Teenagers. Not a boss-supervisor-subordinate situation, as the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill situation was claimed to be. These are teenagers who evidently were drunk, according to her own statement. They were drunk. Nothing evidently happened in it all, even by her own accusation. Again, it was supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere."