On October 6th 2018, Brett Kavanaugh became one of the nine judges on the US Supreme Court, the highest court in the land – in spite of three women coming out publicly against him accusing him of sexual assault. In spite of seeming to lie under oath to the Senate repeatedly. In spite of coming across as a bitter, angry partisan hack, not as a calm, fair-minded judge – what, in my day, two weeks ago (seems more like three), was called “judicial temperament”.
The confirmation vote in the Senate was 50 to 48, the narrowest in over a hundred years. Not a single Republican voted against him. Not one. And one Democrat voted for him, Senator Manchin from the great red state of West Virginia.
You used to need 60 votes to get on the Court. The Republicans changed that to a simple majority – which allows them to put on judges who are far to the right. And will allow Democrats to put on judges far to the left. Neither can be good in the long run.
President Trump did order an FBI investigation into the accusations, as was right, but it was a whitewash. The FBI interviewed only nine witnesses, mainly Kavanaugh’s friends, and only one of the three accusers. They interviewed none of the more than 30 witnesses provided by the accusers. Nor any of the many people who came forward to the FBI with information. They were not interested in the truth.
Trump hamstrung the FBI while he mocked one of the accusers at a rally in Mississippi. His lily-White supporters laughed and cheered, both men and women.
The message from Republicans to the nation was in effect:
“Ha, ha! Fuck you.”
It has been scarring. Not as bad as, say, Trayvon Martin, but certainly worse than Anita Hill.
You go along thinking the US is slowly getting better, bit by bit, and then reality slaps you in the face.
The best face I can put on it is that the US is going through an Angry White Man backlash – because of Obama and because they will soon lose their democratic majority (only White women are keeping it going at this point). Sooner or later they will overplay their hand – arguably they already have. And that will lead to a backlash against them.
Black Twitter on this day:
Raquel Willis (@RaquelWillis_)
“This isn’t an alternate universe; this is what America’s been all along.”
Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu)
“I just wanna fight everybody. We gotta vote all the suckas out. All. Of. Them. Still wanna punch some folks in the face tho… like, in addition to voting”
Mari Copeny (@LittleMissFlint)
“Im 11. My generation will fix this mess of a government. Watch us.”
Ava DuVernay (@ava)
“This dark day in American history has a light that shines brighter than the cowardly men and women who will put Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. That light is Fannie Lou Hamer. Born on this day in 1917, her love and activism looms larger than their hate and treachery.”
– Abagond, 2018.
See also:
- Brett Kavanaugh
- Anthony Kennedy
- Anita Hill
- Trayvon Martin
- Gabrielle Union
- Mari Copeny
- Ava DuVernay
- Fannie Lou Hamer
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@ABAGOND
“You go along thinking the US is slowly getting better, bit by bit, and then reality slaps you in the face.”
Not me. This country holds no surprises for me. Nor should it for you
Amerikka is in the throes of a death by a thousand cuts. A slow painful death that no one wants to stop or prevent or even halt in any way. Sorry.
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Disgusting. Shameful. Disgrace.
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Frustrate republicans just as much as they frustrate you! But also prepare for war in Iran.
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@August Noone
Exactly.This is why I keep hope but not so much that you are blinded by how Amerikkka operates.
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@villagewriter
A pleasure to read your comments again.
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“And [a simple majority] will allow Democrats to put on judges far to the left.”
That ain’t gonna happen.
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Term Limits!
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I am not surprised that Kavanaugh is on the SCOTUS, always knew it was a done deal. The Republicans are “basura” that’s tra$h in Spanish. They enjoy rubbing this in the women who have suffered sexual assault and that makes them garbage.
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I agree with Ava Duvernay’s quote this is a dark day in history and those senators and the one lone Democrat are cowardly. I can’t say it enough, black folks need too get out and vote. The Voting Rights Act was gutted, voter suppression, and voter rolls being purged. It’s imperative that black Americans and women get out to the polls in large numbers.
The Republicans have already shown they don’t care about women and their rights nor do they care about marginalized groups or Democracy. The only way to get these degenerates out of office is to vote them out. Sister Fannie Lou and others were brutalized and thrown in jail and some died so we could have the privilege to vote.
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they enjoy rubbing this in the faces of women who have been hurt by sexual assault
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So all the Brock Turners of the world grow up to be Brett Kavanaugh. So disgusting and all the degenerates go out and celebrate him by having beers.
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The only men Trump can sympathize with are those who remind him of himself. Trump mocked Dr. Blasey-Ford at a rally in Mississippi was appalling. These white women in America better get a clue. Misogyny and patriarchy are just like white supremacy and racism many women have swallowed some of the water from this large ocean.
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@Mary Burrell
You are right. I think my independent voting behind will be making a quick democrat switch up in November.
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@Mary Burrell
White women benefit from white patriarchy. What is the difference between white women who supported Bill Clinton and the white women supporting Kavanaugh. We had a rapist in the white house and now we have a rapist on the supreme court
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Always read your items with gratitude –thanks for your succinct post today- especially appreciate the comment from Raquel Willis’ twttr account, given it is genocide day (aka Columbus Day) Best to you-MaryBeth
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The more important is a role a race or a gender or other biological features such as e. g. DNA features play, the more archaic a social life and politics become.
[As if there were no Trum-opposed middle-class white Americans]
But I should bet on Kavanaugh’s nomination more than just one yuan.
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So you guys really believe that Judge Kavanaugh was guilty of gang rape?
Most people on the right thought this was a farce for a number of reasons including:
–This guy never had any accusations coming from his professional career of nearly 30 years, when he had plenty of opportunities with attractive young interns.
–He said he was a virgin throughout HS and college. This would be super easy to disprove, and women who dated him could have come forward and said so (and gotten hundred of thousands in GoFundMe dollars no doubt in the process the way Ford did). None did.
–Ford lied about the reason she constructed an extra door in her house. She did this in 2008 (photos prove), so she could rent out an extra room in pricy Palo Alto. She doesn’t deny that she rented out the room and more than half a dozen people listed their address there during that time. When local authorities cracked down on this illegal activity, she needed an excuse (e.g., some psychological need to have another door)–and the same shrink she purportedly confessed to actually rented this space for some time.
–Ford lied about ever coaching for lie detector tests, and never mentioned any sexual assault to her long time boyfriend, who was interviewed under oath by the FBI.
–Ford lied about her fear of flying.
–Also, in 2012 Judge K was discussed as the #1 likely SC appointment if Romney won that election. Ford’s first mention to her husband was around this time and her husband recalls that she mentioned it because he could be appointed to SC. Interesting timing and reason.
–None of the 4 people Ford mentioned as being at the party even recalled that the party described took place. Even her best friend.
–Ford couldn’t recall the location of the house, when it happened or how she got home.
–None of Ford’s blood family stood by her during this, and they distanced themselves in fact as if they didn’t trust Ford.
–Ford had very strong connections to Democratic operatives and had a history of being an activist since before 2012.
–Dems could have moved on this story very quickly if they found it to be credible (even just by having private communications with Ford). They did not. They saved it (and the gang rape accusation from a serial liar) for the last minute so Trump wouldn’t have time to nominate someone else before the midterm elections.
—Kavanaugh was considered a “safe” pick. Trump could have picked someone more radically conservative. The dems just didn’t want a conservative on the court. None of them particularly disliked Kavanaugh as compared to anyone else. Their stated goal was to sabotage the process and leave the seat open for several years.
–Yes, Kavanaugh drank in HS. Obama used cocaine regularly in college and beyond, but somehow it was never an issue.
Anyway, it’s interesting to read this article and the comments, because the facts don’t matter to you guys, even though I’m 100% sure if the situation were reversed and a nerdy liberal judge were subject to last minute accusation of a conservative operative who brought up completely unsubstantiated claims from HS that you would be the first to jump to their defense.
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@biff
Your comment here looks like a black swan — see the book by Nassim Taleb for more details — a change that had seemed hardly possible to occur and equally difficult to predict.
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@biff
1) Not having accusations does not necessarily mean he does not have a history of sexual misconduct. As can be seen with Bill Cosby, this guy went years with no report of sexual misconduct until recently. Fear results in women or even men not reporting.
2)I agree it would be super easy to disprove, but none of those women came forward to say they did not either. So it makes one wonder. However, she never said he raped her…she stated he attempted. Seems like republicans have an issue twisting things.
3)Your reasoning 3, 4, and 5 don’t provide irrefutable evidence that she lied about rape. In fact, I find it odd that people believe you can’t fear flying and still fly. You can do both.
4) None of the four people remember the party, but said party was on Kavi’s calendar. Makes you wonder if they lied or the party was just uneventful and typical behavior for them to simply forget. Judge has a book talking about his famous blackouts, so he wouldn’t remember anything anyway.
I will say that if those four were advised to say they don’t remember it was a safe and smart move. If a thorough investigation had taken place they could fall on that to avoid any possible perjury charges.
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@ Sharina
Well said.
Logical rebuttals to lots of straw men and other fallacies.
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“Ford couldn’t recall the location of the house, when it happened or how she got home.”
I have never been drunk in my life, and yet this is still true for me concerning parties and other events that happened 30 to 35 years ago. I was stone-cold sober, but still I only remember things that stood out, not what date the party happened or what street the place was on or exactly how many people were in attendance or who I caught a ride with.
I had a guy walk up to me and grab my breasts on the dance floor in college in the ’80s. I remember exactly who he was, including his full name and his age. I remember exactly how it happened. Several people witnessed it, but I can only remember one of them for certain. I could make reasonable guesses on the rest of the witnesses based on my circle of friends at the time, but I can no longer remember with 100% certainty who was and was not there. I remember the location where it happened but could not give a street address and probably couldn’t find it on a map. I can remember the year but not the month or day.
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@Afrofem
Thank you.
@Solitaire
Society has been lead to believe a false narrative of how a rape victim acts, what they remember, etc. Rape victims and victims of attempted rape have been known to blackout parts or all of the event. Some remember the rape, but nothing outside of that. Some engage in risky behavior to cope. There is no uniform way to respond to trauma. They are not always going to sit in their rooms and withdraw. It is no different from alcoholics who drink to hide pain in their life. Another thing people did not consider about Ford….fear. It had to be terrifying going in front of people to tell your story and know they already don’t care for or believe you. Not to mention the possible repercussions and so forth. If she lied, then a thorough investigation should not have been the issue that people made it.
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@ Sharina
What struck me about biff’s longwinded attempt to depict Dr. Ford as a liar is what he (or she) left out of the whole Kavanaugh saga. What was conveniently omitted were the other women who described similar behavior or worse from Kavanaugh: exposing his genitals, drunken belligerence, gang rape and slapping girls.
In addition to Dr. Ford, Deborah Ramirez, Julie Swetnick and one other woman who chose to remain anonymous all described incidents of sexual impropriety and rape.
Moreover, not just women came forward with descriptions of his selfish and mean spirited character, a number of men also painted an unflattering portrait of Kavanaugh.
This whole episode points out to me that what makes #metoo a potential gamechanger is the fact that victims of sexual violence are no longer alone before the system. Women and men who have been raped or abused have a means to connect with one another, compare notes and expose the serial rapists who have long been shielded by custom and “blame the rape victim” practices.
A high percentage of women (and men) have experienced rape and other forms of sexual violence (much of it never reported or discussed). One thing the #metoo revelations shine a light on is how a relatively small group of males are serial aggressors. The problem occurs when other men and women close ranks around these bad actors, fail to demand accountability and attack victims of their violence for merely coming forward.
This tradition of social support for rapists is one reason victims remain silent and isolated——and rapists continue their criminal activities.
I don’t expect #metoo to eradicate that tradition. Erosion of that social support tradition will take time. Perhaps #metoo is a first step in giving victims of sexual violence a voice.
We shall see.
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@Afrofem,
I fully agree. Although I no longer bother to point it out, it is very troubling or rather odd that they forget that others came forwards. Perhaps they view Dr. Ford’s story as the weakest or perhaps they see it as shutting her up will simply shut up others.
#metoo movement has a ways to go as people still label it as a woman’s movement. Though it is fair to say, I understand the fear men have in coming forward. They are viewed as less of a man and his masculinity challenged. I have heard way to often “women lie about rape.” Some do and will not get my support, but what about men who are raped. Man or woman they have a lot to lose by coming forward, but they lose so much more staying silent. Eternal battles are the hardest. You can eventually shut people out, but your inner voice has a way of never shutting up. Society is a sad place to be okay with someone suffering in silence as long is it protects a person they want to see the good in, but is indeed a no good person.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/10/10/brett-kavanaugh-website-sexual-assault-survivors/1591819002/
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@ Sharina
I included men as survivors of sexual violence because a former mayor of Seattle was accused of rape by several young men. When the first man came forward, the mayor’s political allies and city council members closed ranks around the mayor. Local media went to great lengths to describe the first man as an addict and petty criminal.
The only public figure to speak on behalf of the survivor was the much hated (and much beloved) Socialist city council member. Within a week, a few more men came forward to describe mistreatment by the former mayor. Only at that point did the former mayor resign and his allies cut him loose.
Also, there have been a lot of local discussions about Military Sexual Trauma involving both female and male victims. I never realized how much rape occurs in the military. Plus military structure make reporting rape a real nightmare.
Female or male, survivors of sexual violence face a lot of victim blaming when they come forward and tell their stories.
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Anita Hill got to the heart of the matter during a talk at UPenn a few days ago:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/10/anita-hill-brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-response
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Women will mess up anything and get all of the advantages because they are women .
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Cry rape that never fails for you feminist .
Keep going to parties with mini skirts on and getting drunk, all i have to say is YOU ASKED FOR IT! Cry rape or sexual harassment that works good for you white girls. If you don’t want to get sexual harassed find a job working with mostly women.
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@Big Boy
I know you’re a troll, but your “YOU ASKED FOR IT!” mentality is shared by many other people. So, I just wanted to step up and let you know that “asking for it” consists of literally asking you for you. The way someone dresses, dances, and whether or not they choose to get drunk not asking for it.
You find a girl in a miniskirt attractive and you think you have rights to her body? She happens to reduce her inhibitions by drinking and you assume she did so to make it easier for you to take advantage of her?!?
Perhaps it is you that should avoid going to places where you might lose control and rape someone.
“If you don’t want to get sexual harassed find a job working with mostly women.” I’m honestly surprised you think it’s OK for women to have jobs at all.
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Don’t worry the wimp millennial boys will stick up for you girls, next the millennial boys will start using tampons.
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Don’t worry the wimp millennial boys will stick up for you girls, next the millennial boys will start using tampons.
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Be kind to Big Boy, he is suffering from toxic shock syndrome from overuse of tampons.
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@ Big Boy
“next the millennial boys will start using tampons.”
I suggest you stuff one in your mouth and stfu.
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Lol, you are feminist white boy wimps at least the Republicans are the real men not some hen pecked leftwinger white boy.
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@ Big Boy
“Women … get all of the advantages because they are women .”
That’s why all the U.S. presidents have been women for the last 200+ years …. oh, wait.
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Maybe ‘ Big Boy’ is really a ‘small boy’
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No, the Republican men just enjoy cruising public washrooms for anonymity’s sake, having adulterous affairs and all sorts of filth. Hypocrites!
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Women are just stupid, making up rape allegations from 40 years ago then can’t remember nothing. If you get drunk and act like sluts what do you expect. To me they asked for it.
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Big Boy or Small Boy, he’s definitely an incel.
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Big Boy is just another drive by troll who is having fun on this blog by throwing virtual fecal material around. Nothing original there. Brietbart was starting to bore him/her.
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Nah, i just see the stupidly of women.
You only call a person a troll who doesn’t agree with your point of view.
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Your mother was stupid for giving birth to you. This is why abortion should remain legal.
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“if it wasn’t for date rape {he’d} never get laid”
-sublime
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Big Boy
No, we only call people a troll when they act like one. Though I suspect you look like one too.
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Big Boy must be on of those loser incel mouth breathers who can’t get a girl friend.
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Says: “i just see the stupidly of women.”
Can’t spell “stupidity” right.
Hmmm.
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Big Boy might be a troll, but he has a point. If women keep falsely accusing men of rape, eventually nobody will bother to investigate rape accusations
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Alberto Monteiro
Except the percentage of false allegations are low and most women don’t report. With most evidence to rape being little or none, it primary rests on he said she said. You both are basically using a scare tactic that often leads to women not reporting.
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@sharinarl
This is not what I said. Also, there’s a huge difference between brazilian x american law. In Brazil, words are wind, a woman who accuses someone of rape would have to back it with material proof. In the USA, you believe that if someone says something under oath, then it magically becomes The Truth. So, a few women who lie about rape will undermine the credibility of all women: we might be back to Jesus’s time, when two men could condemn anyone, but a thousand women wouldn’t. Worse: now in the Supreme Court there is someone who suffered from women’s lies, who might rule agaist any sentence based on oaths
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Feminist men are on the women side.
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@ Alberto Monteiro
“Worse: now in the Supreme Court there is someone … who might rule agaist any sentence based on oaths”
Except he can’t do that — he himself is under oath to uphold the Constitution and U.S law.
And anyway, if he did turn maverick like that, there are eight other justices on the Supreme Court who will keep him in check. A minority opinion doesn’t change the law, even when it’s by a Supreme Court justice.
You act like rape is the only crime where someone might bring a false accusation or lie under oath. Are we going to stop prosecuting murder because people have sworn under oath that an innocent person was the murderer? Are we going to stop prosecuting child abuse because some people have falsely accused neighbors they didn’t like?
This is a scare tactic, pure and simple. How am I personally supposed to prevent a small fraction of women I don’t even know from bringing false accusations? Why should their bad behavior reflect on me if I ever need to file charges in a completely separate case?
Women have rarely been able to get justice for rape throughout history. Men haven’t, either, for that matter. If a man were to rape you, it would be your word against his, wouldn’t it? And your words are wind.
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@ Alberto Monteiro
“In the USA, you believe that if someone says something under oath, then it magically becomes The Truth.”
That’s not how it works. Obviously we don’t believe it is magically the truth. If we did, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas wouldn’t be sitting on the Supreme Court.
People giving testimony in a court of law are required to do so under oath, but if that magically made their statements true, what need would there be for a jury and a judge?
We understand that someone may be lying. We also understand that someone may be telling the truth as they perceive it or remember it but still be mistaken about what really happened or may have misidentified someone in an honest mistake.
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@Alberto Monteiro
“Worse: now in the Supreme Court there is someone who suffered from women’s lies”
Interesting take. Is it also possible that now in the Supreme Court there are men who succeeded in spite of women’s truths?
@Abagond
Did you happen to check IPs for bigbig40boy and Big Boy to ensure they were not sock puppets in addition to trolls?
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Here in Brazil there cases of couples that were accused of child abuse and child sacrifice. In one case, they were arrested and suffered hell in prison. The child sacrificers were lynched to death. All accusations were false
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@Alberto Monteiro
Here in the United States we have a history of stories like Emmett Till’s where false accusations have been used as a weapon as well. So, I take your point.
However, just because false accusations occur does not mean that all accusations should be immediately suspected of being false. That attitude is why more women do not come forward. I imagine it would be incredibly scary for a young women to come forward and create all manner of drama and grief in their lives when nobody is going to believe them anyway. We must continue to take these accusations seriously and do our best to investigate them to the extent that is possible and we need to stop tarnishing the name of every accuser simply because some woman somewhere leveled a false accusation.
Regarding Kavanaugh specifically, there wasn’t any hard evidence and witness testimony was either non-existent or counter to the accuser’s story. So, given the political urgency of the situation, Republicans went ahead and confirmed him. That doesn’t make him innocent, just unconvictable in a political climate that worked in his favor. Nor does it make her story false, just unprovable. Unless I missed the part where she recanted.
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@Alberto Monteiro
“This is not what I said. “–Feel free to quote the portion of my post where I said you said it? I clearly stated you guys are using a typical scare tactic. Example: “If women keep falsely accusing men of rape, eventually nobody will bother to investigate rape accusations.”
If I am going to speak on what you say rest assured I will quote it to avoid any confusion or lying.
“In Brazil, words are wind, a woman who accuses someone of rape would have to back it with material proof. In the USA, you believe that if someone says something under oath, then it magically becomes The Truth.”—False. Say it under oath you still need proof in the USA and often times, as I stated above, there is none.
“So, a few women who lie about rape will undermine the credibility of all women:”—No. That is like saying a few racist whites or blacks undermines the credibility of the whole race. Only if you want to believe that.
“Worse: now in the Supreme Court there is someone who suffered from women’s lies, who might rule agaist any sentence based on oaths”—Except those women didn’t lie. They had other witnesses that they refused to interview. Most of his witnesses said they don’t remember and his own calendar told on him.
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@ Alberto Monteiro
“Here in Brazil there cases of couples that were accused of child abuse and child sacrifice. In one case, they were arrested and suffered hell in prison. The child sacrificers were lynched to death. All accusations were false”
What you are describing is lousy police work and no rule of law.
Perhaps if the police in Brazil stopped murdering Afro-Brazilians every 23 minutes for sport and focused on real police work (like investigations, etc.), baseless arrests and mob rule would plummet.
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