A few months ago Kavanaugh was a respected and known circuit judge with no allegations of wrongdoing. Now he is being accused of everything from sexual assault to running a gang-rape ring. All accusations are from ~35+ years ago and not one of them has any corroboration.
The Ford allegation deserved serious review. It was possible that he had attempted to do something terrible back in HS. People could then decide if it was disqualifying. Any fair person would look at the evidence and try to see if there is corroboration.
After several weeks of gamesmanship, all of the possible evidence is now public. Every piece of possible corroborating evidence failed to corroborate the accusation. Ford's own friend said she didn't even know BK, much less attended this party with him.
With no evidence to substantiate the claim, Dems and Ford's lawyer started looking for other allegations to make it look like a pattern. I've seen the letter associates of Katz sent out asking for others to give them tips on other misconduct from BK.
Then you had them pressure Ramirez into coming forward for a drunk incident of someone flashing their penis at her at a party, despite her admitting to people as late as last week that she wasn't sure it was Brett Kavanaugh.
Ramirez admitted her goal was to re-enforce Ford's accusation. Then you have an insane conspiracy allegations about gang rapes from a woman no one has heard from or seems to know, which has no actual additional details or direct accusations against BK. You can see the spiral.
Not one of these allegations has any direct corroboration from that time. The only one that should have even have been taken seriously despite lack of evidence, Ford's accusation, has now been tainted by a clear smear campaign that followed.
At this point one has to believe either BK was a crazy sexual deviant for a few years during which he ran gang rape rings and then became a great guy w/ no other wrongdoing for next 35 years or he was always this shy nerd who drank sometimes and these allegations are bogus.
Last point: If Dems, who sat on the Ford allegation and smeared BK for weeks w/ other stuff, actually believed BK was guilty, they would be behaving completely differently. They would want Ford heard. They would want BK to be impeached and face criminal investigation etc. etc.
This smear campaign is only possible because of media complicity. Every few hours they add on or advance the smears. Just a few min ago:
"According to an anonymous complaint" "The writer of the letter provided no names "
How does this stuff get printed?
This is literally a random person who sent a letter to a Senator. They didn't list their name or any information. This could be anyone. Judiciary did their due diligence to ask about it. NBC runs with it as a legitimate allegation. Sickening to watch. No standards.
Do you have any idea how many anonymous letters were sent to Senators suggesting Dems were running a secret pedophile ring? Would NBC News have ever printed a story like this based on those? Ever?
The article cites zero evidence for the main "benefit" it claims for masking (that it protects from Covid-19), while ignoring or downplaying most of the harms.
It's a propaganda piece far more than a real attempt to look at the arguments and science involved.
Ex: The data suggesting lower transmission due to school mask mandates w/ Omicron is very weak. The masks that would likely make a substantial difference K/N-95 usually aren't meant for kids. Yet article dismisses concerns about breathing based on data re cloth & surgical masks.
So my main comment on the trucker protest near the border is I think most people watching from afar don't realize how much these protests are hurting regular people (on both sides of the border).
That's coming from someone who is otherwise sympathetic to the idea that a lot of restrictions have gone too far and need to end.
A lot of people seem very confused by the idea that you can support the goals of the protest without supporting the means.
Ends justify the means mentality has become a growing problem with people.
1) Policies seem to have no targeted application or risk analysis.
2) Health/media establishment keeps getting things wrong, but much worse is insistence that their claims could not be debated (even when likely wrong) and contrary opinions should be banned.
A lot of the anti-vax misinformation/views have gained credibility specifically because of 2.
When I point out some anti-vax claim is contradicted by data, most common response is about how same people banned debate on lab leak, masks, opening schools etc. and were wrong.
My response is that those attempts to censor don't make the contrarian opposition right either, but seeing correct/justifiable opinions be banned/dismissed has made people less willing to just trust mainstream sources and more willing to accept to accept contrarian takes.
I want to talk about why I disagree with this. Problem w both parties right now is a “cult” issue. Politicians are self-interested weather vanes that pander. Elected R's are trying to pander to a cult of personality while elected D's are trying to pander to a cult of ideology. 1/
Let’s start with Republicans. Elected R’s are trying to pander to a base they view as devoted to Trump. So what is the basis of that devotion? A small portion truly is just committed to him as a person. A MUCH larger portion has what I would describe as a devotion to winning. 2/
Latter group saw 2 R candidates get destroyed in a row (w/ a lot of help from the press), then saw Trump manage to win against HRC while directly taking on that same press. So they view Trump & his style as the answer to the need to win. 3/
I hope people learn a lesson from this, but seems doubtful.
Fwiw it seemed rather obvious that it was false to me from the start, but the consistent pattern is that people in the press are very gullible when it comes to things that make those they don’t like look bad.
Never mind. I now see they are instead doubling down because they already fell for a narrative and can’t help themselves.
Ps there is 0 reason for a vaccinated, boosted, and regularly tested Justice to wear a mask. Especially around others that are similarly protected.
Lol they will literally keep doubling down and getting embarrassed. It would be funny if it wasn’t for the fact that these people have large platforms and so many rely on them for accurate information.
A lot of people on the left rightfully point out that Trump spent months priming the 2020 excuse of a stolen elections by discouraging mail voting among supporters and then citing the disparity to claim fraud.
Now the Democrats are likely headed for a massive ass-whooping in November and their entire focus seems to be on creating an excuse by undermining faith in the electoral system, with the media's help.
It's not going to matter that turnout will almost assuredly be higher in 2022 than 2018. Democrats are preparing to cite state laws and redistricting to explain the wave despite those clearly having little impact. It's the only reason for the current propaganda effort.