Friday, September 28, 2018

This is from my friend Bruce:

Man, I didn’t sleep at ALL last night. My mind couldn’t stop reeling from all the sturm und drang at the Senate Judiciary hearing yesterday. The contrast between Dr. Ford’s demeanor and Brett Kavanaugh’s couldn’t have been more stark. So I decided to compile a potpourri of facts, figures and foolishness. Some of this stuff you already know about, some of it you might not, as the stories continued to break late into the night. . • Kavanaugh’s own calendar confirmed one very important part of Ford's story: Ford recalled that Kavanaugh was at the party with a few guys, two of whom were named PJ and Mark Judge. On July 1st 1982, Kavanaugh wrote that he hung out with PJ and Judge. How could Ford have POSSIBLY known that if she wasn’t telling the truth? . • Kavanaugh clearly lied (under oath) about the entries in his yearbook. All the coded jargon (ffff, boof, etc.) has been discredited by multiple fact checkers. The best I’ve seen was by CBS News (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boofed-devils-triangle-ffffffourth-of-july-how-brett-kavanaugh-explained-yearbook-jokes/). Lying under oath is a felony. . • The Jesuit Magazine “America,” which had previously endorsed Kavanaugh, retracted their endorsement last night: “While we previously endorsed the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh on the basis of his legal credentials and reputation as a committed textualist, it is now clear the nomination should be withdrawn.” . • The American Bar Association has called upon the Senate to delay the vote until after a thorough FBI investigation has been completed. No modern Supreme Court Justice has ever been seated without the endorsement of the ABA. . • Even Alan Dershowitz has called upon an FBI investigation before the vote. Yes, THAT Alan Dershowitz. Fox News’ favorite liberal-turned-Trumper. He’s now saying no vote until the FBI has published a report. . • The betting sites, which had previously been calling Kavanaugh’s confirmation a slam dunk, have flipped. They’re now predicting he won’t be confirmed. . So the gamblers have ditched him. . The Jesuits have abandoned ship. . So has the ABA. . So has Dershowitz. . So has CBS News, who did a complete rundown on his yearbook lies. . But here’s my favorite part about yesterday’s events, albeit peripherally related... . You know the “Violence Against Women Act?” It was originally drafted by Joe Biden and the late Louise Slaughter back in 1994, and signed into law by Bill Clinton. But then had to be reauthorized in 2000, 2005 and again in 2013. . Welllll, this last go-round five years ago, it passed in the Senate with a vote of 78 in favor, 22 opposed. Of those 22 who voted AGAINST reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act were: . Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas . Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah . Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa . Sen. Mike Lee of Utah . Sen. John Cornyn of Texas . Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina . ☝🏼 These are 6 of the 11 men who defended Brett Kavanaugh yesterday. ☝🏼 . I don’t know if Kavanaugh will get confirmed or not and neither do you. But I do know this: No matter the outcome of this OUTRAGE, you’re going to see an exodus of otherwise conservative women voters parting political ways with their husbands in November. 2018 *WILL BE* the year. . Of those 52% of white women who voted for Trump two years ago, they had no inkling of just how misogynistic... how corrupt... how CRUEL a Trump/GOP coalition would be. But they saw what we all saw yesterday: A brave, fragile, terrified woman with an utterly credible story of attempted rape—and a panel of old, white, Republican men shunning her in favor of a man with the temperament of a spoiled thirteen year old. . And these VERY SAME Republican men turned their thumbs down at the Violence Against Women Act of 2013. . Now those conservative women know. EVERYONE should know, but I have less faith in my fellow men. But I bet a few of these women might drag their husbands along with them. This debacle sealed it. #BlueWave #YearOfTheWoman

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