CNN is showing Flake getting shouted at by rape victims who have cornered him in a elevator. It’s powerful stuff.
Uh…we are talking about attempted rape here. Yeah, I’d ignore the request for anonymity and probably hand this over to the police to investigate. I guess if I were a big time senator I’d speak to legal first and see if I should do that or turn it over to the FBI…whichever makes the most legal sense (I have no idea).
Probably why I wouldn’t be elected to dog catcher though (I really like dogs, too, so it’s a shame)…
I think with the greatest amount of respect, you are projecting your own biases.
I have examined probably several hundred witnesses over 10 years at the Bar. Professor Ford was a layperson. Judge Kavanaugh was not. With the former you are always friendly and attempting to put them at ease, even hostile witnesses. With professionals (like say Police officers or you know a judge), lot more matter of fact and businesslike since they know the score.
Ms Mitchell did what she was instructed to do by those who engaged her. With Professor Ford, she obtained material that the Republicans wanted, stuff to attack the Democrats. With Kavanaugh, she took him over the the evidence and elicited denials. Again, what they wanted her to do. If they had told her to do a hard cross on Professor Ford, she could have done so, but she was obviously under orders to go easy.
Someone should look to see if there are any open Federal Judgeships in Arizona, since, won’t be surprised if she gets nominated. Or would that be too cynical.
To vote for Kavanaugh for dog catcher, OTOH, I’d have to really hate dogs.
Breaking: Flake is a yes.
Confirmation from the AP: Flake will vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
Hope that elevator got stuck between floors.
With Flake a yes, that means they need only one more maybe. I expect they’ll get it, sadly. The Republican party remains the party of tolerating sexual assault and rape, to the point of promoting and celebrating credibly accused assaulters and rapists.
On the bright side for Democrats, if they get either the House or Senate, they can investigate and subpoena to their heart’s content. Maybe they’ll even be able to get Judge on record and under oath. They won’t have the votes to impeach Kavanaugh, but if Judge reveals that any of Kavanaugh’s statements are lies, and possibly other accusers or witnesses come forward, Kavanaugh may be forced to step down. And if the Democrats gain the Senate, they can feel free to pull a Merrick Garland on any and every Trump nominee, since that will certainly be the standard procedure going forward; Mitch McConnell proved there are no electoral consequences for holding SCOTUS seats empty.
So you would feel comfortable that you are a better judge than the accuser on whether the charges should be made public? Why would you feel that you are in a better position to light the fuse that would inevitably lead to the catastrophic disruption of the lives of both the accuser and the blamed? (To say nothing of the chance that the allegations may be false.)
I think this is an extremely difficult ethical question, and those who believe there’s an easy answer are fooling themselves.
If someone brought me an affidavit claiming a crime was committed (a rape in this case) I wouldn’t feel comfortable just sitting on it. They are, after all, bringing it to me, unasked for, so to me that means they are putting this on my judgement of what I think should be the next step. Sadly, I’m not an LEO or a lawyer (or even someone with much if any understanding of legal matters beyond ‘don’t drink and drive’ and ‘shooting someone is bad’…oh, plus ‘never talk back to officers who pull you over’), so my call would be to give what I have to them to sort it out.
If the allegations are false, then that’s something for LEO types to determine. Even if they are true but they can’t be sustained in a court, that’s again something for LEO types to figure out. I’m sorry if the accuser gets blamed…really. But if there was a crime, then the professionals should be looking into it. That’s just me. YMMV of course, but to me if you sit on information about a crime that’s never a good thing, so to me it really is that easy.
Which is probably why no one would (or should) bring stuff like this to me.
I fail to see how someone can simultaneously say, quite literally, “Please keep this private!” and imply that you should do what you want with the information. That makes no sense.
If you wanted to argue that some matters are too important to agree to confidentiality, I can see that in some cases. Like, for example, a young child who tells a teacher in confidence that they are being abused by their parent. I have a hard time seeing this scenario as fitting in with that same extreme case.
If you say ‘Please keep this private!’ but then give it to me, then the decision comes to me. If you don’t like that then don’t put this on me. I’m sorry that doesn’t make sense to you, but then you aren’t me and vice versa. I would honor a request to keep something private, even if you are volunteering information I’m not asking you to divulge if it was for something less than a major crime. Divulge to me your obsession with cat videos or desire to eat glue paste, or even your use of drugs or alcohol in the past and, even though I didn’t ask you to do so I’d honor your request to keep it private. Tell me you witnessed a murder or you were raped though? Sorry…if you don’t want me to use my judgement then don’t give it to me.
Okay, really? Perhaps the opinions of Republicans will persuade you,
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/27/gop-senators-outside-ford-questioner-mistake-849246
Yes actually. A crime is an offence against the State. That’s what differentiates it from a civil action. The party going to Court is the State, not the accuser. We regularly see the State moving forward despite the victims wishes. About half of all Domestic Violence cases are initiated despite the victim not wanting to go forward.
GOP Senate staffers tried to prevent Kavanaugh accuser Deborah Ramirez from providing testimony. Not surprised at all. And not surprised that the Republican Senators lied about it during the hearing, and are still going to support Kavanaugh.
The party of tolerating rape and sexual assault. That’s what they are right now.
They are the Rapeublican Party now.
Kavanaugh wrongly claims he could drink legally in Md.
Why should we respect the law or the Supreme Court if he is seated as a Justice? Why should we respect Congress if he is confirmed?
He’s going to get his spot on the SC. Nothing that could have been said or brought up would have ever changed that. They could have had a video of him stomping a puppy to death and would have excused it as the poor thing was on fire and he was just trying to put it out. I just have no faith in this country any more to be honest. It’s going to hell in a rocket powered hand basket and running over any decent people who are in the way. At this point I’m just looking for a way to move to Canada though unfortunately marriage is looking to be the only way. Any takers? I make some damn fine Japanese style curry.
Looking like he’ll get through right now. But there could be a silver lining for Democrats, as I said before: if they win either the House or Senate, there will be more investigations into Kavanaugh, with the subpoena power.
Feinstein did, eventually, turn the letter over to the FBI. Did she have Ford’s permission when she did that? I can’t remember if that was ever reported.
Two reasons. First, you don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater…instead, you vote in a new baby. Second, you live here…if you really don’t want to respect the laws of the land simply because there are flawed people in positions of power (as if this hasn’t been the case since the founding of the country) you should probably move somewhere else to avoid being incarcerated by the very people you don’t want to respect.