Dr Christine Blasey Ford I salute you

[Love2dance]

That's it really. It must have been incredibly hard to stand up and do what she has done.

I don't know what the outcome will be (I've seen enough unjust results in sex assault trials through my work not to assume anything) but I hope she comes out of this knowing she did the right thing

He should be confirmed. It will be a dangerous precedent if he is not

It would make a great precedent if to obtain one of the most important roles in American government you had to prove you were of upstanding moral character and not just meeting the bare minimum of not being sent to jail for rape.

Blast Predictive texting

I saw that she had done a polygraph. My question is, did he? I know he is in favour of polygraphs, or at least was in favour on other people in the near past.

Whatnow123 - his name was mentioned to third parties (a therapist and husband) in 2012, not just this year.

There are 4 other accusations against him, (though 2 of them are currently anonymous). There are numerous credible potential witnesses to back up those accusations. There has been no investigation into all of these accusations.

The republicans obstructed Obama's excellent Supreme Court nominee for 293 days for absolutely no reason. No one ever brought the slightest accusation of anything against Garland.

I think the most disturbing thing for me is, how oblivious perpetrators are to the damage they do. I believe Ford, but I believe Kavanaugh, too. I am pretty sure he never considered what he did a big deal or actually hurtful. I doubt he ever lost sleep over it and I can well believe he has long forgotten. And I believe that is a widespread pattern among perpetrators. I bet Brock Turner to this day can‘t understand, what all the fuzz was about. Sex negativity, maybe... I really believe that is how most of them think.

There are other accusers and the notes of her therapist.
No corroboration is not a reason to proceed, if there has been no investigation. An investigation might procure corroboration. That is why the dough ball and his supporters don’t want one.

Whatnow123 - why is he so reluctant for the FBI to investigate, while she is all for it? According to his testimony, he’s very accustomed to these checks - why so evasive?

Can you imagine if she acted the way he did during questioning?

There are multiple allegations. They all need to be investigated properly. You say it would be a travesty if he is innocent and isn’t confirmed - wouldn’t it also be a travesty if a man guilty of multiple sexual assaults were elected to the SC?

Innocent until proven guilty is a great premise, but it’s a premise for a court room. It has no bearing on whether something has happened or not in reality, and we know for sure that the vast majority of sex offenders are never found guilty.

I believe her.

I find it quite interesting how low people are prepared to set the bar for male politicians. People call feminists man-haters, but this "manhater" (sic) firmly believes that the majority of men could get through a background check for a job without women lining up to detail the sexual assaults they've perpetrated.

Let's not normalise this into some locker-room, boys will be boys. It is the minimum possible standard that a supreme court justice ought to have behaved ethically for his whole life.

Also, this forms part of a job interview, technically.

Under what circumstances would you ever speak to an interviewer the way he spoke to some of those senators for doing their jobs?

Can you imagine how he would react to testimony like this in a trial?

I can’t believe that a SC nominee would this this is an appropriate way to behave. He’s a judge FFS.

YY, sinkgirl.

A judge who feels that he is above being judged himself?

Nah.

I didn’t think any of those senators were “doing their jobs.” Their jobs are to get to the truth and Republican or Democrat, I don’t think any of them care about getting to the truth. It’s basically a PR battle. The Republicans should have framed their questions around genuinely trying to find a piece of evidence that could be corroborated; instead, they went down the line of questioning her memory, and it backfired in them. The Democrats asked questions like “how did it feel to be assaulted”, playing up the emotional narrative.

She seems like a credible witness and a decent person. Beyond that, how can anyone be sure of anything?

I didn’t say they did their jobs well, but they were doing their jobs. He was combative, evasive, his behaviour was completely inappropriate for the setting.

If I stood accused of anything and was trying to redeem myself, I would rewatch his testimony and answers and make sure I did exactly the opposite.

One of my “friends” posted this on Facebook and I just have no words.

Fucking hell hodge!

That's just...urgh. Vile.

Not just me then @SophoclesTheFox ?

I could not believe it. I am itching to say something but I am actually so disgusted, i'm not sure I can actually put a response together yet.

It's What About The Men writ large, hodge.

The message is clearly - hey women, stop lying about sexual assault.

Just horrid.

@TheHodgeoftheHedge

That's just awful. I would unfriend tbh.
Or at least unfollow.

How three different women who don't know each other would seek to benefit from making false claims is beyond me.

The notes of the therapist could be very mportant, but they have never been handed over. So it's hard to use them as evidence to support her case, when no one has seen them. Also Kavanaugh is not mentioned by name in those notes. She was very vague about who has seen them, when questioned.

The other two claims obviously need looking into. The high school gangrape party claims must surely, if true, have numerous witnesses. However, the way the allegations were teased by Stormy Daniels lawyer was disgraceful. Such serious allegations should be sent to the Police, not TV Shows.

The whole thing makes me really sad.
And regardless of what actually happened all those years ago, he has shown very very clearly he is not suitable to be appointed to the Supreme Court. No way in hell. He's a judge ffs and his behaviour was horrendously embarrassing.

I commend Dr Ford for doing what she feels is right. But it's sad that it's 2018 and I am still reading comments (on Twitter mostly) condemning her for not coming forward at the time.

When men started coming forward 30 years later about their football coaches or their priests, no one questioned why they hadn't reported it at the time!

There needs to be an investigation. Dr ford wants one. Judge Kavanaugh does not.
As I’m sure he’s said in many instances to others, if he is innocent, what is there to fear?

His testimony last night was a great example of entitled rich male privilege in action. The bit where he tried to interrogate Sen Klobuchar about whether she had a drinking problem, refused to answer her question and talked over her screamed that he doesn't respect women and doesn't think he should have to answer their questions. If I was a woman in the US I'd be very worried about him sitting on the supreme court.

The notes of the therapist could be very important, but they have never been handed over.
I don't know how it is in the USA, but in this jurisdiction counselling and therapy services do not hand over their notes for the purpose of court proceedings with very few exceptions (e.g. the client admitting to a serious criminal offence) as to do so would undermine the therapeutic relationship and the trust the client has in the therapist. The position is very different on medical records, which will be disclosed with the patient's consent.

The high school gangrape party claims must surely, if true, have numerous witnesses.
With respect whatnow123, this is a very simplistic way of looking at it. Those who perpetrate such crimes, including those who were present and encouraged those who carried out the act, are hardly likely to put their hands up and might not even see themselves as having sexually assaulted anyone, whether this is due to inebriation, ignorant views about women or whatever.

Those who were victims often cannot face disclosing what happened to anyone, or if they do, not for many years, feeling embarrassment, shame and guilt. I suppose I should not be surprised at this stance querying why no witnesses, as the state of knowledge about the effects of sexual abuse and violence are still relatively unknown by many, but really?

I suppose I may be a bit jaundiced, being in a business where I have seen many examples of evidence being given in sex cases, but I think Kavanaugh came across as a textbook liar. The risk that such a view is wrong is another reason to hold a full and thorough investigation, not to rush through his nomination.

I saw that she had done a polygraph. My question is, did he? I know he is in favour of polygraphs, or at least was in favour on other people in the near past.

No he hasn't. Dems should have made more of that.

There must be loads of credible candidates for this post, they're not trying to convict him of a crime this is a job interview. In any normal setting his behaviour (e.g. the response to sen Klobuchar) would have disqualified him already. He is openly aggressive, entitled and misogynistic not to mention blatantly partisan.

Agee with you Ineedacupofteadesperately. Senator Hirono drew this out nicely when she asked him about his temperament.