Kavanaugh/Blasey Ford Sexual Assault Allegations Hearing

[Cartmann99]

I'm starting a new thread so that interested parties can more easily find the discussion for this particular hearing, and not have to search through the other Kavanaugh-related threads.

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When is the hearing?

Ford will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee at 10 a.m. Thursday. The questioning of Ford and Kavanaugh for Republicans will be led by Rachel Mitchell, an Arizona sex crimes prosecutor. The Democrats are slated to do their own questioning.

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How can I find live coverage?

CNN, Fox News, C-Span, PBS NewsHour, MSNBC and Vice News will all carry live coverage of the event both on their networks and online. C-Span will also include the coverage on its C-Span Radio platform so you can listen on the go.  

Dedicated social media streamers will be able to watch the hearing live on Facebook and YouTube at no cost. NPR will also carry live coverage of the hearing. 

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/09/26/kavanaugh-hearing-how-watch-christine-blasey-ford-testify-supreme-court-nominee-livestream/1430037002/

C-Span 3 is predicting that tomorrow's hearing will be a long one:

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9:45AM

Judge Brett Kavanaugh & Professor Christine Blasey Ford Testify

10 hours, 15 minutes

The Senate Judiciary Committee hears testimony from Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Professor Christine Blasey Ford about her allegations that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while the two were teenagers.

https://www.c-span.org/schedule/?channel=3

[Howl]

I'm going to carefully listen for results of the hearing, but don't think I can bear to actually watch.  The woman they have to question Blasey Ford is a sex crimes prosecutor for Maricopa County, AZ. 

Spoiler

 

From the NYT: She works in the Maricopa County attorney’s office in Arizona, one of the most populous counties in the country and whose seat is Phoenix. Ms. Mitchell has overseen and assisted in prosecuting some high-profile sexual assault cases in Arizona, including ones against a church camp counselor, a police officer and clergymen.

The Special Victims Division of the Maricopa County attorney’s office has two bureaus: one for sex crimes, and one for family violence. Ms. Mitchell spent 12 years running the sex-crimes bureau, which is responsible for prosecuting felonies like child molestation and adult sexual assault, Mr. Grassley’s statement said.

 

 

[candygirl200413]

For those that have been triggered these last few weeks, I'm sending you strength and love. I've been struggling a lot and am still debating about tuning in to the hearing. 

[Cartmann99]

I'm here. I started out watching the CNN stream but switched over to the PBS NewsHour stream to avoid commercial breaks.

[fraurosena]

 Grassley is a liar, and a stupid one at that.

 

Whoo boy, dr. Ford is hitting them with science. Ouch.

 

[SassyPants]

Holy Hell. 

Pull that recommendation, NOW.

[AnywhereButHere]

May want to ease up off the scientific explanations. Republicans seem to neither understand nor accept actual science. They prefer prevarication, broad generalizations, and foggy thinking.

[fraurosena]

I don't have the original video where these commentators are stating this, but holy hell, if this is true...

 

[formergothardite]

Grassley is fucking angry this woman is speaking out and he isn't even trying to hide it. 

[fraurosena]

I agree, @formergothardite, not only was he angry, but also disgustingly defensive of Kavanaugh. He lies blatantly (and provably), and is shockingly accusatory towards the Democrats in general, and sen. Feinstein in particular. What a horrible, horrible man.

I'm glad their questioning strategy seems to be backfiring, although I still don't think it will make any difference. They will continue to ignore the other accusers and they will go to vote tomorrow. 

 

[Carm_88]

Dr. Ford is a brave woman. That's all that I am going to say.

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

She is brave and yet I can't watch.  I saw approximately 5 minutes and had to turn it off.  The men sounded peevish and small, which annoyed me.  What is so fucking hard about conducting yourselves in a respectful manner?  What got me to turn it off though, was anxiety.  They were asking Ford about the timeline of how she reported this to her Senator and the WP and how she decided to report to those entities.  She started saying something or other about how she discussed it with her Beach friends and that her  Beach friends thought those were two ways to get the message out.  Beach friends?  You just know Trumpy is going to mock that.   She's just trying to tell her story the  way it happened, but I hate anything that might be siezed on and used to make her seem like a flake.   

Actually, now I'm even questioning that I heard her correctly. Ugh.  

[fraurosena]

Orrin Hatch is a disgusting human being. 

 

[formergothardite]

41 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

They will continue to ignore the other accusers and they will go to vote tomorrow. 

They will. This is going to be used against them in the midterms, though. They is my only ray of hope, they are making themselves look awful. 

I can't imagine going through the stress of what Dr. Ford is going through. And the GOP men sound like total assholes. It is obvious they are mad a woman messed up their plans. 

1 minute ago, fraurosena said:

Orrin Hatch is a disgusting human being. 

 

They really don't get that what they see as the "good old days" for men viewing women as only a pretty commodity are over. 

[bekkah]

I'm watching it because I feel like I have to. I find her opening statement to be so credible. 

 

I don't remember every single thing about my assault but I remember clearly saying no to the person who was assaulting me.  I remained silent after that because a movie was playing so loudly downstairs that I know no one would hear me. 

[AnywhereButHere]

I got to listen to a bit in the car just now. When she was asked about taking a lie detector test on the day of her grandmother’s funeral, I wanted to strangle the woman asking. I could also hear the disdain of whichever senator put that question in the queue and imagined him asking the same question and wanted to strangle the hypothetical man. Probably a good plan that they didn’t ask their own questions and hired an intermediary. Still wanted to throw things at my radio though.

[Carm_88]

3 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

They really don't get that what they see as the "good old days" for men viewing women as only a pretty commodity are over. 

They don't want for it to be over. They want to eventually used Dr. Ford to frighten women. The end game here is for the #MeToo movement to be undone. For "Grab her by the pussy" to be normal all over again.

[AmazonGrace]

Hatch wants a rapist in the Supreme Court.

It's probably an achievement and not a drawback.

Kavanaugh should have put it on his resume.

[Cartmann99]

15 minutes ago, PreciousPantsofDoom said:

She is brave and yet I can't watch.  I saw approximately 5 minutes and had to turn it off.  The men sounded peevish and small, which annoyed me.  What is so fucking hard about conducting yourselves in a respectful manner?  What got me to turn it off though, was anxiety.  They were asking Ford about the timeline of how she reported this to her Senator and the WP and how she decided to report to those entities.  She started saying something or other about how she discussed it with her Beach friends and that her  Beach friends thought those were two ways to get the message out.  Beach friends?  You just know Trumpy is going to mock that.   She's just trying to tell her story the  way it happened, but I hate anything that might be siezed on and used to make her seem like a flake.   

Actually, now I'm even questioning that I heard her correctly. Ugh.  

You heard her correctly. She said in her opening statement that she had discussed this issue with a couple of her friends while on the beach, so she's referring to them as beach friends for short.

[Cartmann99]

 

[AmazonGrace]

Lindsey Graham sucks harder than an industrial vacuum cleaner.

Spoiler

Sure because you can't get corroboration without investigation.

 

 

[Carm_88]

What a disgusting piece of shit Lindsey Graham is.

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[SassyPants]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

You heard her correctly. She said in her opening statement that she had discussed this issue with a couple of her friends while on the beach, so she's referring to them as beach friends for short.

When she mentioned telling her friends on the beach, and named the small beach community, that is the little town I live in- My home is a stone's throw from that beach and I walk on it often.

Such a small world.

[GreyhoundFan]

OMG, Lindsey Graham is on MSNBC shoveling the shit. He's despicable. He basically said she should get counseling.