The Ford-Kavanaugh hearing (September 27th 2018) was held by the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear one of Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers, Christine Blasey Ford. She says he tried to rape her back in high school. President Trump named Kavanaugh for the US Supreme Court, but he needs the Senate to confirm him by majority vote. The Republicans, Trump’s party, barely control the Senate (51 to 49).
Blasey Ford went first. It was heartbreaking. It is one thing to read her story, quite another thing to see her tell it. Television is so full of polished politicians, actors, admen, and cartoon characters, that it was startling to see a real person with real emotions.
They asked her what she most remembered. She said it was the laughter. Brett Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were laughing as they tried to rape her.
Crystal Marie Fleming (@alwaystheself) on Twitter:
“I cried listening to the testimony of Dr. Ford this morning during my commute. I cried because the truth of her words rings clear to anyone with a functioning brain and moral compass. That she is required to publicly relive her trauma for a gang of elite men is beyond repulsive.”
Republicans on the committee are all White men. To question her in a respectful and professional way, they had to fly in a “female assistant” from Arizona, Rachel Mitchell, a sex crime prosecutor. Mitchell seemed to be fishing for proof that the Democrats had put Blasey Ford up to it.
Democrats asked their own questions. Only half of them are White men. The Democrats told her how good and brave she was, upending her life for the good of the nation and for women everywhere.
Brett Kavanaugh’s turn came after lunch. One minute he was angry and rude, even to the senators, the next minute he was holding back tears, even about his father’s calendar. Huh? He presumably wanted us to believe that he was angry and upset because he was being falsely accused. But it came across like he felt entitled to a seat on the Supreme Court. His anger and entitlement made the attempted rape accusation seem all the more believable. He did not seem like a wise, fair-minded judge but a like a bitter, partisan hack.
Republicans all expressed sympathy for what he was going through. Sniff. They seemed strangely unconcerned about finding out the truth of Blasey Ford’s accusation of attempted rape. It reminded me of priests or police officers protecting one of their own.
Democrats kept asking him if he wanted an FBI investigation to clear his name. Each time they asked him the question he found a way not to answer it. Meaning that his anger had nothing to do with feeling he was falsely accused.
The committee, controlled by the Republicans, did not call any experts or witnesses, not even Mark Judge. It did not call Deborah Ramirez or Julie Swetnick – the two other women who have come out publicly against Kavanaugh.
– Abagond, 2018.
Update (October 2nd): According to a Quinnipiac poll, here is how many people believed Blasey Ford:
by race:
- 83% Blacks
- 66% Hispanics
- 40% Whites
by gender:
- 55% women
- 40% men
by party:
- 86% Democrats
- 10% Republicans
Only 46% of White women believed her!
See also:
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Brett Kavanaugh got mad angry over some “laundry” he forgot to wash.
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Dudes temperament is lousy for a judge. He was acting like a pissy teenager
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I am sure Trump was enjoying this $h*t show. I wondered if Kavanaugh’s sniveling and tears would be a turn off to him and seen as weakness? Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham pulled their suitcases out and put on their clown suits and demonstrated what turds they were. Dr. Ford in my opinion was courageous and graceful and credible.
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The Democratics asked Kavanaugh if he wanted an FBI investigation and he managed to avoid answering that question. Kavanaugh has a way of dodging questions he didn’t want to answer.
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The Republicans are nothing but snakes, the Democrats aren’t that much better they come off as spineless and just roll over and let the Republicans run over them. The American government is garbage.
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There are a few GOP Senators people were hoping wouldn’t vote to confirm Kavanaugh: Collins, Murkowski, Flake and Corker. The GOP’s senate majority is small so all the votes are needed. Flake and Corker have since said they’re voting “yes”.
Some people are holding out hope for Collins or Murkowski since they’re female republican Senators from states that are not considered extremely socially conservative [Maine and Alaska]. However they could very well fall in line as well and the GOP will have all the votes they need to put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.
I’d the quite the coup. Not only is he temperamentally unfit and probably morally bankrupt, he’s clearly partisan and will protect Trump in the case that the Mueller probe raises questions for the court.
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@Mary
The so-called “checks and balances” are tenuous and it’s really being exposed. What happens when the legislative is just as corrupt as the executive and they actually work together to corrupt the judiciary? It could only be worse if Trump were actually eloquent and competent instead of being a bumbling personality. Perhaps America will recover.
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There is still some hope though. Collins and Murkowski haven’t said anything yet and they’re up for election in 2020, IIRC.
Politicians aren’t ruled by conscience but expedience. I feel like they’re definitely weighing political ramifications vs angering donors who want Kavanaugh confirmed.
I don’t know if a female senator from Maine can survive confirming this judge under the circumstances but it’ll be her calculation to make.
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@ Mary
“The American government is garbage.”
That about sums up this whole magilla in a nutshell. AND
@ Origin
No. Sorry. There is no hope. Hope is a false narrative. This whole hearing is one big exercise in insanity.
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@August
The hearing was a farce yes, because they clearly were not invested in getting at the truth. However, I have a little hope for Collins/Murkowski in the sense that they could conclude that it is in their self interest to vote “no”.
Creating a sense of inevitability about Kavanagh’s nomination is part of the Republican strategy because it demoralizes the opposition. However, even allowing Blasey-Ford to testify was a concession. They must have felt pressured into the putting on the circus.
So I don’t think all the necessary votes are as certain as they want it to seem.
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The Brett Kavanaugh versus Christine Blasey Ford‘s case has received a serious and unexpected turn: he will have a full vote but only after a FBI probe is carried out.
See, https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/kavanaugh-senate-committee-vote/index.html
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“Blasey Ford went first. It was heartbreaking. It is one thing to read her story, quite another thing to see her tell it. Television is so full of polished politicians, actors, admen, and cartoon characters, that it was startling to see a real person with real emotions.
They asked her what she most remembered. She said it was the laughter. Brett Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were laughing as they tried to rape her.”
Is this Mr. Abagond’s salon or did I wander in the wrong place? Where are the usual sarcastic comments about “white women’s tears”?
On a serious note, how the hell did the FBI manage to miss this when they did a background check on Kavanaugh?
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@ gro jo
Because her tears worked on me 😉 I saw her as telling the truth and Kavanaugh as the one using emotion to cover his lies.
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Ok, then.
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@ Origin
The oligarchical model of US politics suggests that they will side with donors and Kavanaugh will be confirmed.
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Oddly enough I don’t expect female politicians to be anymore compassionate than males. They are brainwashed to believe that such behaviors are typical of boys and that ” she brought it on herself.” Some may have experienced similar assaults and rubbed it off as ” that is the way it is.”
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I saw a meme that said the Republicans had to fly in Aunt Lydia from “The Handmaid’s Tale” to difference things a bit.
When I saw the woman they brought, I couldn’t believe how nearly true that was. I can’t believe she went on National Television with her Hair Like That!
Anyway, I just can’t with conservatives, Republicans Libertarians. They have made it plain in every way possible that they simply do not give a damn about every day Americans. They only care about the so called elite. They are greedy selfish bastards who make me wish I believed in hell.
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@abagond
Yeah, there’s definitely that feeling when the choice is between money and “the right thing”. But if a politician feels the choice is between money and re-election and they are sincerely concerned about staying in their jobs then they do have to weigh two concerns that are both dear to their hearts.
I think Collins and Murkowski have voted out of step with their party before (the Obamacare repeal) and Murkowski is among those now calling for an FBI investigation into Kavanaugh before a full Senate confirmation vote takes place. I strongly suspect that a major reason Blasey-Ford’s testimony even occurred was because the Collins/Murkowski vote was extremely unlikely otherwise.
As female senators from more moderate states they may feel that a “yes” vote would be politically damaging but they have split loyalties to party/donors and would rather not appear to have killed the nomination outright. However, if Kavanaugh’s stench gets so strong that his candidacy becomes untenable, they may never have to vote. So their actions seem to be working against the general GOP strategy to get Kavanaugh confirmed as quickly as possible before diffusion has time to take the waft far afield.
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@thatdeborahgirl
I saw someone post on twitter that Rachel Mitchell was “Miss Hattie” from Despicable Me. I had to chuckle at the picture because the resemblance is uncanny, lol.
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Politicians are the same everywhere … Justice can hardly be served when one is involved
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There are women who support Kavanaugh. Unfortunately there are a large number of women who have internalized misogyny.
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@ Sharina @ Mary
I talked to a White Republican woman about the hearing. She believed Blasey Ford but then literally said, “Boys will be boys.”
As long as that internalized misogyny goes on, then “boys will be boys”!
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What is most fascinating about this nomination process is how it is helping people connect the dots on issues of power and privilege in the USA.
Some people are questioning the role of elite prep schools and universities. They are questioning what the overwhelmingly affluent White male students actually learn in such institutions beyond academics. How their views on class, race, gender and sexuality are informed by their own privilege. How these students are groomed to be members of the ruling political and economic class.
In a searing New York Times opinion piece by Michelle Goldberg, “Pigs All the Way Down: Kavanaugh and our rotten ruling class.”, Goldberg goes beyond personalities. She dissects the culture that produces people like Kavanaugh. Goldberg writes:
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https://secondnexus.com/news/kavanaugh-july-calendar-party-ford/?utm_content=inf_10_1164_2&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=GTAK&tse_id=INF_7c7c9910c35f11e8872dc93302272904
Interesting read regarding his calendar.
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Scholar and author, Vesla Mae Weaver, uses the nomination process to tease out who is deserving of second chances in this society——–and who is not.
Weaver describes how young White men from affluent backgrounds are granted multiple ‘chances’ in this society. This is in stark contrast to the constant surveillance and harsh punishment meted out to darker and poorer youth. Weaver describes this disparate treatment of affluent White youth as “maximum tolerance”. Weaver notes:
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/9/28/17913708/brett-kavanaugh-hearing-police-race-teens
It has been particularly galling to hear media commentators talk about how Kavanaugh’s drunken debauchery as a teen has nothing to do with his ability to sit on the highest court in the land. According to them, that behavior was “all in the past”.
Yet, I still remember cases of Black children and teens who were tried as adults and sent to adult prison for accusations of theft, drug “crimes” and manslaughter. Some were sentenced to life in prison. Talk about a double standard!
Kavanaugh’s nomination process has dredged up a lot of questions about the nature of the leadership pipeline in the US and who is propelled through that pipeline——-and who is not.
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@ Sharina
Exactly!!! They pulled Rachel Mitchell just when she was getting too close to the truth. That explains Lindsey Graham’s sudden tirade – he was trying to deflect. It also makes clear that even the Republicans regarded Kavanaugh’s calendar from age 17 as a joke, as a distraction – until it wasn’t.
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@Afrofem: Spot On! So good to read you.😊
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Patriarchy combined with misogyny is a beast. Women trying to be acceptable be attractive enough and ambitious enough and smart enough to fit into that world those elite spaces. No wonder there are eating disorders and all types of mental health issues like depression and anxiety.
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These movements like #Me Too and #Times Up and conversations about sexual assault and harassment makes me think of the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale.
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My hope is that with Dr. Ford coming forward is that it will give many more women and other survivors of sexual assault and harassment the courage to come forward and expose those who are committing these misdeeds.
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@ Afrofem
Through this whole thing I keep thinking, “Why are we scraping the bottom of the barrel?” The Supreme Court is suppose to have the country’s best judges. It makes me wonder about the rest of Trump’s short list.
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Brett Kavanaugh and Lindsey Graham display belligerent and angry outbursts, this is nothing but white privilege not getting it’s way.
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@ Mary
The angry outbursts of Lindsey Graham and Brett Kavanaugh were the parts that Sean Hannity on Fox News liked best! Of course, he plays an Angry White Man on television.
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@ Mary
If Lindsey Graham and Brett Kavanaugh were Black women, it would not even be called “belligerent and angry outbursts” but “meltdowns” or “being hysterical”.
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I am falling in love with Kamala Harris:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySYOdvVLMKU)
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@ Mary Burrell
To me, the society of the The Handmaid’s Tale is an extreme version of the type of society a small, but dedicated group of people see as their ideal.
They want to dictate how other people should live, but they believe they should be free to engage any unethical behavior they desire.
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@Abagond:
Three weeks ago Serena Williams was vilified all over the media as an angry black woman complete with an ugly and racist comic drawing by an Australian comic strip artist. There is a double standard in this society about who gets to exhibit human emotions. Many male tennis players like John McEnroe and others have exhibited horrible temper tantrums on the tennis courts and it was not held against them. The double standards in society grate on my nerves.
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@ Abagond
Nearly all of the judges and SCOTUS justices nominated by Republicans are members of the Federalist Society. That exclusive society is highly politicized and ultra-rightwing. Many society members are drawn from the same prep school/Ivy League university network as Kavanaugh.
The Federal Judiciary has been dysfunctional for many years. Part of that dysfunction comes from its structure including:
✔︎ lifetime appointments (other countries have term limits and age limits).
✔︎ appointment process in Congress which has been gamed by the Republicans since the 1980s. For example, during the Clinton Administration, the Republican dominated Congress refused to fill vacancies throughout the Federal judicial and appeals system. They were determined to hold those spots open until they could fill them with Federalist Society members. That is what they are now doing under the Trump Administration, with very little discussion in the media.
✔︎ the difficulty of unseating mediocre and unfit judges.
The judicial branch has long been the most anti-democratic branch of the government. Over the years, the judiciary has reinterpreted or nullified laws such as the Thirteenth Amendment (they kept one form of slavery alive to the present day), Corporate Personhood, Eminent Domain and the meaning of the Second Amendment.
I agree. They have been “scraping the bottom of the barrel”.
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public 4th step!
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Update: According to a Quinnipiac poll, here is how many people believed Blasey Ford:
by race:
83% Blacks
66% Hispanics
40% Whites
by gender:
55% women
40% men
by party:
86% Democrats
10% Republicans
Only 46% of White women believed her!
Source:
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2574
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@Afrofem
So good to read you again.
@Mary Burrell
Three weeks ago Serena Williams was vilified all over the media as an angry black woman complete with an ugly and racist comic drawing by an Australian comic strip artist. There is a double standard in this society about who gets to exhibit human emotions. Many male tennis players like John McEnroe and others have exhibited horrible temper tantrums on the tennis courts and it was not held against them. The double standards in society grate on my nerves.
This this and all of this. I remember a lot of comments that played Brett here as passionately defending himself against lies, but with Serena she was made to be an angry black woman throwing a fit. Sadly this angry black woman idea was pushed by a few other black women too.
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@abagond
The 46% is more than I expected.
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Hispanics is not a race.
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Nobody believes in ford. Only stupid people belive her
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Andre,
To Hispanic people they are or atleast the ones I know. They don’t view themselves as black or white. Complicated.
Only stupid people believe Kavanaugh or rather his fellow rapist and rape apologist, but carry on. I mean not only ford has come forth so…
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/06/15/is-being-hispanic-a-matter-of-race-ethnicity-or-both/
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I am angry and hurt that Dr. Blasey-Ford was mocked by Trump and that Kavanaugh will be put on the SCOTUS. And to see Senator Susan Collins say she is saying “yes” to Kavanaugh. It’s disgusting to see the dismissal of women hurt by sexual assault.
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Of COURSE one of my links is broken.
Well whatever. ykwim
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Actually, let me try that again, with formatting that isn’t a mess.
@ sharinalr
Plenty of Latino/Hispanic Americans identify as white, black, Asian, etc. According to the 2nd sentence of your own link, nearly two-thirds do:
“among Latinos … 63% selected at least one of these categories”
That’s not just plenty, that’s most.
Also from your link:
“Federal policy defines ‘Hispanic’ not as a race, but as an ethnicity”
So, not a race. Not to the people who count (heh).
For the record, that’s how dictionaries define it too.
And even “on the street” it’s not strictly a race. Like, Tatyana Ali is a black woman. By every vernacular definition. AZ is clearly a black man, c’mon. Cardi B, black. John Carlos, legendarily black. Flip side, Charlie Sheen is a white guy. Alexis Bledel is white. Cameron Diaz, white.*
And also they’re Latino. They’re both.
[*self-identified white Hispanics tend to be less visible, presumably because they’re less, well, visible. They can pass as “just plain white” when they want to.]
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@karinova
“That’s not just plenty, that’s most”–Perhaps you have an understanding of what plenty means. ” large or sufficient amount or quantity; more than enough.” https://www.dictionary.com/browse/plenty
“So, not a race. Not to the people who count (heh)”—That is what the federal government views or defines it as, but that does not negate what hispanic people view themselves as. Many of them don’t define themselves by american logic.
“For the record, that’s how dictionaries define it too.”—For the record “a group of persons related by common descent or heredity” as defined by a dictionary and many more https://www.dictionary.com/browse/race?s=t
“And even “on the street” it’s not strictly a race.”–Wrong, because it depends on who you talk to. Hispanics are there ethnicity first and a race second. The link contradicts this statement. This is primarily why there is the beef between black Americans and afro latinos and the sort as black Americans take issue with Hispanics not saying they are black.
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misunderstanding*
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Also a little enlightening Latino and hispanic are not the same thing.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/latino-hispanic-latinx-meaning_us_57e43013e4b0e80b1ba0f7c6
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@@karinova
Not to take this thread off topic and I have linked open thread if you want to further discuss, but half the people you named are mixed and not full Hispanic or Latino. John Carlos is the only one with full Cuban parents on both sides. Cardi b had identified as Latino (despite having mixed Caribbean roots) and is regularly labeled as black by Americans. Alexis Bledel is not Hispanic at all. She has Danish and German descent on her paternal side and Scottish and English on her mother side. She was raised in Spanish speaking countries which is why she and her family speak Spanish.
That is not to say they are not black, but to point out two things. 1) Those you gave as examples would not choose to identify as Hispanic being half. It would be an afterthought especially if raised in America. 2)None of that sets aside what they identify as themselves more so as it points out Americans need to make them fit in a box of black or white.
https://abagond.wordpress.com/open-thread/
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Why dont the feminist just pul upl sexual harassment charges from a hundred years ago. Ask Bill Cosby if he still like white people.
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Liberals are mad like a pack of wild dogs, what do you expect when women dress like sluts and go to frat parties to get drunk.
DRINKING MEN + SLUTTY DRINKING
DRESSING WOMEN = SEX!
The gang rape card doesn’t always work and
responsibilities goes both ways.
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“pul upl”
What are you speaking, Toltec???
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Lol, you must be getting desperate looking for spelling errors. Why don’t you just put on your skirt and go play with the feminist like a good little hen pecked boy.
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Looking?!? Every single one of your comments is riddled with spelling and grammar errors. It’s impossible NOT to see them.
Now that we’ve established that you can’t spell, can’t type, can’t proofread, and have such a weak command of English grammar that you can barely string a half-coherent sentence together, perhaps you should explain in detail how these traits make you demonstrably more intelligent than women or blacks?
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Thanks Mr. feminist man you’ll make a great English professor.
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Your logic and reasoning skills are also sorely lacking.
Could you please provide an example — in any academic field — that demonstrates your supposedly superior intelligence?
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Lol, ok Mr. Spock.
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If you women didn’t go to parties looking like sluts you wouldn’t get sexually abused.
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Wimp millennial feminist boys love you leftwingers.
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I didn’t think you could.
You’re just another stupid inbred mouth-breather who needs to insult other people to make himself feel big.
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Everyone needs a hobby, that’s his.
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