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posted by takyon on Saturday October 06 2018, @08:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the let-'er-rip dept.

Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The vote was 50-48 in favor of Kavanaugh.

Senators Collins, Flake, and Manchin had already announced their intentions to confirm Kavanaugh before the vote was held. Senator Lisa Murkowski, who was previously ready to vote "no", agreed to vote "present" instead so that Senator Steve Daines could attend his daughter's wedding instead of being present in the Senate to support Kavanaugh.

SCOTUSBlog: Kavanaugh confirmed as 114th justice
Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court

Previously: SCOTUS's Justice Anthony Kennedy to Retire
President Trump Nominates Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court
Trump's Supreme Court Pick: ISPs Have 1st Amendment Right to Block Websites

 
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  • (Score: 2, Troll) by jmorris on Saturday October 06 2018, @08:59PM (76 children)

    by jmorris (4844) on Saturday October 06 2018, @08:59PM (#745168)

    So much was wrong with this nomination process it is hard to know where to start.

    1. #DiFiChiSpy Feinstein should be punished for a) sitting on Dr. Ford's letter until after the hearings were completed and b) leaking its existence.

    2. Dr. Ford should have never been allowed to testify, certainly not in a public hearing. It isn't even important whether her charges are true, they aren't, but arguing that point concedes the more important question of whether a thirty six year old high school clumsy grope matters. It does not. If the high school yearbook photographer had taken candid shots of Kavanaugh drunkenly groping Ford it still should not matter. If we are going to revisit every person's high school and even college antics for behavior short of outright criminal our civilization is toast. This is a premise which must be rejected.

    3. Allowing the Democrats to call for yet another pointless FBI investigation is a failure that will haunt the Republicans. It showed weakness in the face of an enemy that is implacable, highly chaotic evil and will not stop.

    4. Who decided it was a good idea to allow protesters into the halls of Congress itself? That should be brought to a swift end in these days of increasingly violent leftists. If the Capital Police are corrupt, replace them, replace the mayor, end home rule, do whatever it requires to restore order. Muster a few companies of U.S. Marines if it takes it.

    5. Nobody gets into the Senate gallery without a ticket from a Senator. Outbursts from protesters have become a commonplace event now, that should be ended. Identify the Senator who issued the ticket to a protester when they are ejected and apply a three strikes and they are out rule. Three protesters in a twelve month period revokes the right to issue tickets from that Senator for some period of time sufficient to end the practice.

    But now that this fiasco is over, time for Trump to get back to declassifying and releasing documents.

    Time for the Truth to be set free.

    Time for the pain.

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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:03PM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:03PM (#745171)

    But now that this fiasco is over, time for Trump to get back to declassifying and releasing documents.

    Time for the Truth to be set free.

    Time for the pain.

    What documents? Kavanaugh? Russia investigation? UFO? QAnon?

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:08PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:08PM (#745172) Journal

      The Balfour Declaration good enough?

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:11PM (2 children)

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:11PM (#745173) Homepage

      I believe QAnon was High Level Insider. My psychoanalysis of High Level Insider is that he is a mid-twenties Catholic male with a private educational background of philosophy, maybe even theology. Then, when known as High Level Insider, he became bored with people actually believing his LARPS and not offering real creative challenges. Then he started making ever-increasingly idiotic comments such as "Obama is Osama."

      Qanon tells tales like Tori Amos writes lyrics -- vague word-salads that compel others to interpret them how they see fit, and since the directions are so vague, anybody can correlate the information to anything given only a few degrees of separation. In short, it's the same shit that fortune tellers do.

      Don't get me wrong, I love conspiracy shit. But sometimes LARPS can get out of hand. Look at organized religion, for example.

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:17PM (1 child)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:17PM (#745176) Journal

        Wait, wait, WAIT!

        Fortune tellers? You have a problem with Gypsies? You don't like the Romany? Dude, I thought you were "woke". It's the Jews who have spread all the propaganda against the Romany. Romany are real, and Jews are fake. Fortune tellers know the truth, and Jews lie. What are you, racist?

        • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:40PM

          by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:40PM (#745192) Homepage

          Even Thomas Harris hates the Roma, he (is an American expat who feel in love with living in Italy) doesn't call them "Gypsies" in his book but he goes to great lengths to discuss how scummy the Roma are:

          " Romula's Italian was passable, as was her French, English, Spanish, and
          Romany. She spoke without affect her best theatrics had not prevented this
          three-month term for picking pockets.
          She went behind the screen. In a plastic bag concealed in the baby's swaddling
          clothes were forty cigarettes and sixty-five thousand lire, a little more than
          forty-one dollars, in ragged notes...
          Romula's business was reading the street for a living, and pick-pocketing was
          a subset of that. She was a weathered thirty-five and she had antennae like
          the great luna moth. This policeman-she studied him over the screen-look how
          neat, the wedding ring, the shined shoes, lived with his wife but had a good
          maid-his collar stays were put in after the collar was ironed. Wallet in the
          jacket pocket, keys in the right front trouser, money in the left front
          trouser folded flat probably with a rubber band around. "

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:17PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:17PM (#745175)

      >> What documents?

      The ones detailing how the patriarchy is oppressing half of the world population.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:25PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:25PM (#745181)

        Don't count on Trump to release those. Senator Hirono from Hawaii will tell us exactly how this is the fault of all men, and how Murkowski and the other 53% of white women who voted for Trump were just being mind controlled.

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by jmorris on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:31PM (6 children)

      by jmorris (4844) on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:31PM (#745182)

      Start with the documents he already ordered declassified and released and the Deep State simply ignored the order for. If needed he should walk his ass over to the DoJ / FBI and demand the documents and fire on the spot anyone in his way who refuses his direct order to produce them. Not only will a full exposure of those docs end the Russia! Russia! Russia! nonsense it should put handcuffs on hundreds of bad actors. If the Truth is as bad as I expect it to be it will probably produce a public demand to shutter both the FBI and CIA and start over. Why do you think they dare risk defying a direct order? They are out of options.

      Then lets get the FBI files on this Kavanaugh mess and find out who attempted to suborn perjury and arrest them. Then find out who created a Deep State windup toy out of Dr. Ford. hint: We now think she wrote her letter with the help of the ex-FBI bestie who worked for Preet Bharara... who wait for it, worked for Sen. Schumer. Three degrees of separation between the shock last minute witness and the Senate stretches credulity too much to let pass without some investigating. If crime is never punished it flourishes into the lawlessness we see here. Just like "broken windows policing" it really matters when you punish the smaller crimes.

      Then lets dump the full extent of the Clinton Foundation's criminality. From money laundering, stealing the donations intended for Haiti, being a conduit for illegal foreign contributions to HRCs campaign, etc. Then Trump can keep another campaign promise by LOCKING HER UP.

      And after this fiasco if Trump "accidentally" let a flash drive fall out of his pocket with the full background checks of every Democratic Senator as payback, I'd giggle my ass off. But nah, he won't go there.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:53PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:53PM (#745204)

        And after this fiasco if Trump "accidentally" let a flash drive fall out of his pocket with the full background checks of every Democratic Senator as payback, I'd giggle my ass off.

        Maybe he could hide it in a piece of toilet paper stuck to his shoe.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:18PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:18PM (#745220)

          That was a signal, the "toilet paper" (48 in chaldean numerology) represented the Democrats shitting themselves and taking an ass kicking. The toilet paper was stuck to Trumps "shoe" (20 in numerology), a clear reference to the 20 million viewers who watched the Ford hearing. The rumors are true, Trump is communicating using his back channel... ThanQ!

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @01:23AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @01:23AM (#745297)

            Goddamn tripfag [urbandictionary.com].

            Though come to think of it, UID 6614 is getting old. Why not register your code as a username, tripfag?

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday October 07 2018, @06:50AM (2 children)

        by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday October 07 2018, @06:50AM (#745409)

        "If Trump "accidentally" let a flash drive fall out of his pocket with the full background checks of every Democratic Senator as payback"

        But, of course, you wouldn't want any Republican background checks in there would you now?

        If Clinton (Whom I hate as much as anyone) was really guilty of anything big, then all of those investigations into her by the Republicans can only mean the R's, the FBI, CIA, NSA and whatever other alphabet agencies are completely and totally incompetent. They would of jumped at anything, but found nothing (at least nothing big).

        Just love all you partisan hacks. Standing in the shit of your own party whilst throwing that shit at the other and screaming 'Look, they're covered in shit!"

        You must be Alex Jone's love child.

        **note** Since you are such a hack, you will look at my sig and yell Trump Derangement Syndrome! However, before the election it was "It's the Pantsuited Enabler vs. The Creamsicle Charlatan. This should be on WWE, not our ballots."

        --
        Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
        • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:54PM (1 child)

          by jmorris (4844) on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:54PM (#745535)

          Except of course the Clintons DID do that. You are probably too young to remember them being caught with stacks of records on political opponents that they had zero official business for having. It got the catchy name of Filegate [infogalactic.com]. Of course since it was the Clintons nothing happened. The only thing they didn't do was a public dump but then back then there wasn't much of an Internet or a Wikileaks.

          • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Monday October 08 2018, @09:45AM

            by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Monday October 08 2018, @09:45AM (#745888)

            I lived through that. (59) I never said they weren't criminals. Just that the congressional hearings that I don't recall the exact number or cost and don't feel like looking up the details to, never found anything to hang her with, and they were the most adversarial panel that possibly could of been assembled. With all the conspiracies floating around at the time and since, you would of thought they would of found something. Hence, there either was nothing important enough, or they are all incompetent or compromised. They would of taken anything they could of found regardless of the relevance to what they were investigating. Yeah, maybe they are such masterminds that they eluded detection of anything major, but they never struck me as that smart. And a conspiracy big enough to compromise that many people without leaks I don't find credible. Nor do I find mass incompetence credible. Therefor, she is either clean (as in rich don't get charged with offenses we would hang for and they found nothing big enough to hang a powerful politician with, or the hanging of her would expose corruption on their side, not out of the question) or she should be the star adversary of the next 007 film.

            I voted Green.
            Only because Cthulhu/Dagon nor Collosus/Guardian were running.....why vote for the lesser of two evils?

            --
            Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:19PM (19 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:19PM (#745177)

    Allowing the Democrats to call for yet another pointless FBI investigation is a failure that will haunt the Republicans. It showed weakness in the face of an enemy that is implacable, highly chaotic evil and will not stop.

    It was a delaying tactic that backfired on the Democrats. The party that spent the past 6 months claiming the FBI was above reproach was left screaming the FBI was involved in some Republican conspiracy. It's the seventh background investigation into Kavanaugh and when no corroborating evidence was found for any of the allegations, the obstructionist tactics were laid bare for all to see. Not a good look for the Democrats going into the midterms.

    • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:59PM (18 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:59PM (#745209)

      The party that spent the past 6 months claiming the FBI was above reproach was left screaming the FBI was involved in some Republican conspiracy.

      Fake news.

      Democrats repeatedly asked for an FBI investigation, asked Kavanaugh to support an FBI investigation, and following the conclusion of the investigation, have blamed the White House for artificially limiting who the FBI could talk to.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:40PM (16 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:40PM (#745230)

        You are fake news! [twitter.com]

        • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:20PM (15 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:20PM (#745239)

          That just supports my conclusion. The FBI could have interviewed more people, and could have investigated new information about Bart O'Kavanaugh's past. Youthful indiscretions are fine, perjury is not.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:36PM (4 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:36PM (#745250)

            That just supports my conclusion

            That the FBI are involved in a Republican conspiracy to "cover up" or "whitewash" allegations that supposed witnesses have already publicly stated are bullshit?

            • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:51PM (3 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:51PM (#745256)

              The tweet says nothing about FBI involvement in a conspiracy. The White House dictated who the FBI could or could not talk to. [nytimes.com] People were already worried about that the day before the investigation began.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:07AM (2 children)

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:07AM (#745265)

                The tweet says nothing about FBI involvement in a conspiracy.

                Is it your reading comprehension or your grasp on reality failing you?

                "I have seen it and I want to re-read parts of it, but my very emphatic opinion is that this set of interviews is at best, most charitably, woefully incomplete. To put it bluntly, it smacks of a whitewash, even a cover up."

                – Sen. Richard Blumenthal

                • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:17AM (1 child)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:17AM (#745268)

                  Again, the White House decided who the FBI could interview. They were in charge of the whitewash.

                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:16PM

                    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:16PM (#745544)

                    Again, the White House decided who the FBI could interview. They were in charge of the whitewash.

                    "The FBI conspired with Republicans to whitewash an investigation".

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:22AM (3 children)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:22AM (#745320) Journal

            The FBI could have interviewed more people, and could have investigated new information about Bart O'Kavanaugh's past.

            And what would the Fourth Amendment compatible reason for that be?

            • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:36AM (2 children)

              by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:36AM (#745327) Homepage Journal

              More importantly, what would the tenth amendment justification for that be?

              --
              My rights don't end where your fear begins.
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:35PM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:35PM (#745548)

                I'm confused by this post. How does the Tenth Amendment come into play here? (Assuming we live in a better, parallel universe where the Ninth and Tenth matter, of course.)

                • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 08 2018, @11:44PM

                  by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday October 08 2018, @11:44PM (#746208) Homepage Journal

                  Simple, there is nothing in the constitution giving the federal government the authority to investigate any old crime they care to; their powers are intentionally supposed to be specific and limited. Thus it is a right reserved for the states or the people.

                  --
                  My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @01:54PM (5 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @01:54PM (#745484)

            I can't tell if the Democrats bemoaning this truly don't understand the purpose of the FBI (hint: this isn't the kind of crime they're supposed to investigate), or if it's all just posturing.

            Both parties are well beyond the point where you can tell if it's incompetence or malice.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:41PM (4 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:41PM (#745523)

              They're performing a background investigation. Now we've got a possibly sexual predator and definite perjurer on the high court who is likely to be subject to blackmail and extortion attempts because there wasn't a proper investigation.

              That should scared the shit out of anybody who thinks the court has even the slightest amount of credibility at this point. As somebody has already stated elsewhere, 4 of 9 justices were appointed by Presidents that didn't win the popular vote and if RBG dies this term, that would mean a majority of the justices would be seated by Presidents that most voters did not support.

              That's crazy. Almost as crazy as the fact that we now have somebody who brazenly committed felony perjury on live TV getting one of those seats.

              • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday October 07 2018, @10:55PM (3 children)

                by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday October 07 2018, @10:55PM (#745673) Journal

                The SCOTUS is a glaring weakness in the US government, a place the founding fathers made the mistake of assuming inviolability and absolute neutrality. The way around this is term limits, anywhere from 4-10 years. As it is, lifetime appointments means 1) stuffing the court is any partisan's goal and 2) the SCOTUS can inflict suppurating, infected wounds on the body politic that take 50-100 years to heal.

                --
                I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
                • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @12:59AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @12:59AM (#745747)

                  We know. We all saw what Roe v. Wade did.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @08:02AM (1 child)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @08:02AM (#745862)

                  (Don't) Fuck you bitch.

                  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday October 08 2018, @04:24PM

                    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday October 08 2018, @04:24PM (#746016) Journal

                    What a coherent, nuanced, and wonderfully-reasoned argument! Sorry, but no matter how thirsty you are, only my girlfriend gets to fuck me :) I'm sure you have a sock somewhere you can use or something.

                    --
                    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:02PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:02PM (#745502) Journal

        Well, Trump probably didn't artificially limit ALL SEVEN investigations, did he?

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:40PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @09:40PM (#745190)

    Who decided it was a good idea to allow protesters into the halls of Congress itself?

    The Capital is a public building. Anyone can walk in (after scanning to make sure you're not hiding a gun or knife or other weapons). I don't know if any of the protesters inside the building were carrying signs or just screaming, but if signs aren't on the list of prohibited items, oh well. There are areas that only Senators and Representatives (and their staff) can enter, of course, but the building supposedly belongs to the American citizens, so we should be able to enter it.

    If you ever get the chance to go see it, I suggest you do so. I had the chance about 25 years ago, and while the tour at the time was just so-so, wandering around the building by myself after the tour was well worth it to see all the wonderful architecture, statues, and paintings. I got to sit in the gallery of the House side for a bit; the chamber is a lot smaller than it looks on the CSPAN cameras.

    I remember thinking how sad it was that it was almost sure to be all burned to the ground some day. At the time, I thought I was referring to probable events long after my lifetime; these days I'm not so sure about that part anymore...

    • (Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:05PM (2 children)

      by jmorris (4844) on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:05PM (#745540)

      So what lets them stand around for hours yelling at people? If they were promptly arrested and charged on a disorderly conduct and in many of these cases assault would be appropriate, and locked in the D.C. jail for a month and then put on a year parole, barred from entering any major public building (except for official business such as their parole officer) while on parole and given a hefty fine big enough George Soros would notice it in his operating budget for these organizations, it would stop. Then after a few dozen arrests roll up the organizations with RICO. In short stop playing this game.

      We know it only works one way, if the Right tried anything approximating these tactics they would find themselves in prison for years. The Left gets away with it because they control the D.C. mayor and police force. Congress should threaten to end home rule unless the local police start doing their damned job.

      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @11:45PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @11:45PM (#745703)

        We know it only works one way, if the Right tried anything approximating these tactics they would find themselves in prison for years. The Left gets away with it because they control the D.C. mayor and police force. Congress should threaten to end home rule unless the local police start doing their damned job.

        The Congress has its own police force. [wikipedia.org] Next time, do your own damn homework before spouting off (again!) like that.

        • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Monday October 08 2018, @07:07PM

          by jmorris (4844) on Monday October 08 2018, @07:07PM (#746080)

          Ok, you are correct. Cue the South Parks clip of the kids saying "This part is pretty f*cked up right here."

          So Congress has exclusive jurisdiction over the District. (The U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 17) but they delegated most of it to a local government with "home rule" but then to keep their own asses safe from the incompetent crackheads the local diversity would be permitted to live under they kept the already existing entirely different police force that has "concurrent jurisdiction" with the D.C. P.D. Then it looks like the Park Service also has concurrent jurisdiction over other parts (most of the tourist attractions) of the District. Bet the jurisdiction arguments get fun.

          So why the Hell do they put up with shouting morons in their own halls? It makes no sense.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by vux984 on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:07PM (6 children)

    by vux984 (5045) on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:07PM (#745214)

    points 1/2/3 yup was despicable partisan gamesmanship; but so was the republican's documents withholding; releasing hundreds of thousands of pages and then demanding a vote the next day, and the breakneck speed they pushed. They had no trouble leaving the supreme court seat open for a year when.

    Sure, blame the left for the bullshit they pulled, but don't pretend the other team wasn't covered in their own shit. This whole spectacle was disgusting.

    points 4/5 - disagree. let people protest. Why should money be heard but people be silenced?

    As for Kavanaugh,

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by vux984 on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:17PM (1 child)

      by vux984 (5045) on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:17PM (#745219)

      Ugh... As for Kavanaugh,

      I don't have a lot of opinion on him either way. I'd have preferred a less contentious candidate. Sounds like if nothing else, he was a dick frat boy and I have no real problem with that by itself being disqualifying for the supreme court if it comes to that. But more importantly he was too far embedded into the GOP for my tastes; in this current climate especially, they should put forth credible independents.

      The process for selection itself is wrong. Same flaws as first past the post voting; and gerry-mandering. A better process would result in less contentious candidates. Some sort of ranked / proportional voting system on multiple candidates. And the executive shouldn't be involved in selecting them. Who is president when a supreme spot opens up shouldn't matter.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @09:39PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @09:39PM (#745643)

        An addition, not an original fundamental pillar of the Founding Father's vision.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:06PM (3 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:06PM (#745504) Journal

      They had no trouble leaving the supreme court seat open for a year when.

      That was partisanship, plain and simple. It was "payback" for the Dem's attempt at the very same game. No, it wasn't right, but the Dem's invented the game, and forced it on the R's. Just as the D's have just now created a new game, and forced it on the R's. Expect the next Dem candidate to face congressional hearings on some fake charges about his youthful explorations of sexuality - even if it didn't happen.

      • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Monday October 08 2018, @01:12PM (2 children)

        by vux984 (5045) on Monday October 08 2018, @01:12PM (#745940)

        'It was "payback" for the Dem's attempt at the very same game.'

        Give it a rest. Both parties are playing the same games. Taking sides on the partisanship on display... either side, is just pathetic. Both sides behaved indefensibly poorly. And the 'payback' argument will goes bakcwards decades with every action being payback for some prior action the other side did for as far back as you care to go.

        "Expect the next Dem candidate to face congressional hearings on some fake charges about his youthful explorations of sexuality..."

        a) "youthful explorations of sexuality" ?? Fuck that. I don't pretend to know if Kavanaugh raped anyone, or even whether he sexually assaulted anyone, but its pretty damned clear he was a hard drinking belligerent frat boy who attended the sort of parties hard drinking frat boys attend. Frankly, I'm inclined to believe both Ford's and Kavanaugh's testimony, that she remembers it happening, and that he has no recollection of ever doing something like that. (And not because he blacked out, but just because that's not how he remembers it; if he remembers it at all. If in his head at the time he was just 'fooling around' and 'nothing happened' then maybe its long gone from his memory, as completely forgotten as what he had for lunch that day, or what shirt he was wearing.

        b) Not likely, i expect the dems will head that off at the pass by nominating a woman.

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 08 2018, @01:28PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 08 2018, @01:28PM (#745946) Journal

          b) Not likely, i expect the dems will head that off at the pass by nominating a woman.

          Oh, I remember her! She was my babysitter when I was little! Let me show you on the doll what she did to me!! And, she always told me that if I told my parents, she would turn the electrical current up to 12!

          • (Score: 2) by vux984 on Tuesday October 09 2018, @12:31AM

            by vux984 (5045) on Tuesday October 09 2018, @12:31AM (#746224)

            Sure, they might trot someone out who will make that claim, but it's going to have a much tougher time getting credibility.

            Hard partying frat boys not respecting 'no' is an earned stereotype. The female baby sitter molesting pre-teen boys... not so much.

            Hell, my babysitter wouldn't give me the time of day despite my best efforts and was far more interested in her older boyfriend. (And THAT is the stereotype...)

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @10:29PM (#745226)

    Time for jmorris to finally bring his case to the Supreme Court, proving the SJW convergence! Popcorn futures are hot!

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:19PM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:19PM (#745238)

    Ah, jmorris one of our resident jackasses posting more bullshit.

    We don't know that Dr. Ford's allegations are false, nobody looked into it. There were dozens of people who were willing to be interviewed by the FBI with regards to the various allegations against Kavanaugh and none of them were interviewed. Even Ford and Kavanaugh who were at the center of this weren't interviewed by the FBI.

    This is not in dispute, sacks of shit like you that are claiming that we know that the allegations were false are liars. We don't know that they're false, we just know that the powers that be refused to take the allegations seriously.

    Additionally, we know that Kavanaugh perjured himself multiple times during his testimony to congress. We know this because his own calendars and his own drinking buddies have specifically stated that he lied about getting blackout drunk.

    As far as protesting in congress, it's their 1st amendment right to do so. But, given that you're supporting a known felon for supreme court, I'm not really surprised. And yes, I mean known felon, perjury is a felony and we have definitive proof that he perjured himself multiples times. Not just about not getting blackout drunk, but also about the meaning of "boofed."

    There's a special place in hell for people like you that trip over yourselves to bend over to take it up the ass when your corporate masters desire it. Truly, you are a horrible human being.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:41PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:41PM (#745252)

      We don't know that Dr. Ford's allegations are false, nobody looked into it.

      No? [realclearpolitics.com] A bullshit story concocted to cover for a zoning violation?

      • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:34AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:34AM (#745275)

        And that has absolutely nothing to do with her claims that she was sexually assaulted by soon to be Justice Kavanaugh. OK, not technically absolutely nothing, it was the reason for her going to therapy, but that's a rather ridiculous basis for concluding that she was lying when Kavanaugh was telling such whoppers. Boofed means farted, seriously.

        I'm an MRA and it's really hard to justify taking his side on the merits of what we know and in light of the complete lack of any sort of real investigation.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:25AM (2 children)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:25AM (#745321) Journal

      We don't know that Dr. Ford's allegations are false, nobody looked into it. There were dozens of people who were willing to be interviewed by the FBI with regards to the various allegations against Kavanaugh and none of them were interviewed. Even Ford and Kavanaugh who were at the center of this weren't interviewed by the FBI.

      Aside from the Democrat party and every major news organization in the US. If there was something there, you'd have more to complain about.

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:45PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:45PM (#745530)

        And that's not true. Her allegations were never looked into seriously, they let her have the mic for a few hours just to pretend that they were taking it seriously. Then they let him perjure himself for a few hours and had a sham investigation where the FBI wasn't allowed to talk with anybody that had knowledge of the situation that might have been able to get to the bottom of it.

        Idiots like you are why our system is broken. Kavanaugh was perfectly happy to try and overthrow democracy over a relatively minor lie by Clinton that may not even have been a lie. There are people out there that don't consider oral sex to be sex after all. But, somehow the numerous times he was caught on camera during the hearings perjuring himself isn't a big deal.

        Given the number of times he blatantly perjured himself and the lack of any substantive investigation into the allegations, you cannot conclude that there weren't anything to them. Especially in light of the other people making similar claims about his inappropriate conduct.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 07 2018, @07:37PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 07 2018, @07:37PM (#745608) Journal

          and had a sham investigation where the FBI wasn't allowed to talk with anybody that had knowledge of the situation that might have been able to get to the bottom of it.

          Again, the Democrat Party and those media giants weren't similarly constrained. Nobody prevented them from doing that.

          Kavanaugh was perfectly happy to try and overthrow democracy over a relatively minor lie by Clinton that may not even have been a lie.

          It was a lie that cost Clinton his law license.

          But, somehow the numerous times he was caught on camera during the hearings perjuring himself isn't a big deal.

          We've discussed those times here, but have yet to hear why they're perjury.

          Given the number of times he blatantly perjured himself and the lack of any substantive investigation into the allegations

          Which is a strong indication of how weak your accusations are. If there was actual blatant perjury, you'd be talking about it rather than the number of times it happened.

    • (Score: 2, Troll) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:10PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:10PM (#745505) Journal

      nobody looked into it.

      You're a very special kind of stupid, aren't you? Everyone in the country was waiting for some kind of verification. Everyone, including the R's. If ANYONE had stepped up, and confirmed Ford's story, Kav would have been out. But Ford's best friends couldn't confirm her story. Her worst enemies couldn't confirm her story. The bitch dreamed this shit one night, as a horny teen, and Kav starred in her dream. That's as close as her story gets to reality.

    • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:26PM (1 child)

      by jmorris (4844) on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:26PM (#745545)

      So much bullshit and parroting of the legacy media, easy to see why this was an AC post.

      We don't know that Dr. Ford's allegations are false, nobody looked into it.

      Nobody COULD look into it very far, that was the entire goal of constructing her story the way they did, it couldn't be investigated. She couldn't say what year it happened in, she had no place. The only other people she named were all interviewed and they all said it either didn't happen at all, the suspect wasn't there, etc. So no witnesses. She can't even say how she got there or made it back home. What is there to investigate?

      Even Ford and Kavanaugh who were at the center of this weren't interviewed by the FBI.

      They were interviewed extensively on live television. What more was the FBI expected to learn?

      This is not in dispute, sacks of shit like you that are claiming that we know that the allegations were false are liars.

      Point to a fact in dispute. One would do.

      And it is neither my duty or even Justice Kavanaugh's to prove the allegations are false, especially since she carefully crafted them to be impossible to 100% refute. Innocent until proven guilty is the standard of evidence in the United States, this is not France. Even a preponderance of the evidence standard clears the Justice, because she has zero in her favor and the failure of every witness to confirm a single aspect of her tale stands as a rebuke. The lack of a contemporaneous police report says that if something happened thirty six years ago she didn't consider it a crime.

      But, given that you're supporting a known felon

      This shit is why nobody takes you guys seriously anymore. Because it isn't just ACs, CNN does it too. The central act in dispute, according to the local police, would, in the absolute worst possible interpretation by a DA out for blood, be chargeable as a misdemeanor had the Statute of Limitations not expires decades ago. So in a case with all the facts pointing to no crime, and had it occurred it would not have been a felony and the term "known felon" implying not only guilty but conviction in a court, you think you can just say that shit and make it at least truthy by mindless repetition.

      And no, your attempt to goal shift to perjury is also rejected. It assumes he is lying, therefore perjury. So just FYDITM. You lost, suck it.

      The only good thing to come from this is that now 22% of the Supreme Court are victims of false allegations of sexual misconduct. So this important issue should get a more fair hearing.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @07:54PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @07:54PM (#745613)

        And no, your attempt to goal shift to perjury is also rejected. It assumes he is lying, therefore perjury. So just FYDITM. You lost, suck it.

        Good thing there's plenty of other incidents over his career where he appears to have perjured himself based on released documents. Suck it, dumbass.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:35PM (4 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday October 06 2018, @11:35PM (#745249) Homepage Journal

    Fuck that. I want the shitstains on the hill to be afraid of those they govern. Left, right, I don't give a damn. They all need to be quaking in their boots so maybe they'll remember why oppressing Americans was a bad idea back in the 1700s and is still a bad idea now.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Sunday October 07 2018, @06:23AM (3 children)

      by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Sunday October 07 2018, @06:23AM (#745402)

      Unfortunately, it will likely take heads on pikes to get the shitstains to fear us. After all, they are comforted because they control the big guns.

      --
      Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:41PM (2 children)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:41PM (#745492) Homepage Journal

        Big guns are mostly good for blowing up structures and vehicles. Small arms are what you primarily need for killing humans and the citizenry has a hell of a lot more of those.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:15PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:15PM (#745507) Journal

          Two things. First, this is a generation (the third?) that has grown up on television. A .50 cal MG seems a peashooter to the television and movies bunch.

          Second, Pslytely Psycho only says that the powers that be are comforted by their control of big guns. He makes no claim that the big guns have any special value, or powers.

          But, yeah, a .22 is adequate for an assassination, if the shooter is competent. I prefer larger rounds, like .270, but the .22 will do the job.

          • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Monday October 08 2018, @10:29AM

            by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Monday October 08 2018, @10:29AM (#745902)

            Thank you. I perhaps should of expressed myself more clearly. Seems you got it squarely.
            Peace out!

            --
            Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:00AM (15 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Sunday October 07 2018, @12:00AM (#745261) Journal

    > question of whether a thirty six year old high school clumsy grope matters.

    If he was 18 or older at the time, it matters, so say the laws of the United States, which a Supreme Court nominee should know better than most. Also, a crime is universal in that it doesn't matter what age the perp is, a crime is a crime regardless. We are more lenient with minors, but we don't let them off scot-free.

    > If we are going to revisit every person's high school and even college antics for behavior short of outright criminal our civilization is toast.

    Attempted rape is outright criminal. So is battery. What kind of high school and college did you attend, to think attempted rape is just high jinks and no big deal? And to suggest it's more civilized to keep looking the other way?? You sure have that one upside down. Is it that you're not with the times? Rape is taken just a teensy bit more seriously these days. Indeed, civilization may well depend upon empowering women, who will then use that power to say "no", thus preventing overpopulation.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @01:33AM (10 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @01:33AM (#745302)

      You missed anther critical point: the judge is misleading the public and gaslighting a victim. If instead he said "yeah, I'm really very sorry, and I'm so glad to have learned how wrong some of our actions were. It's past the statue of limitations, and I'm not the dumb teenager I was. I hope we can educate our youth to behave better than that. It was wrong, and I spend my life in service of justice now." then cool, cool.

      But, lying to the public, and furthering damage to a victim? That's not in the public good, that's in the client's good. That's lawyer work, not judge work.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @01:44AM (8 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @01:44AM (#745309)

        Ironically, if he did do it, admitting so would have tanked his nomination.

        He said that no job was worth what he and his family were put through. But is doing the right thing worth losing the job and being tarnished forever?

        • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:14AM (5 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:14AM (#745318)

          As it stands, his reputation is in tatters and he's likely to be impeached and removed from office the first chance the Dems get at it. He's a bit lucky in that the Dems will have to pick up like 20 seats in the Senate as well as win the house in order to make it happen, but any decisions that he makes are going to be suspect and the cost to the court's credibility is staggering.

          The only way in which this makes any sense is either as an f you to Democrats or as a way of delegitimizing the Supreme Court as it continually slaps Trumps plans down for violating various constitutional rights.

          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:40AM (4 children)

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday October 07 2018, @02:40AM (#745330) Homepage Journal

            Thankfully, SCOTUS doesn't have to give a flying fuck about credibility. They are damned near utterly unaccountable and damned near the final word on any given subject; congress would have to amend the constitution to overturn one of their decisions.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:58AM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @04:58AM (#745381)

              really? seems luke there was a SC decision. a certain Justice Scalia gave the losers advice for how to argue it. ans said if Congress passed a law...

              Well those things happened. the losers got another similar case back to the SC, and, lo and behold, Congress had passed a law, and... Citizens United vs US.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:49PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:49PM (#745533)

              The SCOTUS does not have it's own enforcement army. Literally, the only power they have comes from our agreement to follow whatever their rulings are.

              If enough of us decided to say, just fuck it, we don't have to listen to those partisan hacks any more, there's nothing they could do to stop it.

              This is an extremely dangerous game that the GOP has been playing the last few decades where they nominate jurists that aren't competent to be on any courts to life time appointments while cock blocking the much more qualified picks that the Democrats have been nominating.

              This puts us in dangerous water as the court increasingly wades into things like settling Presidential elections and voting rights.

              If our vote doesn't count, then on what basis should anybody expect change without a bloody insurrection?

              • (Score: 2) by BK on Monday October 08 2018, @01:27AM

                by BK (4868) on Monday October 08 2018, @01:27AM (#745760)

                Over the last few decades.... for at least a half century, SCOTUS has increasingly become involved in areas that are as much (or more) policy as law. Left, Right, or Other, this has been a dangerous game.

                The problem with the approach of 'winning' your issue through the courts is that your counter-parties have no investment in the solution. Generally, when the same things are done legislatively, the 'losing' party wrings some concession or whatever so that, even in defeat, all of the stakeholders win a bit. Winning in the court leaves the losers plotting to do the same back to the winner.

                The GOP aren't alone in selecting activist judges to the court(s). It has taken at least two to manage this particular tango.

                --
                ...but you HAVE heard of me.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @01:08AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @01:08AM (#745751)

          Ironically, if he did do it, admitting so would have tanked his nomination.

          He said that no job was worth what he and his family were put through. But is doing the right thing worth losing the job and being tarnished forever?

          You may find this incredible but there are some for whom retaining a modicum of integrity is far more important than getting a hold of the levers of power. Yeah, I know such people are few and far between, but they do exist. Just sayin'.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @01:26AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @01:26AM (#745759)

            Too bad somebody like that could never get appointed to SCOTUS in this political climate.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:15AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:15AM (#745342) Journal

        You missed anther critical point: the judge is misleading the public and gaslighting a victim.

        Unless, of course, that didn't happen.

        If instead he said "yeah, I'm really very sorry, and I'm so glad to have learned how wrong some of our actions were. It's past the statue of limitations, and I'm not the dumb teenager I was. I hope we can educate our youth to behave better than that. It was wrong, and I spend my life in service of justice now." then cool, cool.

        "Cool" because that would mean he wouldn't get the nomination? One should consider whether a nomination process that tends to reward your alleged gaslighting is a good idea.

    • (Score: 3, Troll) by jmorris on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:06AM (3 children)

      by jmorris (4844) on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:06AM (#745340)

      Where to start with your errors. The media harassed local law enforcement about why they weren't investigating this shocking crime. Their response? Based on what she claimed it was at worst a misdemeanor with a one year Statute pf Limitations. Worst case. Assuming it happened and assuming she identified the right target. Both of those assumptions are highly improbable.

      Listen to her claim again. At some point in the 1980s, she isn't even sure of the year, she was at a party. She isn't sure how she got there, she isn't sure how she left, she isn't sure where it was at. She said she was there with varying numbers of people in different versions but all of them are either certain the party didn't happen at all, uncertain of the events and / or certain they never met Kavanaugh before. She does admit to screwing sixty plus people in high school and college, her yearbooks say she was a party girl. But because of one half remembered grope she is scarred for life? But despite the trauma, "she was almost killed!" ya know, she never told anyone, never filed a police report, nothing.

      Now lets consider that she paid to have per online trail professionally scrubbed before her name dropped in the media and /pol/ could save any of it. But from her appearing in other people's photos we can be pretty sure she was in the "Women's March" and thus a political activist. And the friend who just happens to be ex-FBI and connected to the deep state as I already mentioned. Her father is CIA, many think she is as well, grampa got an award for his own CIA service. A brother has connections to Perkins-Coie. She has a paper published on the subject of creating false memories.

      And you believe that she is the victim here. Or you expect me to believe you do. Premise rejected.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @08:49AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @08:49AM (#745423)

        From what I read she did tell numerous people, even decades ago.

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:58PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 07 2018, @03:58PM (#745539)

        Liar. There's a special place in hell for partisan hacks like yourself.

        Based on the situation, the police in Maryland concluded that it was potentially attempted rape which has no statute of limitations. But, they can't make a final determination without her filing a report and digging into it.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @12:06AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @12:06AM (#745720)

          ah yes, the alt-right brigade is up in arms here. down with everything that disagrees with them! what sad politically cucked little bitches.