America’s Disgrace
I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t have the time and I was not that interested. But once I started I found it hard to stop. It was a bit like watching a train wreck, or a really bad reality TV show – you know you shouldn’t and you know it’s a waste of time – but somehow you continue. What am I talking about? The reality TV show that is the American Senates hearing into the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. Dr Christine Blasey Ford has accused the potential Supreme Court Judge of sexually assaulting her when he was a 17 year old at a drunken party 35 years ago. She appeared before the Senate Judicial Committee yesterday, as did Kavanaugh.
It made for great TV drama and theatre – and was incredibly revealing of just how much trouble America is in. This was trial by media with the jury deciding on the basis of their politics and who was the best actor. The facts are really difficult to ascertain but let me offer the following as certain.
1) We don’t know. – Watching the event on Facebook it was fascinating to see how many people just knew who was lying and who was guilty. In today’s world we are all experts who know the truth. “She was believable and came across well. She was clearly not lying and was upset. This is how victims behave” . “Her body language was not that of a victim, she came across too calmly. She is a psychology professor and knows how to manipulate ”. “He was an angry middle-aged man – behaving as an abuser would”. “He was believable and clearly upset at the injustice being done to him”. It was not surprising to get this kind of certainly on social media, what disturbed me profoundly was watching journalists and politicians writing and speaking as if they knew. I refuse to be drawn into that trap. I don’t know. And neither does anyone else – apart from a very few direct participants.
Some of us claim we know because of our perception and feeling of who was telling the truth. The trouble with this is that justice then boils down to who is the best actor, as none of us can read another’s heart. Only God is omniscient.
I can think of several occasions when I have listened to people deny, or make claims, with such passion, sincerity and believability that I would have totally accepted them, if I did not have the evidence sitting right in front of me. The ability of the human being to lie is second to none. The heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. One of these people was lying – and I have no idea which one. I have been involved in a couple of cases – one where I felt the person was guilty but did not know and the other where I felt they were innocent but then the evidence came to light and they were found to be guilty.
I can have views based upon my perception, but I cannot let my feelings be the judge of what is real and true. And neither should anyone else. We don’t know. Feeling is not knowledge.
Perhaps I should also point out that we don’t need to know. This is not to say we should turn a blind eye to injustice but simply to say that we should not pretend to see what we cannot. And we should learn to trust that there will come a day of Judgement when God will right all wrongs. The fact that there is such a day coming is one of profound significance for our behaviour and actions today. We are not omniscient but God is. We are not the ultimate judge. He is. Brett Kavanaugh swore before God that he was not at that party and did not commit that assault . One day he will meet the God whose name he took on his lips to proclaim he was innocent of this charge. I hope for his sake he was telling the truth.
After writing this I came across the following in the Christian Post from Napp Nazworth.
In The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Religion and Politics (2012), social psychologist Jonathan Haidt pointed out that our inherent tribal instincts lead us to follow our intuitions before our reasoning, and our reasoning, more often than not, is used to justify our intuitions. This is why we tend to agree with those in our “tribe” and have difficulty emphathizing with those in other tribes, which also explains why liberals can so easily reject Kavanaugh’s denials while accepting Bill Clinton’s (or Keith Ellison’s) denials, and vice versa for conservatives.
One of the wonderful things about being human, however, is we can become better than our instincts. We can learn to empathize. We can slow our minds, listen, reflect, and examine the evidence. And when the evidence is inconclusive, we can answer “I don’t know.”
2) Sexual Abuse is Horrific – Sexual abuse is common. It goes on in all areas of society and is often a matter of the powerful exploiting those who do not have as much power as they do. It is also horrific, degrading and demeaning – an attack on the mind and soul as well as the body. It must be terrible to be sexually assaulted and then not be believed when you tell about it. If Dr Ford was abused by Kavanaugh and is not believed then imagine the pain that will cause. I think of the young man was raped at a party but when he went to the police was told that homosexual rape was very difficult to prove and so nothing was done. Or the children who live in fear and guilt and dare not tell anyone. Its hell on earth.
On the other hand it must be terrible to be accused of sexual assault when you didn’t do it and asked to proof your innocence. Think of how horrible this must be for Kavanaugh and his family – if he is being falsely accused. Think of the teacher whose life was made a misery by a couple of girls (who later admitted they were lying); he lost his job, got depression and ended up committing suicide. Those who use the hashtag victims/survivors for Dr Ford (thereby already making their judgement), should also refer to Kavanaugh as a victim/survivor – because if he is innocent then this show trial is a real abuse.
“My family and my name have been totally and permanently destroyed by vicious and false additional accusations.”
3) Everyone is innocent until proven guilty – It seems that this great principle of justice is now largely redundant in American society. Senator Feinstein had no qualms about bringing in other accusations and referring to them as though they were true. The presumption of innocence is fading as fast as the presumption of Christianity. Feinstein asked ”Is Brett Kavanaugh the kind of person we want on the Supreme Court?”. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement and an accusation. She had already decided that he was not. Dr Ford was a gift to her – providing an excuse for a judgement she had already made.
4) People should not be judged by politics. One of the reasons that people know who is innocent and who is guilty is their politics. On the one hand Republicans and people of a more conservative political view just know that he is innocent and she is either misrembering or lying (Donald Trump being the prime example). On the other those who consider themselves more liberal and leftwing (although these terms are becoming largely meaningless) just know that she was telling the truth and he was lying. There is no room for doubt or lack of knowledge. So this morning I just knew that those on my Twitter feed of that persuasion would come up with the goods….and they did. Nicola Sturgeon, Alaister Campbell and Vicky Beeching to name just a few, jumped on board the mob bandwagon and let the world know where they stood. It’s all about the patriarchy and the right-wing (and Brexit and Trump)…..never mind that actual facts of the case – they are largely irrelevant.
The Democratic Senators on the committee knew that Dr Ford was a ‘survivor’ and a ‘brave victim’ who is ‘an inspiration and teacher to America”. The Republican Senators knew that Kavanaugh was being set up and that he was a virtuous man who could do no ‘serious’ wrong. What you think depends on your politics.
This is dangerous because it means that everything will be weaponised in the pursuit of political power. If someone can be removed from office, or prevented from taking office, because of unproven allegations, then no-one is safe.
The politicisation of sexual abuse is also dangerous because it encourages sexual abuse. If false claims are made then that undermines those who make real claims. If what we believe depends upon our politics then we run the risk of empowering those who share our views and enabling them to think that they can get away with it.
5) Hypocrisy reigns – The hypocrisy is seen in so many different areas.
The timing of this accusation is to say the least suspect. It was clear that at least one of the Senators knew about this months ago. So why has it just come up just now? Because in order to have an FBI investigation the hearing would have to be stopped, until after the November elections – when the Democrats hope they will have a majority on the Senate and will thus be able to block Kavanaugh anyway. Dr Ford may be a double victim. A victim of sexual assault and a victim of politics.
And then the question that no one dares ask. What if he were guilty of doing this 35 years ago? Does that forever exclude him from public life? If he is lying under oath that would exclude him. If this was a pattern of behaviour over many years then that would exclude him. But are we really saying that anyone who has committed any kind of crime or sin in the past is to be excluded from public office forever? If that standard were applied to all the Senators in that room, I suspect the Judicial committee would be a whole lot smaller. If everyone was judged by what they did when they were teenagers then we would have very few politicians, judges or clergy left!
That hypocrisy is also seen in the cases that we highlight. Those who tweeted about the patriarchy and how the MeToo movement was empowering women have been strangely silent about the actress Asia Argento, one of the leaders of the movement who has herself been accused of assault and is alleged to have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a victim.
Our society is hypocritical. We create the environment which makes sexual abuse more, not less likely. We sexualize children, celebrate pornography and glorify immorality. A culture which laughs at Animal House condemns those who live it out. That’s hypocrisy.
Watching the whole shambolic show was deeply disturbing.
America is in a mess. Kavanaugh was right to state that the confirmation process had become a national disgrace. He was also right to state that the Senate judicial committee Democrats had replaced “advise and consent with search and destroy”. The politicization of the judiciary (on all sides ) is the end of the rule of law and democracy. One of the most disturbing facts to come out of this whole debacle is that millions of dollars are being spent in campaigns both for and against Kavanaugh. George Soros, the Hungarian billionaire, has apparently given $5 million to the campaign to prevent the judge being appointed. What does the fact that a foreign billionaire can use money to influence an American judicial appointment say about the corrupt nature of American politics just now?
In the USA just now we are watching what happens when a nation loses its Christian foundations. It also loses its civilization, its law, its politics, its morality and perhaps above all, its mind.
Here is the follow up to this blog – America’s Despair
This blog article is now published on Premier Christianity
As the U.K went so the U.S.A is hellbent on going. In politics, in throwing it’s own heritage to the ground, the whole ball of wax.
Lord have mercy on us.
This was really helpful, thank you. I wasn’t intending on following the whole thing and had no real interest in it till the live feed popped up on facebook :/
Your post is spot on! Judge Kavanaugh lost his right for due process when Senator Feinstein got the letter and did not call for an investigation at the time. Politics in the U.S. is bitter now. As a conservative, I hope that he gets confirmed. As a Christian, I don’t know what to think about Dr. Ford’s testimony. I think she is being used as a pawn of the Democrats and I feel so sorry for her. I’m sharing your post on Facebook because your opinions are expressed so clearly and are mine as well.
I think if we are to assume innocent until proven guilty then that has to apply to both Kavanaugh and Ford.
The claims that Ford is involved in a political conspiracy don’t fit the time line and there is no evidence of that.
Ford is not being accused! It’s the Democrats, the Soros funded campaigns against him and the senator who kept it till the last minute. There is no doubt there has been a campaign against him. Ironically such a campaign harms the chances of Dr Ford ever getting justice. She is being used.
Shes being accused in many quarters of being a liar and/or a political conspirator. You claim she is being used. I would agree that whoever leaked her letter to the press may have used her. There is no evidence that this was the Democratic politicians and equally there is no evidence that she is in conspiracy with them.
If Kavanaugh is afforded “innocent until proven guilty” then so should she be. I hope you can agree.
I think you should leave Soros out of this. There are shady organisations spending an awful lot of money to try to get him confirmed as well, notably the NRA, but this has no bearing on the investigation of the accusation of sexual assault
She is not being charged with anything. She is not the one being accused. Innocent until proven guilty does not apply.
As for Soros – no – the woman who waylaid Senator Flake is the leader of the CPD – an organisation funded by Soros which has been at the head of the campaign to stop Kavanaugh. The NRA funding support for him is just as bad.
does “Innocent until proven guilty applies to both”.. does that mean that Ford is innocent of lying … and Kanvaough is innocent of telling the truth ?
Innocent until proven guilty is in the eyes of the law. When we are faced with a charge we are innocent until we are proven guilty – we are not guilty until proven innocent. I realise you were trying to be clever and witty but it is a shame both that you failed and that you think such a horrific case is something to try and be smart about.
Kavanaugh also has not been charged with anything!
They both have people making accusations against them.
I’m saying that if he is to be assumed innocent then she should be too. I’m not quite sure what is so controversial about saying so?!
Flake may have been influenced to ask for an investigation after encountering a protester. Personally I think it is good and right to investigate these very serious charges and I don’t agree that a week’s delay will destroy the confirmation process.
I think you should be careful about claims about George Soros. In American politics he is routinely blamed for anything negative and with this case in particular there is a lot of misinformation being spread about. I am glad that we are agreed that there are shady organisations spending huge amounts of money on this confirmation on both sides of it – the stakes are very high.
You may be able to trace the money to suggest a protester working with an organisation that had donations from Soros changed the mind of a key senator, but let’s be clear, without the solid backing of the NRA Kavanaugh would not even be on the shortlist for nominees, let alone the first choice. “Pro life” he is not.
None of that is important because it is up to the senate whether they wish to confirm him or not. They have decided that they want the accusations against him investigated and I think that is the right choice. I don’t think people who have committed sexual assault should be in charge of deciding which laws are allowable or not. I think it is important that they do their best to clear his name before moving forward.
She would be assumed to be innocent if she was being charged. Thats the point. Innocent until proven guilty is in a court of law.
A weeks delay will not destroy the process. It will also not satisfy anyone.
There is no need to be careful about Soros…it is indisputable that he has spent at least $246 million funding organisations who are opposed to Kavanaugh purely on the issue of abortion. The notion that a billionaire gives money so that the children of the poor can be more easily killed is sickening. I would be far more careful of trying to underplay his role.
Judith,
I am saying that if you are making the point that he should be considered innocent of sexual assault because it hasn’t been proven then it would be hypocritical of you to then declare that Dr Ford is a liar and political conspirator when there is zero evidence of that.
And how much money has been donated to the NRA who are fighting to have him confirmed?!
I’m not overly impressed with conspiracy theories. The confirmation process is the responsibility of the senate. Don’t like it? The buck stops with them, not some Liberal bogeyman.
I also think you are too pessimistic about the possibility of the FBI finding more evidence. They can at least interview the named witnesses.
Excellent article. The further we shove God to one side the further we go the other way. The gulf is widening but thankfully our Lord and saviour is on the throne, He reigns.
David as usual you have put it so well. Disturbing. Just what supposedly grown up and educated people will do for a cause! Our both nations are losing their minds if they have not already lost them.
An old saying of my mother-in-law, (who was a wise woman) used to reply to hearing stories of marriage disputes, with “Well, there’s three sides to every story, there’s his side, her side, and then there’s the truth”.
That phrase has always come to mind over the years and helped me to make sense of something reported or heard and worth pausing for reflection on just what you have actually heard!
Sometimes we hear what we want to hear in the heat of the moment and can be so quick to justify ourselves when attacked.
It’s good to recall Psalm 139, vs 33 – 34 every day in our Christian walk.
The flight of the UK away from God is gaining momentum. We’re not that far behind the US.
So correct! Neither is Australia!
James Anderson has some helpful thoughts on this perspective:
https://www.proginosko.com/2018/09/a-quick-note-on-the-kavanaugh-accusation/
This is a very good piece David. Like you I found the live coverage weirdly compelling although one somehow feels a tad dirty afterwards. Train crash isn’t the half of it. And I’ve been shocked at how casually people claim to just know that Kavanaugh is guilty. After all, he’s a mate of Trump. Guilt by association. At one time, those accused of crimes were tried by tabloid. Now it’s trial by Facebook. And those sitting in judgement are often people that might otherwise claim to be advocates for justice. Of course Facebook justice and Facebook ‘truth’ is now the Truth. Stick it in a meme and it’s gospel.
The fact that Kavanaugh could be subject to a federal investigation that was then suspended for his Supreme Court nomination is bad enough. But worse is a system where judges are political appointments. At least our judiciary is supposed to independent. But I fear for UK society’s commitment to truth because truth has become a political and therefore individual commodity. When truth goes so does democracy, due process and justice. You’ve highlighted this at many levels. It’s good to have a satirist of the calibre of Tom Walker/Jonathan Pie highlighting this.
I hope Dr Ford finds justice. But while I hate his politics, l also hope that Kavanaugh is innocent. And that either way justice will be done.
We are totally agreed! A miracle!
I’ve been troubled by the apparently increasingly tenuous attachment to due process and democracy evidenced by in particular by some on the left for a long while. And by the fact that simply by challenging their narrative you’re assumed to be alt-right or worse. I’ve received vicious approbrium for precisely that, sometimes by those that consider themselves to be Christians. If in the US conservative Christians are half-expected to support Trump (I know many don’t), here Christians, more liberal ones anyway, are expected to support Labour and the loopier anti-democratic policies of the Scottish Government. We’re becoming like the US but in an opposite sense. And I hate it because it only pushes folk into a corner. The very human tendency is to do and say the opposite of what people tell you, particularly when the telling comes packaged with the self-righteous and sanctimonious drivel only the left can manage.
I am left leaning. Don’t push me to the right!
I hope Ford and Kavanaugh get justice, but I fear a flawed and politically weaponised confirmation process will not let that happen.
If serious criminal allegations are made against a nominee for high office, the confirmation process should be stopped until an independent – and hopefully expedited – process has run its course. That it is the only fair thing to do for all involved. Regrettably in America prosecutions are often political with prosecutors usually being elected officials.
You are forgetting the rather simple and obvious fact that if the confirmation process is delayed it will be ended. That’s the point of this farce.
It has been delayed. Delaying so the FBI can investigate will not end the confirmation process unless the senate don’t like what the FBI find out.
Every confirmation process for current members of the court has taken between 50 and 100 days. It is actually pretty normal for the process to take this long.
It has been delayed for one week. The purpose of the Democrats was to get it delayed until after the November election.
The delay was down to Jeff Flake – a Republican. All the Democrats voted not to confirm at all. It is actually their job to decide whether the nominee is suitable or not. When the tables were turned the Republicans did not simply agree to any candidate the president chose.
It is a strange way of choosing supreme court justices, but I think it is unfair to criticise the Democrats and Flake for doing their job (being a check on executive power)
As I understand it there are already being questions raised about inconsistencies in Kavanaughs testimony.
“As you understand it..” Thats the problem…everyone has their own understanding…according to their preconceptions….maybe we are not in a position to judge?
Well it is the Senate’s job to judge which is why they have asked for an investigation!!!
* meant to say an independent – and hopefully expedited – criminal process
Have you considered a third possibility? That neither are lying but one or both are misrembering events 35years ago. Consider Hillary Clinton’s public recollection of landing under sniper fire in Sarejevo a mere 13years before, easily refuted by news footage showing her meeting local dignitaries and a little girl presenting her with flowers. I don’t think she made this out of whole cloth but I think over time the heroic fantasy became reality for her, memory is indeed unreliable.
I just hope that no one can remember some of the stuff I did when I was seventeen.
Presumably you didn’t attempt to rape anyone though. These are serious charges.
Is it any wonder that the clever people of the world embrace evolution – to say that we come from animals gives us the most perfect excuse to act like brute beasts, yet claim that we are generally on an upward trajectory and far more intelligent and capable of rational thinking than our forefathers who believed all that mumbo jumbo Christian rubbish that’s been the opium of the masses and suppressing the nations since the year dot. Thank God for the liberation of mankind from his sins by faith in Christ alone – as Peter says in John 6 “Lord to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life”. Man without God is a brute beast. He has no reason to be otherwise and we see this encapsulated in this sort of fetid trash at the highest level. Our relationship with Christ is so vital – to lift us out of sin and teach us repentance for our God dishonouring ways. All of us.
That mantra about “come from animals/act like beasts” has been worn so thin that it is almost invisible.
The man’s name is Brett Kavanaugh, not Brent.
The reason that the Democratic Senator did not release the information earlier was because it was contained in private correspondence between herself and her constituent and then it was later leaked to the press. Dr Fords representative in the house also kept the information private.
Have you fact checked the George Soros claim? I ask because the internet is awash with inaccurate claims about the case and because “blaming George Soros” is often the go to excuse.
Yes – although the $5 million was wrong. He gave $246 million to pro-abortionn groups who have been campaigning against Kavanaugh . The $5 million was through one of his ‘charities’….
But then the NRA have also spent millions trying to pressure them to confirm him.
“But are we really saying that anyone who has committed any kind of crime or sin in the past is to be excluded from public office forever? ”
It depends if course on the crime, rape isn’t exactly the same as running through fields of wheat. If we forget the current hearings at the moment and accept that (however unlikely at this point) due process is carried out, we have to treat some historical crimes as more severe.
If the person in question have been accused of attempted rape when he was 17 and convicted he probably would have been jailed and put on the sex offenders register and his life, utterly destroying any chance of holding one of the highest public offices in the country. So if the implications are true (without making a judgement about the current mess), why should they be excused because they happened 30 years ago because we are worried about someone’s career, when that career should have been stopped 30 years ago when it happened? Rape has lifelong consequences for the victim so why should the perpetrator escape consequences?
He has not been charged with rape – in fact he has not been charged with anything. He has however been accused by one person of sexual assault – 35 years ago – with no witnesses. Its an impossible thing to judge and ends up with people judging according to their political beliefs or personal experience – none of which have anything to do with the reality of this case.
She said there were four people – all four have denied it. It is a popularity contest. Actually its a doctrinal contest fought out by different tribes. For example the women who confronted Senator Flake yesterday were employees of a left wing Soros funded anti-Kavanaugh group….its all deeply partizan and I doubt justice will ever be done.
She claims there were witnesses. She has named three of them. There were presumably many more people at the party and others who may have heard at the time of something.
I think it was a mistake of the senate to only allowing Ford and Kavanaugh to the questioned it has become not just partisan, but a popularity contest. I think Christians should be supporting the quest for the truth of the matter and not assuming either is correct.
Yes – and all three so far have denied it. Your latter point is mine exactly. If the truth of the matter can be found then it should be…but that is highly doubtful. And the appointment should not be held up because of it.
But that wasn’t your point from what I read of that paragraph, you made a separate point, seemingly unrelated to the case, that what is done as a teenager shouldn’t matter. The implication as I read it in that paragraph was that even if he had done this it shouldn’t matter because he was young and it was a long time ago. I did wrong things as a teen but even then I knew that rape was reprehensible.
No – I did not make a point that what was done as a teenager shouldn’t matter. Read again what I said. It is so frustrating when people waste time arguing against what one does not say! As a teen did you know that lying was reprehensible? Did you ever tell a lie? Do you think that should be held against you for the rest of your life? If someone took a life – does that mean they can never ever be forgiven and received back into civilised society. My point was not that IF he had done this attempted sexual assault it should be ignored (I think his lying under oath would automatically exclude him anyway) but rather the self-righteous and sanctimonious behaviour of so many of the Senators – who if they same standard were to be applied to them – would find themselves out of a job.
To be very careful, all three have denied knowledge of the party, but none were submitted to questioning on the matter and all had a pretty good motive to have a poor memory!
Exactly…again thats the point. We have no witnesses to an event that is supposed to have taken place on an unspecified date and time, 35 years ago. Its impossible to prove.
Sorry, but just to be clear, are you suggesting that most of the Democratic Senators have something as serious as this in their past?
Depends what ‘this’ is? I think that many Democratic and Republican Senators would have ‘serious’ incidents in their past (violence, lying, abortion, theft, sexual assault)….would that preclude them all from office?
I’m sorry, but I find it astonishing that you think most senators have that kind of thing in their past.
We have seen very recent cases (a Senator Franklin) where such things do indeed block people from holding high office. He resigned after it was discovered that he had forceably kissed one woman and groped another.
Find it astonishing all you want! I don’t have such a high view of human nature. Are you suggesting that this particular sin is somehow the unforgiveable sin?
It’s not unforgiveable, but if it is true then it means he is unsuitable to be a member of the supreme Court – I think pretty well all of the senate would agree with that.
Not to mention that if it is true then that would mean he also lied under oath and is unrepentant.
I would expect my MP to resign if he was found to have committed any of the crimes you list and MP is a lower office than this man is nominated to. It requires a person whose morality is not questionable.
I just don’t agree that this is normal behaviour or acceptable behaviour. I think there’s a difference between a sin being forgiven and a sin having no consequences, not least because it has had lifelong consequences for the victim.
False accusations of rape have lifelong consequences for the falsely accused! Even leading to suicide, as it did with a minister friend of mine, and belatedly proven to be false! He was literally overcome with the shame it brought upon his family and church.
It’s all about abortion, David. Many pro-abortion people are deeply worried that another conservative on the Supreme Court will endanger the status of Roe vs Wade. That is why they have opposed Kavanaugh so implacably and stated that opposition long before the Ford material surfaced. There’s a good article on this in The Australian but unfortunately it’s behind a paywall. Here are a couple of other articles, the second very sympathetic to the abortion activists, to how hard they’ve worked on these issues and how well their efforts seem to be paying off:
https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-thinks-kavanaugh-accusations-are-about-abortion-not-assault-1125495
http://time.com/5399809/brett-kavanaugh-abortion-rights-protests/
But Dr Ford is 52 so presumably she’s not likely to need access to abortion.
Please don’t make silly remarks. Its not about her abortion…its about the principle of abortion….
I think you should look at the whole picture of the candidate and not just his views on abortion.
I also think that you should be careful (it’s very hard to do) not to give him the benefit of the doubt just because he shares this one particular political view with you.
YOu really just don’t get it – do you? I don’t give him the benefit of the doubt just because he shares my views on abortion. I give him (and anyone else) the benefit of the doubt because I just don’t know and I am not the judge. innocent until proven guilty. (And abortion is not ‘just one particular political view’….it is literally a matter of life and death….)
It wasn’t intended to be a silly remark.
If she is being accused of making these accusations because she wants to protect other women’s access to abortion (and I really don’t see how this would achieve that as the WH will only nominate justices opposed to abortion and the administration has another 2-6 years on the clock) then you are suggesting that she is lying as part of a political conspiracy. There is simply no evidence of that.
I was not talking about her – I don’t know her motivations. I was talking about those who are using her – who have made clear their motivations. To stop Kananaugh by any means in order to protect the right to kill the child in the womb.
I should say that I have absolutely no idea whether Dr Ford or Judge Kavanaugh is telling the truth in this matter.
What troubles me is that it’s taken 35 yrs for her to come forward. Not because now just happens to be a politically opportune moment to speak up, but because the man she believes to be a monster has been at liberty to predate on other women for 35 yrs. Indeed other, newer allegations of rape have begun surfacing, which if true – a big if, given the political spite abounding – would make her feel quite wretched.
If only she’d had the courage to speak up at the time, the case could have been investigated and tested, and a lot of people saved a lot of grief. Yes, it takes a lot of courage but that’s part of civic duty too, to stand up and help protect your society.
I’m no expert in 1980s Maryland law, but there seems no chance of now prosecuting a 35yr old allegation of sexual assault due to the statute of limitations. Rightly or wrongly, in law, Judge Kavanaugh seems to have no case to answer (in respect of Dr Ford’s allegation), which may help explain his outrage.
So, I do question the judgement and wisdom of Dr Ford, this highly educated woman, to only now consider it her civic duty to speak up. I’m sorry that the politicians are making hay out of her misery and I’m also sorry that as a young and pretty teenage girl she very unwisely chose to enter a house full of drunk young men.
Pr 1:8
Sadly I don’t think that in the 1980s she would have been believed.
Ok – now we are done. We are just getting into the area of speculation and making silly remarks. You havnt’ a clue whether that would be the case or not. This conversation is done. When we reach this level we just end up going round in circles. Why not just admit you don’t know (neither do I) and stop speculating?
It wasn’t me who was speculating.
I’m happy to accept that they are both innocent until there is proof to the contrary.
To add to this, she is clearly not believed by many NOW, in 2018 – the era of the Me Too movement, where her odds are greatest. The thought that she wouldn’t be believed in the 1980s is very valid. And, she brought it up in therapy years ago. Why did young boys assaulted by Catholic priests wait to report? Were they given the same backlash? Why did the 156 gymnasts wait to report Larry Nassar? Does this make it any less real? Only 3-5% of accusations of sexual assault are false.
As Pete mentioned in a previous comment, she is NOT looking for charges, but she thought this should be brought to light given because Kavanaugh is NOW (not in the 80s) up for a life appointment for a position where character and integrity are extremely important. Why should we not take this seriously? If you were hiring for an everyday position and you had several people tell you about your potential hiree’s sexual assault, would you hesitate at all to hire them?
I’ve read through all the comments on this post and I’d like to thank you, Pete, for your commentary on things overlooked by many that are very important to this issue.
I am tired of these women coming out against their so called accuser from years ago. New rule if you don’t report it same day, you are okay with it. Even if it happened, it already happened and there’s nothing you can do about it now anyways. Let Mr. Kavanaugh just be part of his family and enjoy this moment.
….except prevent it from happening to someone else? How about this – I am tired of people sexually assaulting people. I truly hope no one close to you is ever assaulted because they clearly will never have sympathy or an ally in you.
That is not a helpful comment. You set up a false dichotomy whereby you either support your position or are support sexual assault. Ironically you are proving my point about how the dumbed down nature of this argument ends up harming people. Life is much more complex than you suggest. And in case you really have to ask – I am tired of people sexually assaulting people.
This was a direct response to McNabb’s proposed timeline for reporting and more importantly, personal acceptance of sexual assault. My position is you should have more than “same day” to report. Maybe my comment wasn’t helpful, but “New rule if you don’t report it the same day, YOU ARE OKAY WITH IT” is certainly not helpful to anyone and can be very harmful to sexual assault survivors, especially those who have not felt safe enough or have felt shame in coming forward. If you can point out that my comment is unhelpful, I hope that you can see why the original comment is as well.
And I fully believe you are tired of it, that was clear based on your article and I really appreciate you addressing the topic the way that you did. Many articles at best leave this part out, or at worst minimize the abuse. My comment was directed at the original commenter who is tired of people waiting years to report.
You’re so right! Corruption now seems to be the very foundation of our governmental system. How can we expect any real justice or improvement towards equal rights? I look forward to God’s Kingdom bringing an end to all of this craziness (Revelation 21:3,4; Deuteronomy 32:4). Until then, I guess we must patiently await to see the results of the November elections.
It was a very sad and depressing business. On both sides it appeared that people were judging guilt, innocence, truth and falsehood on the basis of whether the individuals were on the same side rather than the evidence.
BTW I thought Senator Jeff Flake was one of the very few people who appeared to come out of it deserving of respect as his actions – asking for a delay while there was another investigation of the facts – appeared consistent with a wish to act on the basis of an effort efforts to get at the truth. I was equally horrified by those Democrats who said that the nominee was not entitled to due process or the presumption of innocence and by those Republicans who attacked Dr Ford without appearing to have any reliable reason to know she was lying.