Links - 24th November 2018 (2) (Kavanaugh)

Looks like there was a lot more even after Links - 30th September 2018 (Kavanaugh) (this links post is longer than usual to finish off what I have in my list that's directly related)


Tomorrow’s Elite Lawyers Disavow Due Process - WSJ - "When the New Yorker published its own uncorroborated account of lewd conduct purportedly committed by Mr. Kavanaugh as a Yale freshman, Yale law-school alumnae organized an open letter supporting “all women who have faced sexual assault, not only at Yale, but across the country.” Thirty-one Yale law professors canceled classes to facilitate student protests against Judge Kavanaugh, both in New Haven and on Capitol Hill. The Office of Student Affairs put out a plate of cookies to let students “know we are thinking of you.”... The Kavanaugh hysteria has provided the country with a crash course in academic victim politics. The tribal denunciations of “privileged white males,” the moral panic over fantastical accounts of sexual predation, the spectacle of Ivy League law students claiming to feel “unsafe,” the assertion that a single uncorroborated outbreak of male teen hormones should cancel a lifetime of achievement in the law—all originate in the anti-Enlightenment ethos of the academy, embodied in critical race studies, feminist legal theory, and the attacks on the Socratic teaching method as anti-female and anti-“survivor.” The #BelieveSurvivors mantra is a cornerstone of the campus grievance industry but inimical to everything that a law school should teach. It’s a religious gesture, not a legal one: Such belief is independent of proof, arising out of a pre-existing commitment to a narrative of ubiquitous female abuse by patriarchal white males. The “survivor” label presupposes the conclusion that evidence should establish: that the accused is guilty of an offense. The fact-finder, if there even is one, regards contradictions or holes in a woman’s story as evidence of “trauma” and thus as further corroboration. According to #BelieveSurvivors logic, the Innocence Project, which exists to vacate wrongful convictions and has a presence at law schools across the country, should be disbanded."

The Presumption of Guilt - WSJ - "“Due process requires cross-examination in circumstances like these because it is ‘the greatest legal engine ever invented’ for uncovering the truth,” wrote Judge Amul Thapar. “Not only does cross-examination allow the accused to identify inconsistencies in the other side’s story, but it also gives the fact-finder an opportunity to assess a witness’s demeanor and determine who can be trusted. So if a university is faced with competing narratives about potential misconduct, the administration must facilitate some form of cross-examination in order to satisfy due process.”... Democrats claim that even asking questions about these facts is somehow an unfair attack on her as a woman. Her lawyer is demanding that Ms. Ford testify after Mr. Kavanaugh, and that only Senators ask questions—no doubt to bar Republicans from having a female special counsel ask those questions. We’re told Ms. Ford even wants to bar any questions about why she waited so long to recall the alleged assault and who she consulted in finally going public this year. Such a process is designed to obscure the truth, not to discover it... the set of facts she currently provides wouldn’t pass even the “preponderance of evidence”—or 50.01% evidence of guilt—test that prevails today on college campuses. If this is the extent of her evidence and it is allowed to defeat a Supreme Court nominee, a charge of sexual assault will become a killer political weapon regardless of facts. And the new American standard of due process will be the presumption of guilt"
Liberals claim that this was only a job interview so due process didn't apply, but if a "minority" had faced this hostile a job interview...

How the Senate Lost Its Decorum - "The Garland Factor. By any objective standard, Brett M. Kavanaugh is highly qualified to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court...
Court Balance... President Trump is replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a pivotal swing vote on the high court for three decades. Democrats are acting as though replacing him with a conservative is the end of democracy as we know it. There’s a certain amount of revisionism here: Justice Kennedy, appointed by President Reagan, was usually on the conservative side of the court’s numerous 5-4 decisions. And as recently as earlier this summer, liberals were complaining about him bitterly... had she won the 2016 election, President Hillary Clinton would have done the same thing in reverse: The Scalia and Kennedy seats would have gone to two progressives expected to show fealty to all the Democratic Party’s sacred cows... such litmus tests are not what the high court is supposed to be about. Those justices are supposed to be legal scholars who adjudge the weighty constitutional questions before them without fear or favor...
Presidential Politics: Two other Judiciary Committee Democrats, both attorneys themselves, have what any good lawyer would recognize as an obvious conflict of interest: They want to be president...
The Trump Factor: That said, it is a fact of life that Kavanaugh is in Democrats’ cross-hairs because of the man who appointed him"

Leland Keyser: Ford's Friend, FBI Agent, Pressured Her to Change Story - "Leland Keyser, a friend of Christine Blasey Ford who Ford claimed was at the party where she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh, has not only refuted the accuser’s version of the story, but told FBI investigators that Ford’s “allies” tried to pressure her to change the original version."

Woman Who Claimed Justice Kavanaugh Raped Her Now Admits They've Never Even Met - "Grassley referred Judy Munro-Leighton for criminal prosecution and revealed her actions were part of a ploy to take down Kavanaugh’s nomination... Grassley referred Julie Swetnick and her lawyer Michael Avenatti to the Department of Justice for a possible criminal investigation over allegations they made false statements to Congress. Swetnick was the third woman to accuse Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, and she appeared to have invented wild claims of rape trains and parties she and Kavanaugh allegedly attended, despite no proof or evidence supporting the claims, where women were drugged and raped. Swetnick, who is being represented by Michael Avenatti, sent a declaration to the Senate Judiciary Committee claiming that she attended house parties in the early 1980s where she saw Kavanaugh mistreating women and spiking their drinks. But now the pair may be held liable for the apparently false claims."

'Nothing to Gain,' Kavanaugh Accuser Raises Nearly $1 Million - "Some question the necessity of the financial assistance given that much of the costs associated with Ford's testimony – including all of her legal fees plus a polygraph examination – were covered by Democratic attorneys assigned to her by the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, committee sources say; panel Democrats were allotted half of a $1 million committee fund for transportation, security, investigations and other expenses associated with the tumultuous confirmation process. The Senate Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police also provided "heightened security" for Ford. "Her lawyers said they were representing her on a pro-bono basis. Why does she need all of this money?” said an attorney familiar with the committee's investigation into her allegations, adding that the funds were originally set up to help pay her legal bills... Aside from possible financial incentives, critics say Ford clearly had a political motive to come forward with her unsubstantiated charges against Kavanaugh. They note that she is a registered Democrat who has made contributions earmarked for Bernie Sanders, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. She also marched against Trump’s stance on climate change and signed a letter speaking out against the Republican president's immigration policies... Some legal analysts worry her crowdfunding windfall sets a dangerous precedent by creating a new incentive for accusers. They fear partisan activists will now offer crowdfunding as a form of bounty on political foes, or to buy witness testimony against political adversaries."

Kavanaugh declines more than $600,000 from GoFundMe campaign

Kavanaugh praises Merrick Garland, Obama's Supreme Court pick, during hearing: 'He's a great judge' - "Cruz claimed the two voted together 93 percent of the time; he also said Garland joined about 96 percent of the published opinions authored by Kavanaugh when they were on the same panel... Of the similarities between the two judges noted by Cruz, Kavanaugh said, “I think we’re trying hard to find common ground.” “As I’ve said before, [Garland is] a great judge – a great chief judge – and he’s very careful and very hardworking, and we work well together and try to read the statute as written, read the precedent as written,” Kavanaugh said. “He’s a judge – like I try to be as well – a judge who’s not trying to impose any personal preferences onto the decision but take the law as written, and that’s what I’ve tried to do in those cases and that probably explains some of that.” “I think it also goes back to – I think judges are distinct from policymakers, and I think that shows up when you dig into the actual details of how courts operate and go about their business,” he continued."
The important difference, of course, being that one is from the wrong side

An0maly - "Christine Blasey Ford has no further plans to pursue her sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh, according to her attorneys"
"Weird. Almost like once the political agenda fails it doesn’t actually matter to them. Yes or No?"

Ryan Fournier on Twitter - "Christine Ford apparently has several book offers lined up. What is she going to write about if she can’t remember anything. "

Democrats Play Against Brett Kavanaugh Backfired Big Time - "In his unprecedented speech following Ford’s testimony, Kavanaugh not only blasted the process but made no pretense when it came to those who had manipulated it—liberal groups, people angry with Donald Trump, people wanting to take revenge for the Clintons. The speech electrified the right. There is no other word for it... The idea he was attempting to convey was that the career-destroying and reputation-destroying forces that had been activated against him were singing from an old hymnal. They were seeking to ruin him in order to deny the views he might have shared with conservative Republicans their place on the Court. They wished to invalidate conservative views through any means necessary, including the deployment of a horrific charge made without any supporting evidence. For Republicans and conservatives with a long memory, this was not just about Kavanaugh. It was about Bob Bork, and the near destruction of Clarence Thomas, and the illegitimate prosecution of Reagan Labor Secretary Ray Donovan, who was left to ask how he could get his reputation back when a garbage case against him fell apart. It was about the criminalization of policy differences... It was about the politics of personal destruction. Republicans and conservatives could see the same enemies arrayed against Kavanaugh they had seen over the past 35 years: liberal interest groups and the Democratic politicians whose staffs help populate those groups, working hand in hand with a pliable and credulous media to create the impression of guilt and evil where there are no facts to back up that impression... We don’t destroy people when someone says “trust me, he’s bad.” We don’t … unless we want to destroy him anyway and are willing to use any piece of evidence to hand... you cannot ask a man to allow himself to be ruined to preserve a set of behaviors that have already been rendered passe by the deployment of charges of sexual assault and gang rape. I mean, you can ask, but only a fool would take you up on it. Kavanaugh saved himself. The staggering turnabout in polls in different races in different parts of the country makes that clear. Privately, Republican campaigns report they have never seen a sleeping body politic jolt awake in this way. You don’t like the politics of it? For those otherwise sympathetic to Kavanaugh’s plight who think he took it too far, you simply have to understand that had he not done so, he would have been known forever as the gang rapist who lost his Supreme Court gig."

On the Fallibility of Memory and the Importance of Evidence - "memories are not concrete, nor do they simply deteriorate with age. They are malleable, changeable, and easily influenced by suggestion. These changes are incorporated into the original memory to a degree that they seem every bit as real as its truest aspects. As Yale researchers Marcia K. Johnson and Carol L. Raye noted, “All experience is constructed in that people use their general knowledge of the world to fill in ‘missing elements.’” For this reason, memories are subject to what is known as the Misinformation Effect... A flashbulb memory is a memory encoded in a time of intense psychological stress that is supposedly extraordinarily vivid and accurate... flashbulb memories use the same neural mechanisms, decay at the same rate, and are no more nor less accurate than typical memories overall. The only notable difference seems to be the confidence with which people speak about their flashbulb memories... many researchers argue that flashbulb memories are less accurate... Memory Rehearsal Increases Forgetting... each retrieval of a memory leaves it susceptible to alteration. Thus, memories that are called upon quite frequently—as traumatic memories often are—will decrease in accuracy at a more rapid pace than those that are retrieved less often. Over a long enough period of time, this can lead to a memory that’s virtually unrecognizable when compared to the original event... In 1992, the Innocence Project was founded in response to the large number of falsely incriminated individuals that were being exonerated due to advancements in DNA testing and analyses in criminal investigations... By far, the leading cause of false imprisonment in these cases was eyewitness misidentification, which played a role in 70 percent of the convictions. Nearly half of those misidentifications (46 percent) involved multiple eyewitnesses “identifying” the same, innocent person. Separate findings noted in the case of Perry vs. New Hampshire suggest that as many as one out of every three eyewitness identifications are incorrect... eyewitness testimonies of victims are far more likely to play a role in wrongful convictions than those of bystanders... our recognition of casual acquaintances—people we may see quite often but with whom we rarely interact—is often no better than chance..
activists routinely point to data that shows the rate of false claims is only about 5.9 percent. However, they invariably neglect to mention that this figure only covers those cases that were unequivocally proven to be false by authorities. It does not include cases dropped due to insufficient evidence or otherwise left unresolved because the victim withdrew from the process, or was unable to identify the perpetrator, or mislabeled an incident that does not fit the legal definition of sexual assault. The number of cases that fall into one or more of these categories is 44.9 percent, not including the 5.9 percent figure, above. It’s therefore impossible to tell what the true percentage of false accusations is, but even a 6 percent (or one in 17) chance that an innocent person may be convicted ought to be too great a risk... it is better to risk a guilty man’s reputation remaining untarnished than to risk ruining the life and career of an innocent one."
So much for #believewomen
Almost no "job interviews" are on the public record

Matthew Yglesias on Twitter - "My Uber driver this morning is a black guy who backed Bernie in the primaries then Hillary in the general but is now warming to Trump because the Kavanaugh thing shows that “feminists are out of control.” Could get like a dozen columns out of this."
Eric Spencer on Twitter - "And precisely none of them will say, "Maybe we should dial back the crazy before we completely destroy the Democratic Party."

Colbert show writer: "Whatever happens, I’m just glad we ruined Brett Kavanaugh’s life." : The_Donald
Ariel Dumas

Bret Weinstein on Twitter - "My position on the #Kavanaugh confirmation: Both outcomes are completely unacceptable.
Kavanaugh was clearly, at the very least, an entitled punk through college. Nothing suggests a radical shift in mindset. He appears to be the kind of adult that entitled punks grow into.
Putting someone on the court who is likely to view the world through those narrow eyes is a betrayal of the most elemental American values. All the worse that the nomination came from another entitled punk. It's a divisive finger-in-the-eye-for-life to patriots of all stripes.
Imagine this court has to intervene in an election, or confront one of the difficult issues that divides the nation. Kavanaugh's involvement will undermine the legitimacy of any decision in which he votes along expected lines.
On the other hand, we can't have a republic with veto-by-accusation, even if most accusations are true. The incentive to weaponize accusation will drag such a system quickly into an accusation-arms-race in which cooperation becomes impossible, and true victims are ignored.
This lose/lose situation is the same position we had on election night, 2016. It's telling. Our system has gone into a phase in which we are regularly forced to choose between unacceptable options. Normal tools won't save us. To survive we must embrace the new and unknown. Let's"
Someone: "If his temperament is such a problem shouldn’t we have a lot of evidence from his decade on the bench that it’s interfered with his work? How widely do you want to apply this notion that assholes aren’t credible?"
"You know Bret, for a “punk kid” he sure does have an amazing history of working hard, serving this country and working in the highest level of our government. Ill take that “punk” anyday! Besides, Id like a something a little more objective than this standard.. its a mans life!"

Lindsey Graham To Protester: Let's Dunk Kavanaugh In Water, See If He Floats - "“If he would [take] a polygraph, this would all be over, Senator Graham,” the protester said. Graham responded by saying, “You’ve humiliated this guy enough and there seems to be no bottom for some of you,” before attempting to address a reporter. When the protester continued to talk, Graham made the “dunk him in water” remark."
Ironically the Kanin study on false rape accusations is dismissed by feminists because of the use of polygraph tests

What the Black Men Who Identify With Brett Kavanaugh Miss - "Black men have every right to be frustrated by the lack of due process and the inevitable rush to judgment they often face in sexual-assault cases. But that’s not because they’ve so often been treated like Kavanaugh—it’s because they so rarely have."
The story seems to be that if Kavanaugh were black, all the accusations and violation of due process would've been unacceptable and racist, but because he is white they're alright. So racial double standards which punish white people are a good thing

Some of the Greatest Justices Were Nasty and Partisan, Actually - "several of the greatest Supreme Court justices had disastrously bad, highly unjudicial temperaments. Collectively and individually, Justices Hugo Black, Robert Jackson, William O. Douglas and Felix Frankfurter were nasty, vindictive, backbiting, ambitious and partisan. A contemporary observer referred to the court on which they sat as “nine scorpions in a bottle.” Scorpions aren’t known for their courtesy or judiciousness. Yet these four justices all made historically significant contributions to constitutional law and the court. Without them, our living Constitution would be considerably poorer and weaker."

'Kavanaugh Doesn't Have The Right Temperament!' Screams Protester Lobbing Grenade Outside Supreme Court

Ruth Bader Ginsburg blasts Brett Kavanaugh hearings as 'highly partisan show' - "Justice Ginsburg was confirmed to the bench by a U.S. Senate vote of 96-3, two months after she was nominated by then-President Bill Clinton. The liberal justice said Wednesday that the “atmosphere” back then was “truly bipartisan.”"

Poll: 60% Want Kavanaugh Confirmed if FBI Dismisses Allegations - "once those polled were informed “that the named witnesses deny any knowledge of the allegation, this shifts to 57 percent who favor confirmation.” In other words, once voters know the full truth (the truth the establishment media are hiding from them), they overwhelmingly side with Kavanaugh — those who call for his confirmation jump from 37 percent to 57 percent. There are other numbers bubbling beneath the surface inconvenient to the false reality manufactured by the media. To begin with “69 percent agree with Kavanaugh’s pronouncement and Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) statement that the proceedings have been a national disgrace.” Secondly, the poll found that a whopping 75 percent believe Sen. Dianne Feinstein “should have turned over Ford’s letter months earlier so that this debacle might have been avoided.” A full 63 percent believe Kavanaugh will eventually be cleared and confirmed.""

Read the Transcript of Susan Collins Speech on Kavanaugh - "Opponents frequently cite then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to nominate only judges who would overturn Roe. The Republican platform for all presidential campaigns has included this pledge since at least 1980. During this time, Republican presidents have appointed Justices O’Connor, Souter, and Kennedy to the Supreme Court. These are the very three justices—Republican president appointed justices—who authored the Casey decision, which reaffirmed Roe. Furthermore, pro-choice groups vigorously opposed each of these justices’ nominations. Incredibly, they even circulated buttons with the slogan “Stop Souter Or Women Will Die!” Just two years later, Justice Souter coauthored the Casey opinion, reaffirming a woman’s right to choose. Suffice it to say, prominent advocacy organizations have been wrong... Judge Kavanaugh has received rave reviews for his 12-year track record as a judge, including for his judicial temperament. The American Bar Association (ABA) gave him its highest possible rating. Its Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary conducted an extraordinarily thorough assessment, soliciting input from almost 500 people, including his judicial colleagues. The ABA concluded that “his integrity, judicial temperament, and professional competence met the highest standard.” Lisa Blatt, who has argued more cases before the Supreme Court than any other woman in history, testified: “By any objective measure, Judge Kavanaugh is clearly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.”... This debate is complicated further by the fact that the Senate confirmation process is not a trial. But certain fundamental legal principles—about due process, the presumption of innocence, and fairness—do bear on my thinking, and I cannot abandon them... the four witnesses she named could not corroborate any of the events of that evening gathering where she says the assault occurred; none of the individuals Professor Ford says were at the party has any recollection at all of that night."

On Twitter: Teacher Solicits Murder Of Kavanaugh In Enviornment Of Intent, Young Feminist Throws Life Away - "a public school teacher posted a solicitation for the murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in an atmosphere of intent to harm and destroy America foundations. Twitter users were quick to grab screenshots, of her postings on Facebook and Twitter before she deleted both accounts and report her to the FBI. “Who will take one for the team and kill Kavanaugh?” posted Samantha Ness."

Scott Kelly Apologizes to Angry Woke Mob for Quoting Winston Churchill - "Retired Astronaut Scott Kelly apologized Sunday after quoting social justice thought criminal Winston Churchill — even though he was attacking Republicans celebrating the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh... Not everyone agreed with Kelly kowtowing to the Twitter trolls. AEI resident scholar Christina Sommer told Kelly, despite Churchill’s shortcomings, there was no need to apologize. “Please don’t apologize. Winston Churchill, like all of us, had serious human failings,” Sommers said. “But unlike most of us—he possessed genuine greatness. And that greatness may have saved freedom & democracy. Ask the Twitter scolds to name a hero or heroine who didn’t have serious flaws.”"

George Soros’s March on Washington - WSJ - "while most demonstrators are not paid for their efforts, the protests at the Capitol Saturday, and the ones that have included stalking lawmakers inside and outside their offices, are organized by groups of which Mr. Soros is an important patron. I started following the money for the “resistance” when it was born, hours after Election Day 2016. I have organized my findings in a spreadsheet I have made public. At least 50 of the largest organizations that participated as “partners” in the Jan. 21, 2017, Women’s March had received grants from Mr. Soros’s Open Society Foundations or similar funds in the “House of Soros,” as his philanthropic empire was once called internally. The number of Soros-backed partners has grown to at least 80. At least 20 of the largest groups that led the Saturday anti-Kavanaugh protests have been Open Society grantees. On Saturday I also studied the fine print on the signs as protesters waved them defiantly at the Capitol and the high court. They came from a familiar list of Democratic interest groups that have received millions from Mr. Soros: the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Center for Popular Democracy, Human Rights Campaign and on and on. MoveOn.org, a Democratic organizing and lobbying group founded with Soros money, sent its army of partisan followers regular missives that led them to a Google form to ask for train tickets and places to stay. Under a ginkgo tree on the East Lawn of the Capitol, Center for Popular Democracy field marshals put protesters through a “training” Saturday morning. “Are you ready to be arrested?” she asks. “Yes!” the crowd shouts, although one woman asks quietly: “For what?”... Rethink Media created a “social media strategy sheet” back in August for anti-Kavanaugh protesters. One talking point: “Kavanaugh was hand-picked by dark money groups and their billionaire backers.” Rethink Media is itself a Soros grantee, and Saturday’s protests and unlawful disruptions were part of a well-funded, orchestrated network that books buses, hotel rooms and churches for such agitation... What I have pieced together is an open secret but one that journalists tend to avoid. Many (including me) sympathize with the liberal causes Open Society champions. Some have been paid Open Society Fellows or grantees"
It's only bad when the Koch brothers do it