Donald Trump is the President Mark IV (Read Mod Warning in OP)

Manic Moran

The judge stated in his testimony before the committee that he never committed a sex offence against any female whatsoever. All it takes is one such report to be confirmed through police records or by the parents of a teenage victim having reported a sex offence to the police.

Committed and a report are not the same thing, though it is certainly a little too much of a coincidence.

It seems that the takeaway from today depends on which side of the fence you are on. Over in R-land, there is much support for Graham's performance in particular. One one of the more conservative boards I frequent, they are all but celebrating Kavanaugh's appointment.

Corker is voting for Kavanaugh, apparently.

TomOnBoard

Water John wrote: »

The Triangle, meaning has been corrected on CNN. Politely simply calling it a sex act. Seems he actually did watch Ford though told the Committee that he didn't.

And it appears that the circumstances described by Ford, are exactly what is described in the sexual description ascribed to the Devils Triangle, i.e. 2 males to 1 female.

Oh, and BTW, it appears that in such circles where this happens, the males mustn't look into each other's eyes during the act, lest they be considered to be closet homosexuals. Jeez, we were very innocent growing up in my day!!!

StringerBell

The only thing in any way surprising is that anybody would be surprised the Republicans are doing exactly what Mitch Mconnell said they would and plough straight through this and have kavanaugh on the supreme Court soon.

The hearing was a farce, it was never going to be any other way. It's a broken country.

jooksavage

I cant believe they're pushing on with the vote today. All those measures they took to put a veneer of fairness on the hearing are completely pointless now. Whichever side you take, this is too quick. At the very least they should wait until next week. This looks like exactly what it is - nothing was going to change their minds and, to borrow a phrase from Trump, the hearing was a "con job".

The Dems traditionally have a job motivating their voters to the ballot box. That job is going to be made a lot easier if this nomination is rushed through.

batgoat

In relation to "devil's triangle" and "boofed", a new york times journalist had checked with Kavanaugh's classmates at time in relation to what they viewed meaning at as. Guess what? He was lying.
https://twitter.com/davidenrich/status/1045416955522535425?s=19

Fr Tod Umptious

jooksavage wrote: »

I cant believe they're pushing on with the vote today. All those measures they took to put a veneer of fairness on the hearing are completely pointless now. Whichever side you take, this is too quick. At the very least they should wait until next week. This looks like exactly what it is - nothing was going to change their minds and, to borrow a phrase from Trump, the hearing was a "con job".

The Dems traditionally have a job motivating their voters to the ballot box. That job is going to be made a lot easier if this nomination is rushed through.

They say that about every Trump administration controversy

Akrasia

To all the people who think Kavanaugh was too innocent to think that a devils triangle could have been a threesome, this happened in the early 80s. Animal house was released in 1978.

batgoat

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

[/b]

They say that about every Trump administration controversy

We haven't had the midterms yet though, I don't really expect much more than the dems winning the house. The credibility of the Trump administration has been gone for a long time in terms of the international community. So I don't see them ever really coming back from the damage tbh..

jooksavage

batgoat wrote: »

We haven't had the midterms yet though, I don't really expect much more than the dems winning the house. The credibility of the Trump administration has been gone for a long time in terms of the international community. So I don't see them ever really coming back from the damage tbh..

If the Dems take the house, they could start their own investigation into Kavanaugh. They could call on Mark Judge to provide testimony. They could investigate Kavanaughs time clerking for Kozonski. The Rs would be better served to cool their jets and wait a few days. This rush to conform looks unreasonable.

robinph

Is there any way to remove him once appointed?

Christy42

He can be impeached I believe.

This is beyond ridiculous. We are not sure if Ford lied on the stand. We do know Kavanagh lied about his drinking. I don't care if he drinks but he is obviously willing to lie about it to the senate.

He is obviously not overly stable either. While you can argue he has had a tough week the man went to pieces. I feel like a little calm under pressure is desirable for the role he is going for.

He is not fit for the scotus. Obviously he will get on regardless because Republicans.

Quin_Dub

robinph wrote: »

Is there any way to remove him once appointed?

There's an impeachment process for Judges.

Not 100% on who votes for it (probably the Senate) but they can be removed .

batgoat

Christy42 wrote: »

He can be impeached I believe.

This is beyond ridiculous. We are not sure if Ford lied on the stand. We do know Kavanagh lied about his drinking. I don't care if he drinks but he is obviously willing to lie about it to the senate.

He is not fit for the scotus. Obviously he will get on regardless because Republicans.

He came across as too unhinged for the role as well.

TomOnBoard

Quin_Dub wrote: »

There's an impeachment process for Judges.

Not 100% on who votes for it (probably the Senate) but they can be removed.

House of Reps must impeach. When impeached, the Senate then acts as the trial body, presided over most likely by the Vice President, in his capacity of being in charge of the Senate.

Even if, in some unlikely future, Kav was impeached by the House, it is highly unlikely the Senate would find him guilty. So, if the Senate confirms him, Kav goes onto tbe SCOTUS for life.

manual_man

The FBI investigation argument is complete bluff and nonsense. The Dems hope to delay and obstruct this til after the midterms, that's always been their game. Going by all the stunts pulled so far, if such an investigation were to be agreed and go ahead, it could very well be dragged out til after the midterms. The play is very simple, most people know it but not all will acknowledge it.

This has been a complete farce for me. I think he will be confirmed and not only that I think more will come out in coming weeks that will damage the Dems ahead of the midterms. Their increasing desperation and complete lowering of any kind of standards (they can blame Trump for this but hey, personal responsibility) is an absolute disgrace and increasingly more people have had enough and are walking away from their politics of division and BS.

seamus

Christy42 wrote: »

He can be impeached I believe.

If he gets appointed, I'd say it won't be long before he's impeached.

Whatever about the partisan shiftings of the supreme court, appointment to the role is an honour that the recipients take incredibly seriously. They consider themselves a "best of the best" group, and while they may not see eye-to-eye in their opinions, they have the utmost respect for the integrity and legal intellect of their colleagues on that bench.

Kavanaugh is a joke in comparison, he will immediately be in conflict with the rest of the court.

As I've seen mentioned elsewhere, if Kavanaugh got in, it would make a mockery of the whole system. People are complaining about "due process" and "allegations". But Kavanaugh is not on trial. This is a job interview.

If a guy walked in for an interview with me and someone I trusted whispered in my ear that he had attacked and sexually assaulted them a few years back, his CV would be in the bin. Don't bother answering any questions, there's the door.

The fact that his self-promotion for this position consists almost entirely of defending his character and not bigging up his personal credentials, tells you that he is a mess. The media are discussing his impeachment before he's even been appointed. That's like interviewing someone and then rather than talk about why you should hire them, instead discussing how you might fire them in future.

Gorusch was appointed by a narrow margin, and there was very little controversial about him. If the Republicans in the Senate put Kavanaugh through, then it's absolute proof that they place party before country and will do absolutely anything to hold onto power.

batgoat

manual_man wrote: »

The FBI investigation argument is complete bluff and nonsense. The Dems hope to delay and obstruct this til after the midterms, that's always been their game. Going by all the stunts pulled so far, if such an investigation were to be agreed and go ahead, it could very well be dragged out til after the midterms. The play is very simple, most people know it but not all will acknowledge it.

This has been a complete farce for me. I think he will be confirmed and not only that I think more will come out in coming weeks that will damage the Dems ahead of the midterms. Their increasing desperation and complete lowering of any kind of standards (they can blame Trump for this but hey, personal responsibility) is an absolute disgrace and increasingly more people have had enough and are walking away from their politics of division and BS.

You don't find it concerning that a potential supreme court judge lied under oath multiple times yesterday?

ARNOLD J RIMMER

batgoat wrote: »

You don't find it concerning that a potential supreme court judge lied under oath multiple times yesterday?

He is get the votes today to become a supreme court judge.

WinnyThePoo

Trump was advised not to pick Kavanagh. He went ahead and did anyway. The reps have clearly tried to the ram Kavanagh through.

Leroy42

Of course can debate the veracity of the testimony given by Dr Ford yesterday, and obviously Kavanaugh would be upset and humiliated by all this if it is false or mistaken identity.

But, he is going for the top position in the legal system in the USA and his defence inclused that it was a left wing conspriracy (without any actual evidence to back up). That and he clearly lost his cool and took to personally attacking senators of the US under questioning.

Does he think that any accused should be allowed to deal with a prosecutor in the same way (I know it was not a court of law). Does he think that a person should be allowed to make conspiracy theories a part of their defence.

Whatever about the truth behind the story with Cr Ford, which none of us know, his performance yesterday was not of the type of person that should be getting such a position. If Roe v Wade is to be reheard, what level of pressure and stress does he think he will receive then? This performance would clearly indicate that he does not has the temperment to handle that.

There is also the very real possibility that Trump could be impeached. As such, it will likely be a decision for SCOTUS as to whether or not it can go ahead etc. He has clearly stated that he feels that there is a left wing conspiracy against the right and as such has already ruled himself out of being able to adjudge any decision.

So What Dr Ford has really done is shown his totally unsuitability for the job. It isn't enough that he simply knows the law, SCOTUS is an extremely important role. It is telling that Trump has lowered the bar so much that people seem to be willing to accept that the top positions should not be held to any higher standard of person that the local barman.

Pelvis

manual_man wrote: »

The FBI investigation argument is complete bluff and nonsense. The Dems hope to delay and obstruct this til after the midterms, that's always been their game. Going by all the stunts pulled so far, if such an investigation were to be agreed and go ahead, it could very well be dragged out til after the midterms. The play is very simple, most people know it but not all will acknowledge it.

This has been a complete farce for me. I think he will be confirmed and not only that I think more will come out in coming weeks that will damage the Dems ahead of the midterms. Their increasing desperation and complete lowering of any kind of standards (they can blame Trump for this but hey, personal responsibility) is an absolute disgrace and increasingly more people have had enough and are walking away from their politics of division and BS.

The FBI investigation could take only a matter of days. The Anita Hill investigation took 3 days. If one was called for immediately the hearing could realistically have still taken place yesterday. Delaying a hearing when there isn't even any deadline is not a valid argument against conducting a proper, thorough investigation.

batgoat

ARNOLD J RIMMER wrote: »

He is get the votes today to become a supreme court judge.

This doesn't change my point..

PopePalpatine

WinnyThePoo wrote: »

Trump was advised not to pick Kavanagh. He went ahead and did anyway. The reps have clearly tried to the ram Kavanagh through.

Trump must have seen something he liked.

DrumSteve

From the hearings though, I would be extremely surprised if Harris (or Booker) are not at the top of the ticket for 2020 for the Dems.

StringerBell

robinph wrote: »

Is there any way to remove him once appointed?

Yes, but it's not likely

Captain Obvious

Manic Moran wrote: »

No, it didn't just mean happy.

But it did mean happy, and was often used as such. Context was everything. Today, nobody ever uses 'gay' in that context, but 30 years ago, people did. Especially if you grew up reading your dad's books from the attic, and didn't pay attention to whatever the sexuality scene was. In my teens, I did more of the former than the latter.

The point is that terminology changes over time, and unlike 'gay', which obviously is known to have multiple meanings, "devil's triangle" is pretty damned obscure to begin with.

You might have a point if it was just that one term but he lied about multiple terms.

2 Scoops wrote: »

The opposite actually. The Dem's and media have portrayed him as some of serial rapist who drugged Women and then gang raped them, Avenatti came out of this hearing looking an absolute fool.

As of now you can only look at the facts and there's very little collaboration or evidence to back up the accusations.

Kavanaugh has been revealed as a temperamental, partisan liar. That's what this hearing showed.

Akrasia

robinph wrote: »

Is there any way to remove him once appointed?

Impeachment is theoretically possible, but only one SC judge has ever been impeached and even then, the process didn't result in him losing his seat.

Penn

I think Kavanaugh will be confirmed. F*ck knows he doesn't deserve it, especially based off both testimonies yesterday and him showing that he has neither the temperament nor partisanship to be worthy of being confirmed (obviously he leans conservative, but he was outright showing disdain for democrats and liberals yesterday). But the Republicans yesterday were doing nothing more than going through the motions to appear like they've done all they can to be fair and unbiased, but were always going to vote to confirm him regardless of the outcome.

This will be a stain on all those involved, and hugely detrimental to discourse about survivors of sexual assault in America.

Penn

DrumSteve wrote: »

From the hearings though, I would be extremely surprised if Harris (or Booker) are not at the top of the ticket for 2020 for the Dems.

Both would have been great picks before this hearing, but definitely more so now.

My only worry would be the fires of racism it would stoke in swing states and how that could be manipulated into turning even those wavering on Trump/Republicans back to that side.

Akrasia

There are reports of 2 more women having come forward with allegations against Kavanaugh. This makes 5 separate accusations against him. All he wants to do is get through the hearing and get railroaded through so he is happy to filibuster, lie and evade his way through the 'hearing' which he insists 'is the investigation' in the knowledge that if he gets confirmed today, he will be basically untouchable.

If Kavanaugh gets through the senate, there may be impeachment brought against him, but that process takes years and you can bet it will be dragged out as long as possible. In that time, he will already have fulfilled his role and womens reproductive rights, minority voting rights will have been eviscerated, and corporate rights and 'property rights' will have been even more entrenched into judicial precedent, and the executive branch will have impunity to act knowing that the Supreme court won't stand in his way.

There is a queue of highly contentious cases waiting to be brought forward to the SC for judgements. If Kavanaugh gets in today, this is a huge step on the road down America's decline into right wing totalitarianism