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

[Mister Mets]

Well, in order.

It depends on how horrible and how much evidence there is that he's really changed. Was it a pattern of behavior?

One person's testimony should be considered but cannot stand alone without corraboration. Say, several references to the Devil's Triangle at parties and joining a club that everyone on campus apparently knew was for nothing but drinking and getting laid and getting girls drunk enough to make that easier. Arguably not rape but hardly on the high moral character demanded of someone on the Supreme Court.

From people ranging from Ted Kennedy to Bill Clinton to Donald Trump to Brett Kavanaugh and others, it's pretty clear what white males born into privilege can get away with.

The Supreme Court going more conservative if a subjective opinion. I'd prefer we not turn the clock of human rights back like that but it's still an opinion.

Political parties should look at the evidence instead of being partisan in a scandal.

With an appointment like this, we don't even need to know if he's guilty specifically in the first instance because he has an entire friggin' pattern through high school and college of this behavior. "T*ts ans C**ts Club" anyone?

Media bias is everywhere now and it should not be influencing this though, because these are elected officials, in inevitably will.

There isn't a whole lot of uncertainty left here. At the very least, he's guilty of lying.



Not sure I understand your point here. Kennedy was the 1980s and continually got reelected. Trump got elected in 2016. The Kavanaugh nomination hasn't been thrown out. I don't see any major change in standards.

Kavanaugh's nomination isn't on par with the Kennedy thing, since there's less to support the accusation than there was for Kennedy's actions as a 53 year old.

There's no precedent for a nomination to be rejected over something someone did as a minor.

Mets, he has lied to the Senate, repeatedly. And you still want him confirmed.

And BTW Gorsuch was a stolen Obama nomination. The make up of the Court is based on who the President is and it changes with the President. It's not the US Election commission with two from each Party. It's not strange that you were okay with that as well.

A lot of the "lies" are based on mischaracterizations of things he said, or things no one else has been able to disprove (someone who saw him drunk decades ago isn't in a position to know that he couldn't remember what he had done the next day.) The most serious claim that he lied is based on arguments about what he meant by decades old slang and innuendo. There is a point that he got some details wrong, but I don't take that as seriously, since he was speaking from memory, while reporters and Senators who have made serious factual errors have the benefit of fact-check.

What happened to Garland was part of an unfortunate escalation of Supreme Court politicization. However, while it went against earlier norms, it was within the Senate's right to say they're withholding advice and consent until the next presidential election.

[Mister Mets]

So, I flipped past Avenatti on the 8-9pm block on CNN. The host brought up that while Avenatti is laying out that Swetnick apparently went to the police at the time, there may or may not be anything that establishes that it actually happened.

The officers she said she spoke to is also dead.

NBC was unable to verify anything Svetnick told them.
She also walked back the claims that Kavanugh and Judge had been part of the gang rape.

Snow told MSNBC’s Ari Melber that some of Swetnick’s remarks in the interview differed from the written statement she issued last week.

“We’ve been trying independently to reach out to anyone who remembers attending parties with Julie Swetnick and Brett Kavanaugh and we’ve been asking her attorney for names,” Snow told Ari Melber on his MSNBC show.

“So far we have not found anyone who remembers that. She’s also unclear about when she first decided to come forward,” Snow added.

In her second TV interview since accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, Swetnick told Snow she was not sure if Kavanaugh was one of the boys she assaulted her during a party in the 1980s.

In the interview, as in her statement, Swetnick alleged she was a victim of gang rape at a party Kavanaugh attended.

“I cannot specifically say that he was one of the ones who assaulted me,” Swetnick told Snow. “But, before this happened to me, at that party, I saw Brett Kavanaugh there, I saw Mark Judge, and they were hanging out about where I started to feel disoriented and where the room was and where the other boys were hanging out and laughing.”

Kavanaugh has called “the Swetnick thing” “a joke” and “a farce” saying, “Never met her, don’t know who she is.”

Asked to respond, Swetnick claimed, inaccurately, “he’s an admitted blackout drunk and drug addict.”

“What does he know– how would you know what you’ve forgotten, if you blacked out?”

[numberthirty]

Had not seen anything about that.

It's just troubling to think that the officer in question's perspective might have died with him(or her) if there doesn't wind up being anything on paper.

[worstblogever]

Um if this is real its really bad. They are saying that Kavanugh tried to squash the second accusers account.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...idence-n915566

How much more does there need to be to disqualify him?

Hell, that can bring him up on FBI charges of witness tampering.

[Tendrin]

'Mischaracterizations'.

Heh.

[Kirby101]

He claimed he knew nothing of the hacked Democrstic emails. Memos show he did. He lied, not a mischaracterization.

I guess there is nothing that will sway your support.

[Tendrin]

He claimed he knew nothing of the hacked Democrstic emails. Memos show he did. He lied, not a mischaracterization.

I guess there is nothing that will sway your support.

He also claimed that he'd only just heard about the Swetnick stuff in the press, but hey, we now have hints that he knew well before hand.
'
But 'mischaracterized'. And then there's the small lies, like 'devil's triangle' and what not.

But, yeah. Mischaracterized.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

How much more does there need to be to disqualify him?

Videotape lol. He's getting confirmed. People should just accept this as a consequence of the Republicans basically playing chess on Democrats for the entirety of Obama's Presidency and into the 2016 election. They took their lump in 2008 and then they spent the next year erasing the super majority and getting concessions on Obama's signature legislation, then won back the House, then won back the Senate 4 years later, then held up his Supreme Court pick, then found a way to get Trump in. This is them trying to get as many things in that are irreversible before the tide turns. This is what it was always about

[Raiders]

Videotape lol. He's getting confirmed. People should just accept this as a consequence of the Republicans basically playing chess on Democrats for the entirety of Obama's Presidency and into the 2016 election. They took their lump in 2008 and then they spent the next year erasing the super majority and getting concessions on Obama's signature legislation, then won back the House, then won back the Senate 4 years later, then held up his Supreme Court pick, then found a way to get Trump in. This is them trying to get as many things in that are irreversible before the tide turns. This is what it was always about

Sad, but true

[kidfresh512]

Of course something Hillary had changed in State Dept to be more humane gets rolled back with this administration

U.S. to partners of U.N. LGBTQ staff: Get married, or get out

[PaulBullion]

I think he needs to be caught with a man his own age, in a consensual, sober assignation.

It can't be any more women accusing him of assault, even if his own wife joined in; Republicans don't care about Republicans who rape or assault women.

It can't be another woman he gets caught with; Republicans don't care about Republicans who get caught in adultry.

It can't be an underage child; Republicans don't care about Republican pedophiles.

If he is caught with a man, but is drunk, it'll go nowhere; Republicans believe that anything a Republican man does while drunk is excuseable.

It HAS to be consensual, sober sex with a man his own age. That's the only thing Republicans hate enough to destroy a career over.

Bonus points if the other man is >GASP!!< a Latino atheist.

I love your post and hate this world.

[PaulBullion]

Kavanaugh likes beer, or so he claims.

Now it turns out he may actually like red, red wine. Another lie?

Brett Kavanaugh Instigated Bar Fight After UB40 Concert, Police Report Reveals

The New York Times reports that the altercation took place at a bar in New Haven, Connecticut – where Yale University resides – during Kavanaugh’s junior year at the college.

According to the police report from the incident, Kavanaugh instigated the altercation by throwing ice at another man “for some unknown reason”; the New York Times states that Kavanaugh and his friends – which included future NBA player Chris Dudley – were trying to determine whether the man was UB40 singer Ali Campbell.


Chad Ludington, Kavanaugh’s Yale classmate and fellow member of the school’s basketball team, initially issued a statement Sunday that detailed the incident, however Ludington accused Kavanaugh of throwing his beer, and not ice, at the man.

“The guy swung at Brett,” Ludington said, adding that Dudley “took his beer and smashed it into the head of the guy, who by now had Brett in an embrace. I then tried to pull Chris back, and a bunch of other guys tried to pull the other guy back. I don’t know what Brett was doing in the melee, but there was blood, there was glass, there was beer and there was some shouting, and the police showed up.”

Neither UB40, which turned Neil Diamond’s “Red, Red Wine” and Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You” into Hot 100-topping hits, nor former lead singer Ali Campbell have commented on the latest Kavanaugh report. A representative for Campbell did not respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.

[PaulBullion]

Hell, that can bring him up on FBI charges of witness tampering.

Not sure about that... This was before the FBI investigation was reopened, and I don't think there is criminal "witness tampering" in a job interview.

It should, of course, disqualify him further.

And he did lie under oath about not knowing about the accusations earlier. Which makes him an illegal.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Watch Republican Senators Dodge Women’s Questions About Sexual Assault

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ignored women, then shook a random man’s hand. Sen. David Perdue hid in a bathroom. Profiles in courage from the Republican Party. NOT! Talk about a bunch of gutless, cowardly bastards.

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Kavanaugh On How To Be A Good Judge: Keep Emotions ‘In Check,’ ‘Don’t Be A Jerk’

And “first and most obviously” don’t be a “political partisan,” he told law school students in 2015. Oh, this is rich! Clearly Bob 'n' Weave Brett failed to follow his own advice. In more ways that one. Meanwhile....

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New Reports Add To Muddled View Of Brett Kavanaugh’s Character At Yale

New text messages suggest the Supreme Court nominee and his lawyers contacted old classmates in an effort to discredit Deborah Ramirez, NBC reports. More proof Kavanaugh needs to be gone.

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Migrant Children Describe Tent City As ‘Punishment,’ Experts Say

Hundreds of children have been sent to a tent city in Texas where basic child welfare standards do not apply. There should be MUCH MORE reporting on this situation as the White House is perpetuating this needless suffering.

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White House Transcript Edits Trump’s Dig That Female Reporter ‘Never’ Thinks

Rewritten history has the president complaining that ABC’s Cecilia Vega never thanks, not thinks. This is beyond pathetic. EVERYONE knows what Trump REALLY said, this hamfisted attempt to revise history is a major league FAIL!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Kavanaugh likes beer, or so he claims.

Now it turns out he may actually like red, red wine. Another lie?

Brett Kavanaugh Instigated Bar Fight After UB40 Concert, Police Report Reveals

And the Twitterverse promptly responded like a boss:

Alleged Brett Kavanaugh Bar Fight Turns UB40’s ‘Red Red Wine’ Into 2018’s Most Unlikely Meme

If there's one thing the perpetually thin-skinned Trump hates with a passion is being made the butt of jokes. I've argued that failing was what led him to enter the political ring to get revenge on Barack Obama after he made fun of him during the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner (which, by the way, Trump has refused to attend since winning the election). With Kavanaugh now a rich source of material for late night comics, political cartoonists and Saturday Night Live, how long before Trump tires of the circus which is indirectly making him look bad and decides to cut his losses and dump Bob 'n' Weave Brett?