Brett Kavanaugh's Confirmation Hearing

[fraurosena]

1 minute ago, Rachel333 said:

And now Trump is tweeting about this.  It's apparently the first time he has mentioned Avenatti by name in a tweet.

 

The presidunce tweeting about it is a sure sign that Avenatti has rattled him. 

[AmazonGrace]

Lindsey Graham, Not Looking for a Spine 

 

He can't have done it because he didn't report it to the police 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

4 hours ago, formergothardite said:

Even if they bring up evidence of more recent assaults, they aren't stopping. They have made it clear that they are getting him confirmed no matter what. We need to then start looking to the future and how to change how the SC is handled. The current system is broken and the American people are going to have to start electing people who will fight for real change. 

The only real hope for major change is to take a page from the Repug book and play the long game. Get progressives in at the local and state level to counter the current extreme Repug gerrymandering. Then, if there are a supermajority of governors and congresspeople who are progressive, real change can happen. This will take at least 10-15 years, but it can be done.

 

1 hour ago, Rachel333 said:

And now Trump is tweeting about this.  It's apparently the first time he has mentioned Avenatti by name in a tweet.

 

Well, Dumpy knows third rate lawyers, since that seems to be his favorite kind. Not that Avenatti is a third rate lawyer, he's just a little too publicity happy.

[fraurosena]

Oh my! Could this help? Can anything be done in time by this action?

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Howl]

I know the clock is ticking down, but this twitter thread, which Philippe Reines begins with this reasonable tweet, "Kavanaugh should take a polygraph" heads south into fro-yo territory pretty quick.  Def my fave twitter thread this week; click and keep going. 

 

[fraurosena]

 

[fraurosena]

If you click on the article you can read the examiners report. At the end of it is a handwritten note by dr. Blasey describing what happened to her. 

 

[fraurosena]

 Another woman witness who's going to be ignored, because the GOP will go "Lala lala la, lala lala la, we won't hear you!"

Mark Judge’s former girlfriend is ready to talk to FBI and Judiciary Committee, her lawyer says

Quote

The onetime girlfriend of Mark Judge, who is alleged by Christine Blasey Ford to have been present while Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in the 1980s, has emerged as a pivotal if hidden figure in this whole affair — and now she’s prepared to speak to the FBI and the Judiciary Committee about what she knows, according to a letter from her lawyer that I’ve obtained.

Judge’s college girlfriend, Elizabeth Rasor, is represented by lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who sent a letter to the Judiciary Committee today. The letter, which was provided to me by a senior Senate Democratic aide on the committee, says that Rasor “would welcome the opportunity” to speak to “agents of the FBI as part of a reopened background investigation” into Kavanaugh’s conduct.

After Ford alleged to The Post that Kavanaugh and Judge had assaulted her — something Kavanaugh and Judge have both denied — Rasor and what she knows became a subject of interest in this whole affair when she spoke to the New Yorker. In that piece — which was primarily about the second Kavanaugh accuser, Deborah Ramirez, who claimed Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at Yale in the 1980s — Rasor did not make any allegations about Kavanaugh.

But Rasor did say that Judge had confided in her about a group sex incident at the time. As the New Yorker piece put it:

Rasor recalled that Judge had told her ashamedly of an incident that involved him and other boys taking turns having sex with a drunk woman. Rasor said that Judge seemed to regard it as fully consensual. She said that Judge did not name others involved in the incident, and she has no knowledge that Kavanaugh participated in it.

The letter from Rasor’s attorney confirms that this account faithfully reflects what she recalls — and, now, what she is prepared to tell the FBI. The letter says:

Ms. Rasor’s recollection of what occurred is stated accurately in the New Yorker piece and she would welcome the opportunity to share this information with agents of the FBI as part of a re-opened background investigation.

In recounting this particular episode to the New Yorker, Rasor did not name Kavanaugh.

But Judge’s role — and whatever Rasor is prepared to say about it — has suddenly taken on a lot more potential significance, now that lawyer Michael Avenatti has produced a sworn statement from a third woman, which claims that Judge did conspire with Kavanaugh to get women drunk so they could be assaulted by numerous young men.

As the statement from Avenatti’s client, Julia Swetnick, put it, recounting incidents that sound like the one Rasor recounted in the New Yorker:

I also witnessed efforts by Mark Judge, Brett Kavanaugh and others to cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be ‘gang raped’ in a side room or bedroom by a ‘train’ of numerous boys. I have a firm recollection of seeing boys lined up outside rooms and many of these parties waiting for their ‘turn’ with a girl inside the room. These boys included Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh. …

In approximately 1982, I became the victim of one of these ‘gang’ or ‘train’ rapes where Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh were present. … I believe I was drugged using Quaaludes or something similar placed in what I was drinking.

The New Yorker piece quotes Rasor saying Judge confessed to such a group sex episode, but without implicating Kavanaugh in it.

The letter from Rasor’s lawyer does not address this separate set of allegations from this third woman, and it’s unclear whether she’d be willing to address them. So it’s possible, if this additional woman’s account is false, that Rasor might end up failing to confirm it or saying that she knows nothing of these particular episodes which are alleged to have also involved Kavanaugh.

Still, Democrats are likely to cite Rasor’s willingness to share what she knows to increase the pressure on Judiciary Committee Republicans to call for a re-opened FBI investigation or, barring that, to allow her to speak to the Committee.

“Ms. Rasor’s statement that Mark Judge told her about his participation in a gang rape when he was in high school is powerful corroborating evidence,” the senior Democratic aide to the Judiciary Committee told me. “She is willing to cooperate with the Judiciary Committee and the FBI.” The aide added that this raises further questions about why “Mark Judge is hiding out in Bethany Beach and Republicans refuse to call him as a witness.”

It is not clear whether Kavanaugh would ultimately be implicated even if Rasor did testify, but her willingness to do so does highlight just how limited the hearing — at which only Ford and Kavanaugh are expected to testify — is shaping up to be.

Rasor is also willing to speak to the hearing, if Republicans don’t call for a reopened FBI background check, her lawyer’s letter says. “Although Ms. Rasor does not welcome the unwanted attention that would inevitably result if she were to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” it says, “she believes that it is her duty as a citizen to tell the truth about what happened.”

Rasor’s willingness to speak would also seem to increase pressure on Republicans to subpoena Judge to testify, though there’s no indication that they will give ground on that point.

 

[Howl]

Some shit currently hitting the fan from something that reportedly occurred outside a DC bar in 1998,  anonymously reported by a mother alleging that her daughter witnessed Brett Kavanaugh throwing a woman against a wall "in a sexual manner."  Kavanaugh would have been in his early 30s at the time.  If true, this speaks to a seemingly continuing issue with alcohol.  

[GreyhoundFan]

"Kavanaugh’s 1982 calendar, annotated" I can't quote here because of the notes, but my favorite one is:

Quote

He sure gets grounded a lot for a Choir Boy.

 

[Cartmann99]

Here's another one:

 

[Cartmann99]

The Rhode Island accusation is looking fishy:

 

[hoipolloi]

And for a trip down memory lane, here's a retrospective on seven Republican men who were, uh, intimately involved in the Ken Starr investigation of Bill Clinton 20 years ago:

Looks like they're going for 7 out of 7.

Brett Kavanaugh can absolutely be known by the company he's kept.

[AmazonGrace]

Wondering how much they were paid 

 

[AmazonGrace]

From 1990 

 

[fraurosena]

But... but... that would be logical. And the truth would come out. So... no, not gonna have an investigation, no way!

 

[47of74]

Someone compiled a bunch of memes about Herr Orange’s favorite rapist and put them here;

http://politicalpunchline.com/brett-kavanaugh/

[fraurosena]

Interesting but also quite painful thread on why victims don't report.

 

[Drala]

On 9/25/2018 at 1:14 PM, Howl said:

I've been wondering about this since I saw the first ad on TV, with some woman saying what a wonderful guy he is; this was weeks before the shit hit the fan. 

I'n addition to the sexual issues, why isn't anyone talking about the alcohol issue?  Besides the "partying", several people have noted that they saw him incoherently drunk in high school and college -- a quiet guy who had a personality change when he drank heavily, which he seemed to do a fair amount.  Did he quit drinking at some point and has gone on to lead a sober life, drinking temperately or not at all?  I know people who left behind the hard partying, heavy drinking lifestyle after college. 

Is he a high functioning alcoholic?  Is it possible that he drank so much that he had alcoholic blackouts and really does not remember any of this? Inquiring minds want to know.  

I've been wondering exactly the same thing.  If he was a heavy problem drinker in HS and college,  the propensity for alcoholism is there.  I'm hoping someone on the Judiciary Committee takes their allotted five minutes today to grill him about his current and past drinking behavior.  If he's still got an alcohol use problem, a little astute questioning could be quite revealing, even if what he does is deny, obfuscate and/or minimize.  I read somewhere that he objected/became frustrated when questions about personal proclivities (drinking & sex behavior) were put to him by the folks helping him prep for the committee hearing.  In his Fox News interview, he presented himself as a close to a tee-totaler regarding alcohol use as an adolescent; in his prepared statement for the Committee, he owned up to drinking beer on the weekends and perhaps drinking too much on occasion.   I'd like to watch his body language while he is questioned about his alcohol use.  Simple questions like does he currently drink, if so, when and what does he drink and how many drinks per day/week, would be interesting to hear/watch.  

[fraurosena]

Yeah, good luck with that. They've put you on ignore.

 

[AnywhereButHere]

11 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Wondering how much they were paid 

 

She seemed pretty definitive that it was Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. Saw their faces. Named them out loud. So, while I suppose it's possible that she's lying about the names of her attackers, I really don't think she is.

That leaves the Senate Judiciary staffers who either found two men willing to risk their names and reputations to lie/cover for Kavanaugh, or the staffers just made the whole story up for cover and there are no two other men. Either option is extremely disturbing and needs to be investigated. It won't be of course, but it should.

[Rachel333]

I'm watching the hearing now.

It's going to be devastating if/when Kavanaugh is confirmed after all of this. It is so discouraging to see how much women are distrusted while their abusers are protected. This is affecting me a lot more than I expected.

Whatever happens, I admire Dr. Blasey Ford so much for having the courage to go public with her trauma despite the personal cost.

[Howl]

Interesting thread on Mark Judge's grandmother's house, which is a bit over a mile from the country club, and which is virtually identical in layout to the house outed by Ed Whelan as belonging to the unfortunate friend who looks like Brett Kavanaugh in a year book.   So now Blasey Ford's description of the house where the assault took place perfectly fits Mark Judge's grandmother's house. 

 

[Rachel333]

Wow! The American Bar Association is calling for a halt to the vote until there has been an FBI investigation.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/27/politics/kavanaugh-american-bar-association/index.html