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Stephen Hammer is Clerking for CJ John Roberts


hoipolloi

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3 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

He graduated from Princeton in 2009. Assuming he would have been about 22 then, he's around 33 now.

Ugh. I thought he was older. That's a lot of years to do a lot of damage. For some reason I thought he was closer to 30 when he and Meredith married. 

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3 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

Don't think I've read anything about his Oxford time so if you find something that would be interesting. TIA!

Oh, I am looking! It just doesn't seem like he did much at all. Usually, Rhodes scholars get really into the Oxford Union and debating etc, student politics and so on. He's pretty much invisible. Very unusual for a Rhodes scholar - after all, why bother coming to Oxford, esp with a wife and kids, when you could stay in Princeton for ease and a similar education. Mostly, Rhodes scholars get involved, even if only in their department or college, on a minor scale. 

Seems very much like a "tickbox" challenge. I shall circulate some messages amongst his peers who are my friends, but I doubt any of them would even have noticed a quiet American sneaking a hypocritical beer in a lesser known pub. Hmm, the lack of trace and evidence is suspicious in itself!

 

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10 minutes ago, Zebedee said:

He's pretty much invisible. Very unusual for a Rhodes scholar - after all, why bother coming to Oxford, esp with a wife and kids, when you could stay in Princeton for ease and a similar education. Mostly, Rhodes scholars get involved, even if only in their department or college, on a minor scale. 

He had just graduated from Princeton when he took up his Rhodes Scholarship the following fall (2009). That's not an unusual sequence in the US.

Going by Meredith's "how we met" story, I'm now thinking Stephen got to Oxford and immediately began googling SAHD blogs & websites, hunting down the perfect prey, if he hadn't already been doing so. Check out this timeline from Meredith's account:

Quote

 

In early Sept. 2009, I received an email from a reader of my online ministry blog: www.strivingtoserveathome.blogspot.com intended to encourage younger girls who, I later learned, stumbled upon my blog through a fairly random Google search. He wrote about how he was struck by my life choices in regard to living at home and desiring to be a homemaker instead of pursuing our culture’s more typical path of a college degree and full-time career...

Over the following four months, Stephen and my father corresponded over the telephone and email, discussing Stephen’s walk with the Lord and convictions that are of importance to our family... 

Finally, in early January, Stephen flew from England (where he is studying) to Virginia to meet my family and me. This was when our courtship really began to progress. We spent a week seeking the Lord’s will and getting to know each other better...

In mid-March, Stephen flew back to Virginia to spend another week with my family and me. It was the most perfect, wonderful week! On March 15, 2010, Stephen took me on a lovely trip to Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s plantation). After we toured the home and strolled the grounds, Stephen led me to a peaceful wooded sitting area, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him! We are so excited about our future serving the Lord together. [Emphases added]

 

So, he's already focused in on Meredith by early September 2009, spends October 2009 through January 2010 inveigling her parents into supporting his courtship, makes a first in-person visit in early January 2010, comes back in March and proposes to her on March 15, 2010 -- that's just over 6 months. They married in December 2010. If you dive into the older threads here, you'll see many at FJ considered Stephen to be a fundie jackpot of a spouse for a SAHD, and I'd agree with that. It's no wonder that Meredith's parents as well as Meredith were absolutely agog at his interest in her.

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Ewww! “This is when our courtship really began to progress.” No it’s not, it’s when your courtship with him started if he had only been courting your father until visiting the family in order to meet you! I have a little bit of empathy for her after reading that. That’s not a relationship; that’s an arranged marriage. 

Edited by Giraffe
Clarifying
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6 minutes ago, Giraffe said:

That’s not a relationship; that’s an arranged marriage. 

I agree.

42 minutes ago, Destiny said:

That's a lot of years to do a lot of damage.

It is and it's depressing to think about.

On the brighter side, I am hopeful that the efforts of Chrissy Stroop and many others to knock fundies off the pedestal they occupy in US media & culture will eventually remove much of their political power. In the meantime, if we can get a fully D Congress + the WH, we need to pack the courts and expand SCOTUS & pack it with liberals. 

 

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35 minutes ago, hoipolloi said:

On the brighter side, I am hopeful that the efforts of Chrissy Stroop and many others to knock fundies off the pedestal they occupy in US media & culture

Chrissy Stroop is awesome!  I really enjoy her on Twitter and checking out the links provided by her and others. 

 

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2 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

Actually, she apparently stopped at 5 biological children and then adopted 2 from Haiti, something that's also very OK in fundie Christian circles. 

He graduated from Princeton in 2009. Assuming he would have been about 22 then, he's around 33 now.

Don't think I've read anything about his Oxford time so if you find something that would be interesting. TIA!

Gah, I love to have personal knowledge of things and get to gossip.  but also I have learned from the past that I shouldn’t share too much.

 

but I have been in a situation where I was able to see ACB’s kids interacting (for several years) on the regular in public for real.  Like most of these situations, the eldest daughter is doing most of he parenting.  ACB if you completely separate her from ideology and religious practices is a warm, kind person.  I can’t personally do that, so I don’t feel that way about her.

 

also I’m owning I’m a little nervous even saying that and may end up editing to be less obvious.  It has made me so sad for the eldest though.  Also, the school the kids go to, Trinity is run by the nutso People of praise, but it is an excellent school and I have several friends who are not associated with PoP that have children who go there.  I think most of the kids aren’t PoP.  
 

Edited to add:  I grew up in a very small community south of SOuth Bend.  I moved back to the area in Jan.  My links to the community are how I know this.

Edited by treemom
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11 hours ago, Howl said:

Amy Coney Barrett, the female Stephen Hammer, has 7.

ACB is headed towards perimenopause, if she isn't there already. Meredith is about 31, by my estimation. Lots of time for several more kids.

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Wasn’t Stephen in the military before college or am I confused?

Update- here is is- he was in the military after Oxford here.

 

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On 11/2/2020 at 9:21 PM, hoipolloi said:

Found the "Thank you, Michelle" video from the Bay-bee Conference. It's been set to private on Dougie's Vimeo channel but you can still see it on YouTube.

Start at the 2:35 mark for the tribute. 

 

Wow, there's so much to unpack in that video. Like how handsy the presenter is (is that Doug Wilson? I don't follow his thread). And the claims that "a quarter of the people who should be sitting in the auditorium aren't because they were ABORTED!" And how they recycled the footage of a Black woman in the tribute part to make themselves seem more diverse. And how apart from two of the older ladies, it's obvious that they're reading off of cue cards. And is that a Baird sister in there too?

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1 hour ago, indianabones said:

Wow, there's so much to unpack in that video. Like how handsy the presenter is (is that Doug Wilson? I don't follow his thread). And the claims that "a quarter of the people who should be sitting in the auditorium aren't because they were ABORTED!" And how they recycled the footage of a Black woman in the tribute part to make themselves seem more diverse. And how apart from two of the older ladies, it's obvious that they're reading off of cue cards. And is that a Baird sister in there too?

Doug Phillips. And yes, the Bairds were involved in VF.

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17 hours ago, treemom said:

ACB if you completely separate her from ideology and religious practices is a warm, kind person.  I can’t personally do that, so I don’t feel that way about her.

ACB is 100% complicit in Trump strategy.  She could have opted to say that it was too soon before an election to be confirmed.  She also answered no questions in her Senate confirmation hearing, by design.  If you don't answer questions, or answer in an evasive way (which she obviously did), you cannot be impeached on the basis of falsely testifying in your confirmation hearing. 

She was (IMO) seated to overturn Roe v Wade and gay marriage and she clearly understands this.  She may be a brilliant jurist, but she's also a Federalist Society hack.  If there's a deep state in this country, it's coming out of the ultra conservative Catholics in the Federalist Society (Leonard Leo) and Opus Dei.  There, I said it. 

And don't get me started on the Constitutional originalist crap. 

Right now there's a chyron scrolling on GMA that says Trump is threatening to go to the Supreme Court to stop the mail-in vote count. 

However, keep in mind that this is what Trump has done his entire life -- threaten to sue. 

Edited by Howl
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So I got into fundie watching during the 2004 election and home schooling and moving to the Deep South. I was bored and made an association matrix of evangelical fundies, different groups, politicians, etc. It was terrifying. 
 

The long game has been playing out for a very long time indeed. 
 

Hammer is just another piece, as is Barret (I refuse to use initials like those reserved for RBG). It’s been a long long time coming, since the 80s. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, it’s not a person or entity moving these pieces into play, but it IS a concerted movement of dominionist, conservative groups playing the long game. 
 

And here we are. Trump is the perfect foil to move people, groups and ideas into positions of power. 
 

I was scared then when I saw the relationships, and I’m terrified now. Just because the visible front  of shiny blogs and conferences has fallen away doesn’t mean any of these ideas have. If anything they are more insidious for their ability to blend in. “Nice, suburban” people unwittingly embrace the palatable bits without knowing the connections. 


 

 

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4 hours ago, Howl said:

She may be a brilliant jurist, but she's also a Federalist Society hack.

She's not brilliant and she's really inexperienced but Roberts & his fellow travelers will prop her up. She knows what her job is.

2 hours ago, frumperlicious said:

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, it’s not a person or entity moving these pieces into play, but it IS a concerted movement of dominionist, conservative groups playing the long game. 

And they're financed by the likes of the Kochs and the Mercers who aren't particularly fundie themselves but have successfully co-opted fundie Christian goals to achieve their own anti-labor, anti-government, anti-social, and anti-human ends.

Just as fundies are happy to latch onto tRump's ass like diseased remoras, the Kochs & Mercers are happy to overlook the cray-cray theocracy and other shit, and play ball with the fundies. 

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3 hours ago, frumperlicious said:

Hammer is just another piece, as is Barret (I refuse to use initials like those reserved for RBG).

I’m right there with you.

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On 11/3/2020 at 9:57 AM, Destiny said:

Does anyone remember roughly how old he is? I'm curious about how many years he has left in his political career, because if my memory serves, he always planned on one. I think that will be telling of his future plans. My math puts him at very late 30s or early 40s, but I honestly don't remember how long ago the Meredith saga even was to be 100% sure. 

 

On 11/3/2020 at 12:32 PM, Destiny said:

Ugh. I thought he was older. That's a lot of years to do a lot of damage. For some reason I thought he was closer to 30 when he and Meredith married. 

 

On 11/3/2020 at 7:05 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

I think Meredith is 33. I’m pretty sure the blog said she was born in 87.

Stephen is 34, born October 9, 1986. Meredith is 32, born December 17, 1987. They married December 10, 2010. The kids are:

  1. Margaret Alice born  September 13, 2011
  2. John “Joby” Bradford born September 3, 2013
  3. Penelope Joy born May 9, 2015
  4. Eleanor born November 23, 2016
  5. Caroline born about March 11, 2018
  6. baby (maybe a boy born around January 2020)
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3 hours ago, Bethella said:

 

 

Stephen is 34, born October 9, 1986. Meredith is 32, born December 17, 1987. They married December 10, 2010. The kids are:

  1. Margaret Alice born  September 13, 2011
  2. John “Joby” Bradford born September 3, 2013
  3. Penelope Joy born May 9, 2015
  4. Eleanor born November 23, 2016
  5. Caroline born about March 11, 2018
  6. baby (maybe a boy born around January 2020)

Eleanor Ivy, Caroline Julia, and Cole Alexander born January 1. I’ve never seen her refer to John Bradford as Joby on IG. 

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20 hours ago, hoipolloi said:

She's not brilliant and she's really inexperienced but Roberts & his fellow travelers will prop her up. She knows what her job is.

And they're financed by the likes of the Kochs and the Mercers who aren't particularly fundie themselves but have successfully co-opted fundie Christian goals to achieve their own anti-labor, anti-government, anti-social, and anti-human ends.

Just as fundies are happy to latch onto tRump's ass like diseased remoras, the Kochs & Mercers are happy to overlook the cray-cray theocracy and other shit, and play ball with the fundies. 

So I somehow bungled my quote post.  In regards to Barrett, my exposure to her predates Trump on the scene as a candidate so my comment about her being warm and kind had to do with the things in general I heard from my community both times she was considered.  As if being nice to you at a neighborhood event or being caring offsets the damaging philosophy.  As if being a warm professor who is kind to her students offsets the fact that her actions will hurt those students.

 

I do disagree on the she isn’t brilliant.  She is probably fairly characterized at brilliant.  Unfortunately she has used said brilliance to prop up the patriarchy and the white supremacist systems. She absolutely is inexperienced and unqualified for her previous federal judgeship and her scotus appointment

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9 hours ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

I’ve never seen her refer to John Bradford as Joby on IG. 

In a FB caption or comment she called him "Joby" -- that was years ago though. 

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I genuinely like all of the children’s names, which I have never before been about to say about a fundie family’s kids in the history of ever. That is all.

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Their names are very white upper middle class. I like the names too but they leave a bad taste in my mouth because they are Hammer children. The Hammers just seem like people who do absolutely everything based on public image for future political aspirations. It’s all so very creepy to me. I can’t imagine living my life like that. 

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10 hours ago, treemom said:

Unfortunately she has used said brilliance to prop up the patriarchy and the white supremacist systems. She absolutely is inexperienced and unqualified for her previous federal judgeship and her scotus appointment

I think she was nominated based on her palatability for lack of a better word: white, blond, a mother of 7 (!), still in great shape (!), believes in patriarchy (!), hates LBGT (!), won't hesitate to overturn Roe v Wade down the line; after all, she and Brett Kavanaugh could be around for 30+ years.  

Essentially unattackable; they needed to avoid the Brett Kavanaugh hearings shit show. 

But anyway, Steven Hammer -- how long does a SCOTUS clerkship usually last and what typically follows?  A judgeship, law school prof? Private practice? Congress? 

I must say, Stephen must come across as sufficiently personable to land that insanely plum position.  

Edited by Howl
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On 11/3/2020 at 7:02 PM, hoipolloi said:

That's not an unusual sequence in the US.

Sorry, I meant more that it's unusual for a Rhodes scholar who aims for politics to *not* be involved in the Oxford Union, rather than it being an unusual sequence. This guy really is a ghost, as far as Oxford is concerned. No one, literally none of the political/journalist hack type people I know from those days remember him, even people at his college then. Usually, Rhodes scholars get a nice introductory event at their college, get to host thanksgiving dinners for the graduate common rooms, etc. 
Anyway, turns out one of my friend's friends is in DC for work for the next few years though for their career  I'll keep the details quiet. This friend is in a position to make contact with the Hammer, though it might take a while, what with election and CV19.  If they can and do, I'll let you all know, even if only by PM. Really don't want to get gossip and then fuck up this person's career. I'm still searching around for anyone who might have met him, though, since they can gossip freely unlike this DC person. 
God, now this sounds like some weird QAnon crap! But my partner knows many more of the journalist/religious/political crowd than I ever did, so he's trying to find someone who knows SH too. He read the guy's online profile yesterday, and (as a very non-bitchy, give people the benefit of the doubt person) only has this to say: "He sounds deeply unpleasant. I'd remember if I met someone like that". Which is his way of saying what I would say: "He sounds like an asshole, he has a punchable face, and if I'd met him, I'd remember, because he seems so vile". So...
Luckily, this thread moves very slowly, so I'll try and get back to you about this in the next few months, if poss. CV19 has curtailed all the random networking events, so it is  a bit harder to pick up info at the moment. And probably, all it will be is something scandalous, like SH attended an Anglo-Catholic service *sigh*. No tales of not inhaling anything on the horizon, I fear.

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I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he did very little socializing in college. I imagine he just went to class, studied, did his work, and kept his head down. Because colleges are considered liberal brainwashing schools to many fundies. He may have made a few religious conservative friends. But I doubt he was big on socializing outside of that. 

Edited by JermajestyDuggar
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