So, who's ready for a second sex offender to rule for life on the SCOTUS? Because Clarence Thomas wasn't enough, you see.

Of all the things that confuse me about American politics, one of the top instances of wtfery will always be why the fuck we thought it would be a good idea to give the very tippy top of the judicial branch, one of the most important positions in the entire government, a lifetime appointment without actually being elected. Seriously, I'm not sure if there is any one single decision more gut wrenchingly stupid and flagrantly anti-democratic than that one.

The fact that the GOP had that letter of sixty five character witnesses saying "Oh Kavanaugh is totes not a rapist" within literal minutes of a rape allegation coming out shows that they obviously knew that was out there and they were just waiting for that shoe to drop. They always knew he had some sketchy bullshit in his past but were at the ready to hide it and cover it up/defend him in case it ever came out. Autopsy wishes they could write something as slimy and scum-ridden as the current Republican party.

We have/had a similar thing up here. Our Senators and our Supreme Court justices are also appointed for life, although in recent years the norm is to retire at 75 and 70 respectively -- regardless if the position is "for life." It used to be that they were in those positions until they died. There is some value to life tenure. The concept behind it serves three purposes. First, it isolates the person from external pressures and protects them from political retribution. In other words, it's job security for a position that could be even more easily abused by the legislative and executive branches if either branch had the power to easily get rid of individuals that they did not like; it provides a necessary check to protect the courts from the other branches. Second, it allows them to focus on their job without knowing there's a cut off date in the near future. For the courts this is especially important, since the last thing you would want are truly activist judges who feel they have to prove themselves to keep their job (and so might be inclined to decide things favorable for whoever reappoints/reelects them) or who rush decisions because they want to leave a legacy. Ideally, the courts should be able to make decisions without feeling like they have to appease others. There is an argument that the courts are already politicized, and this may already be the case, but there is a difference between being politically motivated and being politically obligated. Both are awful, but the latter makes judges into nothing more than puppets of political parties. Third, it fosters and protects institutional knowledge. Just like with seniority for normal jobs, having people who have been around and know the ins-and-outs of the job helps stabilize the institution and keep it from changing with the seasons. Nowhere is this more important than in common law courts where decisions provide precedence, and precedence matters in terms of giving a rough direction as to how people should behave and follow the law.

I know it sounds anti-democratic -- and it is -- but there is a fair and reasonable argument for why mob rule should not control the whims of every institution. If the Supreme Court was decided on democratic grounds, you would have a completely unstable court whose opinions would vary with every administration. The shitty part about the Supreme Court with regards to this issue is a sad consequence of the wonderful world we live in... and that is people live a lot longer than they did when the Constitution was originally written. That's why the norm elsewhere in the world has adjusted to cutting off life terms at 70 or 75 - a reasonable retirement age, and (unsurprisingly) the life expectancy of a healthy adult person that lived at the time the Constitution was written. Unfortunately, and predictably, presidents know this and like appointing people as young as possible knowing full well that they have a good 30, 40, 50 years to sit on the court.

Presidents (and Prime Ministers in Canada) have always been strategic and partisan with picking people for life terms in the courts - and the partisanship and politicization would be no different if judges were elected by the people either - it's just that now it's so much easier to choose or elect younger people knowing they'll be in there a long time. This has been a trend for a while now that, unfortunately, the Supreme Court of the US seems to have deathwaves. Every 25-30 years or so, you have half the court die off or retire at once, which allows for another similarly aged cohort to take over sometimes within a single president's two terms. 25-30 years later, you have that cohort die off, and another similarly aged cohort takes over, possibly also during a single president's two terms. We're currently in the midst of the cohort brought in during the late 80s/early 90s dying off or retiring, and unfortunately right now the president is Trump.

EDIT: I can't stress enough that the power of these deathwaves is so strong, and so important for political parties, that this last election really wasn't just an election for the presidency. It was an election to determine which party controlled the presidency (and perhaps even the Senate) at a time when the latest deathwave was coming up and there was and still is an expectation that the cohort from 25-30 years ago is expected to die off/retire. This wasn't an election for the presidency so much as it was the election for the Supreme Court. And the Republicans somehow "won" that battle, and the US now reaps the consequences of another cohort of judges being decided by Republicans and not Democrats. It wont stop with Kavanaugh either. Thomas, Ginsberg, and Breyer are all a part of that same cohort as Kennedy, and the latter two are now in their 80s.

Easy fix, just up the age minimum to 85. But they could always start by with a "no rapissts alowwed" sign fixed to the front of the judicial treehouse. Wait, fuck, nevermind, that'll cost the American taxpayer billions, do you know how much custom signs cost these days? Ultraboris gotta feed his family, bro.

This is literally about the only positive of Trump. He's so reviled that there is growing backlash among voters against what they see as beliefs associated with him. Now, I'm a fan of capitalism, but Trump and his ilk have bastardized it with Crony Capitalism to such a degree, they're actively turning people away from it. In the same vein, he's also damaging religion in the United States, and in that regard, I could not be happier. The American Taliban is the absolute worst part of this country as every other regressive bullshit policy we have is culled right from the goals and strategies of the religious right.

Not me. Things keep becoming worse and worse. I didn't think it possible but it's happening.

I take it you are also three times as suspicious as the accuser now that she has 200+ backers of her story. I mean really, this is probably the silliest point to focus on in this entire affair. People who attend elite prep schools anywhere tend to stay in touch and even more so in DC, since everyone knows that's going to help you end up in office or a high-powered lobbying firm or whatever. It's not hard for them to string together a few dozen voices of support on short notice unless the person was utterly hated, especially in the Facebook age.

Now Paypal has booted Alex Jones and Infowars.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paypal-ban ... -payments/

It's getting comical at this point, and as someone all for the shuttering of Alex Jones from the internet, I am all for it.

The Kavanaugh nomination, and especially the last 36 hours of it, has to be the craziest SCOTUS nomination saga ever. If Dems on the Senate Judiciary committee don't demand subpoenas of Whelan, his PR firm, the White House, and Kavanaugh about the seemingly-random middle school teacher that got doxxed, then why the fuck even bother having Dems on the committee.

yeah the ed whelan bit is mind-blowing. i honestly don't even know what else to say.

A second woman came out claiming Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2nd-wom ... d=58031736

damn. crazy that a guy can have a weirdo, rapey doppelganger like that. the fbi needs to investigate and figure out what's going on.

anyways, looks like kavanaugh bought a house in 2006 with money that just sorta appeared. totally nothing to see here.

What a complete shitshow. With woman #2 coming out I feel like we're gonna see a bunch of more them, and soon.

Holy shit, have you guys looked into this Mark Judge guy? Just... holy shit.

i saw a screenshot of his youtube before he deleted it and yeah.

anyone watching the testimony of christine ford? this shit is heartbreaking.

If Kavanaugh had even one tiny shred of decency, he would have withdrawn his name from consideration at this point. Based on the testimony (as well as what has come out from other women), the man is a deranged predator. But I suppose when you're a spoiled, mediocre white guy, you think you can rage and whine your way to a Supreme Court position.

Oof, the Democrats are going to walk away from this one with a black eye. All four named witnesses (to include the victim’s friend) deny that the event occurred, BK denied that the event occurred, and they’re trying to stall for an FBI investigation? When the allegations were available to them for the past two months of the FBI screening process? And they didn’t ask a single question? Just bring it up a week before the vote, as if it weren’t some obvious stall tactic to push the vote past midterms? As if the FBI can forensically investigate a crime scene from 36 years ago that no one knows the location of, or interview the people who already denied that it happened.

Democrats misplayed the hell out of this. They should have openly made the narrative that this was payback for Merrill Garland’s complete lack of consideration a few years back. I assume Trump will still find a way to fuck up GOP momentum before the midterms by firing Rosenstein next week (assuming those rumors are true).

Manchin's voting yes so it's over, the rapist wins.

You need to take a step back from your keyboard, take a deep breath, and consider that a woman (three, actually) was sexually assaulted. Man, go read the victim's statement at the Cosby sentencing. Take a moment to consider how a sexual assault can fuck someone's life up completely. Think about that shit for even like thirty seconds before talking about it in this completely detached view where it's all just victimless political maneuvering.

^ Told you he was a sociopath.

I teared up a bit watching Kavanaugh give his testimony. He honestly just seems like a good guy that the democrats tried to rail in a hail mary political coup that failed horribly.

Bruv, if the DemoNRats/Soros/the Deep State were capable of orchestrating a smear job of this magnitude, why didn’t they even try it for Gorsuch? Dr. Ford is an upper middle class professor living a comfortable life in Palo Alto with a seemingly idyllic family life. Why would she choose to sacrifice her privacy, her family's safety and put her livelihood in jeopardy based on a lie? She has very little to lose from Kavanaugh’s confirmation and next to everything to lose by incorrectly accusing him of sexual assault. The only way this situation makes sense is if she’s telling the fucking truth, which means that he committed perjury, which means he doesn't get to be one of the nine most powerful people in the world. And that's it. No criminal charges, he remains as one of the most prestigious judges in the country. No harm, no foul (to him).

The fact you can't even acknowledge the possibility that Dr. Ford is telling the truth, or care to look into the creepy-ass shit Mark Judge has been up to (and the fact the senate didn't press to hear from him), the multiple independent sexual assault accusers that congress won't entertain, the fact Kavanaugh presided over many of the atrocities of the Bush administration and has plenty of other skeletons in his closet... speaks more about your emotions than "tearing up" for the guy.

The fact that all the witnesses that *she* named deny the party ever happened, including her own friend (who doesn't even remember meeting the guy) indicate... that, well, fuck, the party most likely didn't happen... unless you want to go full bizarro Alex Jones and say that all of her witnesses are on the GOP and Koch Bros payroll or something.

I'm convinced after watching her testimony that she's probably a trauma victim who constructed a false memory about the incident. I don't think she's some evil liar who is convinced that Trump is Hitler and is faking sexual assault allegations as some sort of misguided "patriotic" duty to keep Kavanaugh out of office.

...and with that being said, I'm fully convinced that the DNC strategically held on to those allegations to maximize political damage. They knew of those allegations for literally months. MONTHS. The time to bring these allegations up were during the screenings where the FBI was already involved. Instead, they elected to wait until AFTER the screenings, *a week* before confirmation, and HAD NO POLITICAL MOTIVE? Exposing the victim and Kavanaugh to MAXIMUM PUBLIC SCRUTINY? Get fucking real. *No one* on the planet is dumb enough to believe that, and that's exactly why he's getting confirmed tomorrow.

No, her friend said she believed Dr. Ford, and that she was telling the truth. She just didn't remember the party. Which Dr. Ford claimed made sense, because it was an incredibly unremarkable party. This also speaks as to why other people couldn't quite recall it. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that BK didn't remember the party himself, given his self-professed love of all things beer and being a party animal. Doesn't mean the allegations are incapable of holding merit. I'd say the polygraph test means more than the distant memories of a few drunk kids.

Maybe the reason the DNC didn't start shit about Gorsuch, despite him getting confirmed right after the Merrick Garland spike, is because Gorsuch wasn't a rapist. CRAZY, I know.

Anyway, the only reason BK is actually getting confirmed is thanks to capeda's most favorite president ever. Human decency and actually thinking about things would indicate that maybe, just maybe, we should avoid rushing a lifetime appointment who's suffered serious allegations to the highest court in the world. Not in Mike Pence's America, though.

Are you fucking kidding me

Man, even ALAN DERSHOWITZ is calling for an FBI investigation.

brett kavanaugh does not have the temperament to be a judge. it was honestly laughable to see him come out screaming like the entitled dickhead he is. still, i'm sure he's gonna get confirmed because republicans 10000% do not care about sexual assault when it's one of their own.

when the big "gotcha" moment of the day was that ford flies places despite having a fear of flying, i think that shows you how otherwise unassailable her testimony is. especially when you compare it to kavanaugh not answering questions, talking over people, lying, etc. ford was extremely believable. kavanaugh wasn't.

Otherwise completely agree with your post, and certainly believe Dr. Ford to be telling the truth, but polygraph tests are, frankly speaking, pseudoscientific bullshit.

Capeda giving the maximum amount of charitability to Kavanaugh because "He honestly just seems like a good guy" while simultaneously going full Sherlock Holmes on Ford. Did you actually watch her talking about the assault? If so you either have an emotional defect or you're just twisting this to fit your political narrative. I kinda hope it's the first.

Okay, no.

No more.

I've tolerated a lot of your insane, stupid, harmful horseshit. For over a decade, somehow. But no more.

You are a despicable piece of garbage and I've had quite enough of your sociopathic bile. Sentimentally and tearfully caping for a rapist whilst demonizing his victims is crossing a line into such blatant and breath-taking misogyny, a line that I do not and will not allow to be crossed.

I can't imagine having an ounce of sympathy for a prep school worm like Kavanaugh. Even if you don't believe he's a rapist (which it seems he probably is) then at best he's an out-of-touch reptile who certainly hasn't done anything to earn a lifetime appointment that could affect the future of our country for decades. Why anyone who isn't a similarly rich ivy league jerkoff or evangelical Christian psychopath would support him is beyond me.

It seems so obvious that it's hardly worth stating these days, but it's really disheartening that basically everyone in our government, from legislative to judicial to executive, seems to have zero investment in the lives of the actual people who live in the country. And this certainly includes Democrats as well as Republicans, although obviously one of those parties is more devoted to actively harming the country than the other.

It's difficult not to feel utterly disenfranchised by our government in every way. The only real consolation I can find in all this is that more and more people are starting to share this sentiment.

yeah tbh both parties can drink paint, but a diehard liberal, at worst, is mildly annoying and full of virtue signaling, but a diehard conservative is actively harmful to specific demographics, be they economic, social, or racial.

I don't know about Manchin (as far as I'm aware he hasn't confirmed one way or the other) but Joe Donnelly of Indiana, one of the Democrats who voted in favour of Gorsuch, came out today and stated he wouldn't vote to confirm Kavanaugh. And Donnelly's in a much tougher position than Manchin is in terms of the upcoming elections, so if he's willing to stay with the Democratic caucus and vote no, I think Manchin's liable to as well. I think that leaves Heidi Heitkamp as the most likely Senate Democrat to jump ship and vote to confirm.

Even if all Dems vote no, if the Repubs all vote yes it's over, no? The GOP controls the senate.

The only hope is if one of the remaining "moderate" (lol, snort, pfft, etc.) Repub senator flips to no. Which appears extremely unlikely. 1 flip isn't even enough because Pence can tie-break, they need 2 flips.

It all rests on the two least-shitty repubs in the Senate, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, and the hashtag nevertrumper Jeff Flake, who himself won't be running for re-election so he'd have nothing to lose. Collins probably won't flip though and Manchin probably will...

Edit: Flake forced an FBI Investigation and therefore a one-week delay, but he'll almost definitely vote yes so why is there hope in the world


The only downside to capeda getting banned now is that we won't be able to give him a full body massage with chunks of rocksalt on the .00000000000000001% chance BK does NOT get confirmed pans out.

Edit edit: This is HUGE: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/kavanau ... laims.html

Yeah, if it's a party-line vote, Republicans squeak by with a win. But the Democrats keeping their caucus together makes it easier to pressure Senator Collins to vote against confirmation-- and if Collins votes no, so does Murkowski. Everything Collins has said and done thus far has implied she's probably going to vote to confirm, but I wouldn't rule her voting no out completely. Safe to say Flake is sure to vote to confirm, though.

These cartoons hurt my soul

One can only hope that this move will alienate enough women (and the fraction of men capable of empathy, which seem rather in short supply) to cost them elections from here on. The American political system is broken beyond belief, and GOP is playing it like some game of chess.

The upswing of BK getting confirmed is that it would energize both dems and a sizable number of independent/republican women and secure the Blue Wave. I genuinely think the Dems could flip both houses if this came to pass.

The downside of BK not being put on the SC (whether by failing the vote or having his nomination pulled) is that it could have the opposite effect, impelling even the centrists, the RHINOs and the nevertrumpers to go out and vote for every MAGA candidate on the ballot. Remember that Kavanaugh is a G.W. Bush appointee and in fact Bush himself was enlisted by the RNC to flip votes for Kav and seems to be approved of by wingnuts and right-leaning centrists alike. He can also be impeached, but only with Democratic control of just about everything.

Obviously it would still be best if Rape Prep Boy got barred from literally the most powerful judicial position in the world, but at least there's a freshly washed batch of sour grapes ready and waiting to be eaten if they're needed (and I think they probably will).


For anyone who feels disarmed and helpless in the face of this disaster, I really cannot recommend the latest Chapo enough. It honestly might be their best episode to date, full of razor-sharp observations and scathing takedowns of Kavanaugh and all the pieces of shit who defend him. Seriously, it helps. Seriously.