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Joshua Benton @jbenton
, 13 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
One quick thing that might be of interest to any reporters out there working on Brett Kavanaugh backgrounders that I haven't seen elsewhere yet.

Kavanaugh, Yale Class of '87, was a member of a secret society called Truth and Courage.
He reported his membership as part of his confirmation process back in 2004. archive.org/stream/gov.gpo…
I went to Yale (about 10 years after Kavanaugh), but I've never heard of the Truth and Courage Society. It's apparently a pretty minor secret society, ranked well below Skull & Bones and Scroll & Key for the odd people who care about such a thing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegiat…
One thing that stands out about Truth and Courage is that it appears to be an all-male society. This 2005 random Internet post says it was "formed by some disgruntled alumni of Skull & Bones and maybe Wolf's Head when those two societies went co-ed." talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-universit…
Now, that's almost certainly not right, at least when it comes to timing. Skull & Bones and Wolf's Head both went co-ed in 1991, by which point Kavanaugh had already graduated and T&C had already been around for decades. nytimes.com/1991/10/26/nyr… deseretnews.com/article/199795…
(I don't know what year Truth and Courage was founded; looks like late 1970s/early 1980s from best I can figure.)
That said, the question of whether or not to admit women was a big one for all the Yale secret societies for decades — so even if it wasn't a reaction to those *going* co-ed, it could have been in reaction to their considering it en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and…
But note that that Wolf's Head news story says it was the "last of Yale University's all-male senior societies" to admit women. That wasn't true: Truth and Courage, at least as far as I can tell, stayed all-male for many years — maybe all the way to today, I'm not sure.
Search LinkedIn for people claiming membership and it's all men as far as I can see linkedin.com/search/results…
The campus tabloid Rumpus published a list of each secret society's members in 2012 and it appears to have still been men-only then, 20-plus years after other societies had admitted women issuu.com/rtapublication…
Now, Rumpus' 2015 and 2018 secret society listings don't even list Truth and Courage anymore — so maybe it's gone defunct, I have no idea. scribd.com/doc/268029539/… scribd.com/document/38019…
But nonetheless, a potential Supreme Court justice's membership in an all-male secret society — one that stayed all-male for decades after its peers — seems like it might be worth some journalistic digging to me. /end
BuzzFeed followed up on this thread, for anyone interested in more detail buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleycl…
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Am I mistaken, or has no reporter been able to get even a "no comment" from Chris Garrett?
Restraint in not using his name was admirable when his main role in the case seemed to be Guy Who Ed Whelan Falsely Called a Likely Attempted Rapist.

But that's not his main role anymore! He's the *friend of Kavanaugh's* who *dated Ford* that summer AND was at the July 1 party!
When Kavanaugh is claiming to have no idea who Ford is, he was hanging out all the time with HER BOYFRIEND throughout the summer of 1982!

(Kavanaugh testified that Chris Garrett is the "Squi" in the famous July 1 calendar entry.)
Read 26 tweets
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My small contribution to this eternal debate: We can distinguish between "lie" as a noun and "lie" as a verb. Something can be a "lie" without knowing if the person saying it is "lying."

Example: "The Holocaust never happened" is a lie, even if the person saying it believes it.
As done by @nytimes here: The statement is a lie, regardless of Trump's state of mind.
Both sides make good arguments here! Journalists know interpreting a mental state is dangerous and opens them up to criticism, both well intentioned and not. And those who complain don't see why "he might just be delusional, not lying!" serves as a get-out-of-jail card.
Read 5 tweets
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I think this take is wrong and here are some words about it! (1/x) nytimes.com/interactive/20…
New forms of media are often additive, not replacements! All the evidence we have says that the arrival of smartphones has, on net, meant we consume MORE total media than we used to. They don't murder a typographer every time there's a Snapchat update.
When new forms of media *are* subtractive, there's no particular reason to think text will be what goes away. The piece talks about the rise of podcasts — which are great, but which replace *radio* and are usually consumed in contexts where reading is hard (driving, doing dishes)
Read 12 tweets

Related threads

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#Kavanaugh tweet storm beginning now:

1/
Today’s confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is the most significant judicial victory for conservatives of my lifetime. All conservatives should thank @SenMajLdr & @ChuckGrassley for their extraordinary leadership through a grueling battle.

2/
Moving the court from 5-4 liberal to 5-4 conservative will have sweeping ramifications for the country. Most importantly, it will restore the rule of law & the Constitution. Democrat efforts to end run state legislatures, Congress & the executive branch will now be fruitless.

3/
Read 14 tweets
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Kavanaugh’s story is a Jekyll and Hyde story, but one that doesn’t require a strange chemical serum to explain it. It’s a psychological--maybe even a neurological--“story.” 1/9
Kavanaugh says he is mystified and even outraged by the allegations against him, and to some extent--but only to some extent--we must acknowledge that this is indeed the way it all seems to him. 2/9
In his interviews, #Kavanaugh comes across as someone who sees himself as a thoroughly decent (though not perfect) human being. And importantly, THAT IS HOW EVERYONE WHO HAS ONLY SEEN HIM SOBER SEES HIM. Call this person BK1. tinyurl.com/y9no6pnt 3/9
Read 10 tweets
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#Kavanaugh

▪He has lied under oath.

▪Multiple women w numerous witnesses have made SWORN statements, alleging he has taken part in various acts from verbal abuse to gang rape. All request FBI investigations.

He said, on tv he was a virgin. He wants no part of FBI...
Mark Judge & Brett Kavanaugh
Overly aggressive with girls
Fondling & grabbing without consent
▪Demeaning
▪Aggressive
▪Mean drunk
▪Verbally abusive
▪Grinding without permission
▪Trying to expose girls' private parts

▪There were incidents in Ocean City, MD during Beach Week & numerous other occasions.
Read 4 tweets
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#Kavanaugh THREAD:

David Brock on NBC: “I used to know Brett Kavanaugh pretty well. And, when I think of Brett now, in the midst of his hearings for a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court, all I can think of is the old "Aesop's Fables" adage: (1)
"A man is known by the company he keeps." And that's why I want to tell any senator who cares about our democracy: Vote no. Twenty years ago, when I was a conservative movement stalwart, I got to know Brett Kavanaugh both professionally and personally. (2)
Brett actually makes a cameo appearance in my memoir of my time in the GOP, "Blinded By The Right." I describe him at a party full of zealous young conservatives gathered to watch President Bill Clinton's 1998 State of the Union address — (3)
Read 23 tweets
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Brett #Kavanaugh doesn't have the integrity to be on SCOTUS. Kavanaugh committed AT LEAST 5 instances of perjury. This is judicial misconduct. Let me spell some of it out for you and tell you what YOU can do. #StopKavanaugh #PerjuryBrett

<THREAD>
1) In 2002 Manny Miranda stole thousands of documents belonging to Dems. Kavanaugh worked alongside Miranda. During a 2004 confirmation hearing Kavanaugh denied receiving any of the documents Miranda stole. In 2006 he lied again under oath. We now know he committed perjury.
2) At a 2006 confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh told @SenatorLeahy that he knew nothing of an illegal warrantless wiretapping program until the New York Times broke the story in 2005. Now we know he was lying. He committed perjury.
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Kavanaugh refers to birth control pills as "abortion-inducing drugs" because, you know, science.

Apparently, Brett Kavanaugh believes life begins before conception.
All of the political dogma aside, Brett Kavanaugh appears to have lied under oath several times. We impeached a President for that.
I did the math, if birth control pills are "abortion-inducing drugs," this checks out. #Kavanaugh #KavanaughHearings
Read 4 tweets

Trending hashtags

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