I am far from a man of faith but I often find myself thanking God that Donald Trump is president. At a time when our Republican senators are actively working towards the downfall of civilization one manironically one prone to misspeakingis not afraid to tell the truth.
It is unfortunate that self-censorship is required by anyone dependent on the system but we are fortunate to have an uncensored first family. Don Jr. has come out to profess fear for his sons in this atmosphere of mob violence and civil cowardice. For that he has been compensated many times over in hateful criticism. Criticism" however is too strong a word because it implies the critique of an idea. What Don has received is juvenile insults from Jimmy Kimmel and a conclusory allegation that he has a fear and mistrust of women" by Senator(!) Hirono.
I will not pretend to know who Don fears and/or mistrusts but it is unlikely that women" or accusers" which is what Sen. Hirono actually means (see how easy it is to make judgments) are the cause of his anxiety. Women like Christine Blasey Ford are not inherently threatening; their power to destroy comes from the rabid mob of unthinking agitators who blindly support them. Rather than appeal to the better instincts of people to civility and due process our politicians feed into the anger. Rather than issue statements to defend the rule of law our legal institutions fold under mob pressure. Somehow Harvard Law denying an innocent man his livelihood is an exhibition of moral courage".
Irrational hatred and partisan bias are nothing new. The explicit support of said forms of ignorance by our institutions is new and of that we should be afraid. In a futile and misguided effort to appear on the right side of history many institutions and influential people have come out against Judge Kavanaugh. If his guilt was proven and his downfall inevitable these actions could be explained away as part of the normal opportunism and corruption which follow any political scandal. This is not the case. The accusations against him are specious vague and uncorroborated. In either a criminal or civil trial a talented first year law student could easily dismantle Fords claims and get the case dismissed. How then has half of the country been so easily duped? Answer: They have not.
Ford is not credible. I am not afraid to say it. She is not even close to being credible. How can someone be concurrently 1. Sober; 2. 100 certain of their attackers identity; and 3. 0 certain of the time or place? If the best you can do is a house in Maryland sometime during the 1980s" you may as well claim that you wrote the address down but then lost the paper in a volcano. Most Republicans felt it politically necessary to begin their questioning with a redundant statement condemning sexual assault because the default position of all of humanity needs to be ceaselessly reiterated at taxpayer expense. They also felt it necessary to respond to any media inquiry with a statement affirming Fords credibility. Some would then follow up with the novel idea that Judge Kavanaugh might be telling the truth.
I understand the realities of media manipulation political expedience and the fast approaching midterm elections. In a democracy however the louder side does not always win. Concessions to the left are unlikely to result in more votes and would serve only to jeopardize ones position with conservative voters. Dr. Ford has a right to speak. Despite the implausibility of her story she even has the right to be heard; if Judge Kavanaugh engaged in criminal behavior the Senate has the right to know. She does not however have the right to be believed. Now that the American people have patiently listened the Senate has showered her with unwarranted praise and the media has shamelessly presented her as a hero" we can move on.
The liberal Senators do not believe her either. Again I understand that it is politically rewarding for them to lionize this woman and present themselves as standing up" to the misogynist Republicans. Those pesky Republicans already having immortalized their hatred for women by passing the 19th Amendment were now seeking to confirm the first Supreme Court Justice with four female law clerks. Democrats to the rescue! Somehow the hypocrisy of this group continues to go largely ignored. One would think the principled members of this party would object to sensationalizing the damsel in distress" testimony of Dr. Ford and facilitating her presentation as a meek and helpless woman. Perhaps they would stand for the equality" they consistently preach and give Judge Kavanaugh his due process.
For a party of wildly divergent interest groups they seem to have rallied around this unlikely hero" who they nonetheless diminish into a pitiful creature whose every lapse is excused as a byproduct of some unverified trauma. Anita Hill was a strong woman. She was an attorney who worked directly under Clarence Thomas for several years. Hill gave her account of what happened and Thomas gave his. Whatever the truth may be there was no question of the existence of a long-term professional relationship. It has not even been verified that Ford and Kavanaugh ever attended a single party together. The theory behind her infallibility rests entirely upon her possession of two X chromosomes and Kavanaughs possession of one.
The true colors of the Democratic Party are showing and the soft bigotry of low expectations is once again shown to be the very essence of their platform. We should believe her spotty story because she is a victim. The party believes that all women are victims because the system is sexist and intolerant. They plan to save women from the patriarchal state by thoroughly expanding the powers of the patriarchal state. They plan to ensure the personal autonomy of women by severely restricting the personal autonomy of women. They wonder why they lose elections.
I do not know what Judge Kavanaugh was alluding to when he said what goes around comes around" but that warning is entirely appropriate. The precedents set; of cowing to the ignorant mob of glorifying accusers of attacking the accused are not easily discarded. These hearings are reminiscent of denunciations in the totalitarian regimes of the past. If we discard the contemporary window dressing and faade of enlightenment we are left with the formation of privileged classes using state power to oppress the unprivileged. It is one thing to say that a group has been historically disadvantaged and to provide for that imbalance (affirmative action). It is quite another to say that a group has been historically disadvantaged and may therefore exact arbitrary vengeance with state sponsorship.
Excessive partisanship is causing people to deny the objective reality which forms the fabric of a functional society. We have to be okay with telling the truth. Many sexual assaults go unreported. Many sexual assaults are reported yet go unpunished. Brett Kavanaugh did not sexually assault Christine Blasey Ford. All of those statements can harmoniously coexist. Identity politics has become a parody of itself.
Actual victims of sexual assault were very vocal in their support of Dr. Ford and their opposition to Judge Kavanaugh. Their emotional response is understandable the subsequent inflammatory media campaign is not. Dr. Ford does not represent victims of any kind; she is a wealthy white privileged woman whose perceived credibility rests very strongly on those aforementioned traits. What happened to white privilege? What happened to socialism? This rich white woman is allowed to tell her story in front of the Senate. Her every claim is regarded as gospel and she presents herself as a martyr. She says she has nothing to gain" from this fiasco. Even if we disregard the unnecessary GoFundMe page unwarranted fame and future media exposure (interviews book deals etc.) it is still a realization of immense power. Would a poor black woman with an identical accusation be taken as seriously? A trans woman? A gay man?
Regardless of how the confirmation process ends we have lost. The fragility of our system has been exposed and exploited. One unsubstantiated claim has been coupled with mass stupidity and weaponized to destroy not merely a judicial candidate but the entire confirmation process. This is the state of our government. We do not have to worry about the Russians attacking our institutions because they have already Sovietized themselves.
I am far from a man of faith but I often find myself thanking God that Donald Trump is president. At a time when our Republican senators are actively working towards the downfall of civilization one manironically one prone to misspeakingis not afraid to tell the truth.
It is unfortunate that self-censorship is required by anyone dependent on the system but we are fortunate to have an uncensored first family. Don Jr. has come out to profess fear for his sons in this atmosphere of mob violence and civil cowardice. For that he has been compensated many times over in hateful criticism. Criticism" however is too strong a word because it implies the critique of an idea. What Don has received is juvenile insults from Jimmy Kimmel and a conclusory allegation that he has a fear and mistrust of women" by Senator(!) Hirono.
I will not pretend to know who Don fears and/or mistrusts but it is unlikely that women" or accusers" which is what Sen. Hirono actually means (see how easy it is to make judgments) are the cause of his anxiety. Women like Christine Blasey Ford are not inherently threatening; their power to destroy comes from the rabid mob of unthinking agitators who blindly support them. Rather than appeal to the better instincts of people to civility and due process our politicians feed into the anger. Rather than issue statements to defend the rule of law our legal institutions fold under mob pressure. Somehow Harvard Law denying an innocent man his livelihood is an exhibition of moral courage".
Irrational hatred and partisan bias are nothing new. The explicit support of said forms of ignorance by our institutions is new and of that we should be afraid. In a futile and misguided effort to appear on the right side of history many institutions and influential people have come out against Judge Kavanaugh. If his guilt was proven and his downfall inevitable these actions could be explained away as part of the normal opportunism and corruption which follow any political scandal. This is not the case. The accusations against him are specious vague and uncorroborated. In either a criminal or civil trial a talented first year law student could easily dismantle Fords claims and get the case dismissed. How then has half of the country been so easily duped? Answer: They have not.
Ford is not credible. I am not afraid to say it. She is not even close to being credible. How can someone be concurrently 1. Sober; 2. 100 certain of their attackers identity; and 3. 0 certain of the time or place? If the best you can do is a house in Maryland sometime during the 1980s" you may as well claim that you wrote the address down but then lost the paper in a volcano. Most Republicans felt it politically necessary to begin their questioning with a redundant statement condemning sexual assault because the default position of all of humanity needs to be ceaselessly reiterated at taxpayer expense. They also felt it necessary to respond to any media inquiry with a statement affirming Fords credibility. Some would then follow up with the novel idea that Judge Kavanaugh might be telling the truth.
I understand the realities of media manipulation political expedience and the fast approaching midterm elections. In a democracy however the louder side does not always win. Concessions to the left are unlikely to result in more votes and would serve only to jeopardize ones position with conservative voters. Dr. Ford has a right to speak. Despite the implausibility of her story she even has the right to be heard; if Judge Kavanaugh engaged in criminal behavior the Senate has the right to know. She does not however have the right to be believed. Now that the American people have patiently listened the Senate has showered her with unwarranted praise and the media has shamelessly presented her as a hero" we can move on.
The liberal Senators do not believe her either. Again I understand that it is politically rewarding for them to lionize this woman and present themselves as standing up" to the misogynist Republicans. Those pesky Republicans already having immortalized their hatred for women by passing the 19th Amendment were now seeking to confirm the first Supreme Court Justice with four female law clerks. Democrats to the rescue! Somehow the hypocrisy of this group continues to go largely ignored. One would think the principled members of this party would object to sensationalizing the damsel in distress" testimony of Dr. Ford and facilitating her presentation as a meek and helpless woman. Perhaps they would stand for the equality" they consistently preach and give Judge Kavanaugh his due process.
For a party of wildly divergent interest groups they seem to have rallied around this unlikely hero" who they nonetheless diminish into a pitiful creature whose every lapse is excused as a byproduct of some unverified trauma. Anita Hill was a strong woman. She was an attorney who worked directly under Clarence Thomas for several years. Hill gave her account of what happened and Thomas gave his. Whatever the truth may be there was no question of the existence of a long-term professional relationship. It has not even been verified that Ford and Kavanaugh ever attended a single party together. The theory behind her infallibility rests entirely upon her possession of two X chromosomes and Kavanaughs possession of one.
The true colors of the Democratic Party are showing and the soft bigotry of low expectations is once again shown to be the very essence of their platform. We should believe her spotty story because she is a victim. The party believes that all women are victims because the system is sexist and intolerant. They plan to save women from the patriarchal state by thoroughly expanding the powers of the patriarchal state. They plan to ensure the personal autonomy of women by severely restricting the personal autonomy of women. They wonder why they lose elections.
I do not know what Judge Kavanaugh was alluding to when he said what goes around comes around" but that warning is entirely appropriate. The precedents set; of cowing to the ignorant mob of glorifying accusers of attacking the accused are not easily discarded. These hearings are reminiscent of denunciations in the totalitarian regimes of the past. If we discard the contemporary window dressing and faade of enlightenment we are left with the formation of privileged classes using state power to oppress the unprivileged. It is one thing to say that a group has been historically disadvantaged and to provide for that imbalance (affirmative action). It is quite another to say that a group has been historically disadvantaged and may therefore exact arbitrary vengeance with state sponsorship.
Excessive partisanship is causing people to deny the objective reality which forms the fabric of a functional society. We have to be okay with telling the truth. Many sexual assaults go unreported. Many sexual assaults are reported yet go unpunished. Brett Kavanaugh did not sexually assault Christine Blasey Ford. All of those statements can harmoniously coexist. Identity politics has become a parody of itself.
Actual victims of sexual assault were very vocal in their support of Dr. Ford and their opposition to Judge Kavanaugh. Their emotional response is understandable the subsequent inflammatory media campaign is not. Dr. Ford does not represent victims of any kind; she is a wealthy white privileged woman whose perceived credibility rests very strongly on those aforementioned traits. What happened to white privilege? What happened to socialism? This rich white woman is allowed to tell her story in front of the Senate. Her every claim is regarded as gospel and she presents herself as a martyr. She says she has nothing to gain" from this fiasco. Even if we disregard the unnecessary GoFundMe page unwarranted fame and future media exposure (interviews book deals etc.) it is still a realization of immense power. Would a poor black woman with an identical accusation be taken as seriously? A trans woman? A gay man?
Regardless of how the confirmation process ends we have lost. The fragility of our system has been exposed and exploited. One unsubstantiated claim has been coupled with mass stupidity and weaponized to destroy not merely a judicial candidate but the entire confirmation process. This is the state of our government. We do not have to worry about the Russians attacking our institutions because they have already Sovietized themselves.