1/ If you want to understand why liberals are so upset, read this and marvel at the assumption that Kavanaugh is an example of someone who is just "seeking to do right." An assumption made in the face of his abundant lies on a variety of topics ...
2/ the contrast between his obvious motive for lying and Prof. Blasey Ford's lack of one, the Republicans' absolute refusal to have an investigation or to subpoena witnesses (e.g. Mark Judge) whose testimony is obviously relevant, etc., etc.
3/ And add to that their determination to ram his confirmation through even though he gave abundant evidence that he doesn't have the temperament to sit on any court.
4/ The same guy who could not bring himself to pronounce on ANY legal question lest it cast doubts on his objectivity felt no such compunction about blaming the accusations leveled against him on people who want revenge for the Clintons.
5/ If any liberal group is a party to a case that ends up in front of the Supreme Court, do you have faith that he will be objective? I don't.
Add to that his obvious disrespect for some of the Senators who were questioning him, especially Sen. Klobuchar.
6/ If I had the resources, I'd check to see whether, during his career as a judge, anyone he was questioning ever interrupted him and tried to make him answer THEIR questions. Is this just how he thinks questioning under oath works?
7/ If someone whom he was questioning started treating him the way he treated Sen. Klobuchar ("Have you ever blacked out?" she asked. He sneered in response, “Have you?”), did he accept that as normal procedure?
I imagine not.
8/ And if not, what are we supposed to think, if not: in his mind, that's different. HE gets to be rude to Senators who are questioning him. But that's because he is himself, while she is -- a woman? not a frat boy like him? What?
9/ What I see is: one witness who had no motive to lie; one who did. One witness who tried to answer questions, one who tried to evade them. One who showed respect for our government, one who showed contempt.
10/ The very idea that we should confirm this person -- it makes no sense, even in conservative terms. They have other nominees who are just as conservative. (Do they think we don't know that? They must, if they think we're doing this to block Kavanaugh QUA CONSERVATIVE.)
11/ But they'll do it anyways. Because having someone who would make a good judge on our highest court is less important than winning at any cost.
And they'll keep telling themselves that REALLY they're just sticking up for honor and decency.
Which, um, no.
/Fin
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The majority in the affirmative action decision argues that universities (public or private) cannot base the use of affirmative action on its role in promoting some goal unless that goal is MEASURABLE. This seems like a really stupid requirement.
Harvard's goals: "(1) “training future leaders in the public and private sectors”; (2) preparing graduates to “adapt to an increasingly pluralistic society”; (3) “better educating its students through diversity”; and (4) “producing new knowledge stemming from diverse outlooks.”
SCOTUS: "How is a court to know whether leaders have been adequately “train[ed]”; whether the exchange of ideas is “robust”; or whether “new knowledge” is being developed?"
OK then: let's just NEVER pursue any goal that we cannot actually measure.
It's so easy to take the peaceful transition of power for granted. But it absolutely requires that losing out in a power struggle not mean that you and the people around you will die.
If you read history, it's full of monarchs killing other claimants to the throne, desperate attempts to father a male heir, etc., etc. When I was in high school, this all seemed so silly. After reading about a few civil wars prompted by rival claims to succession, not so much.
The fact that George W. Bush is painting pictures somewhere in Texas, rather than having been dispatched by Obama's henchmen, and -- more to the point -- that losing candidates, ex-Presidents, etc. can COUNT on a peaceful retirement, is an incredible gift from our forebears.
1) "Ukraine is already receiving the equivalent of NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense guarantee." That Ukraine is already getting the benefits of NATO membership is not in any obvious way a reason to make Ukraine a member. To me, it suggests that there's no pressing reason to do so.
Besides, while NATO only obligates its members to assist countries that have been attacked, not to put boots on the ground, it's unclear why we would want to raise questions about whether NATO is really fulfilling its obligations to its members by sending lots of kit.
I think that people in the US have (on average) gotten less moral over the past decade or so, but that's an artifact of Trump and whatever led so many people to like him. I cannot fathom how anyone could think that we're less moral (again, on average) than we were a century ago.
A century ago, many Americans were just fine with Jim Crow lynchings, suppressing strikes not with injunctions but with violence, tarring and feathering people they disagreed with and thought were "anti-American" (Socialists, Wobblies, and the like), and on and on and on.
150 years ago, it was American policy to slaughter buffalo in order to starve Native Americans into submission.
This sort of thing was not some fringe belief found on whatever the late 19th century version of incel forums was. It was normal.
1/ Someone I know RTd this, so I thought I'd respond.
I think that I should feel guilty for bad things I did, not bad things that other people did. If I encouraged them to do something bad, I should feel guilty for encouraging them, not for what they did.
2/ Thus, I do not feel guilty for slavery, Jim Crow, etc. Those are not things I did. I find the idea that I *should* feel guilty for these things deeply problematic, as though all I am, really, is a part of "white people", and whatever "white people" do can be ascribed to me.
3/ Why would I think such a thing? When I visited Mongolia, did I feel that I was surrounded by people who were responsible for the acts of Genghis Khan and his Horde, and should feel guilty for them? Of course not. That would be silly.
I have not called Neely's death a murder, since I see no evidence that the person who killed him intended to do so. I imagine it must be awful to have killed someone. However:
Ianal, but I have always understood that self-defense requires that you actually be attacked, and that you face an imminent threat of serious bodily harm. You do not get to defend yourself against someone who is asking for water, however aggressively.
When you put someone like that in a chokehold, you are not defending yourself. You are using deadly force against someone who has not yet attacked anyone. That is not self-defense, and it is not OK.