Thread by @GodlessNZ

(1) Dennis Ketterer, Julie Swetnick, & Democrat insanity. #Loco

As an ex-liberal woman born in 1970, I feel I can offer an informed perspective on the issues raised by Ketterer in his statement.

The issues are relevant to #MeToo #HimToo & everything.

judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/rele…

(2) Ketterer writes as a man who carries immense guilt for having had secret extramarital sexual relations with Swetnick 25 years ago.

His statement is full of comments about it, but it's not the main issue. His status as a 9yo male child sex abuse survivor will be ignored.

(3) Today's Dems are ABSOLUTELY fixated on sexual crimes that are male on female.

To the exclusion of every other type of sex crime.

I know many men who have been sexually abused by a woman, or a man, in adulthood, or childhood. I know many male domestic abuse survivors.

(4) This thread is my commentary on Ketterer's statement without the excessive guilt about lawful activity.

I get that many readers object to extramarital sex. Now that I'm nearly 50, I do too. But back when Ketterer met Swetnick, my attitudes were more Liberal.

(5) In the secular liberal culture I grew up in, most people believe that genuinely consenting sex between adults is not immoral & should not be made illegal.

I realize many Americans oppose that view, which is OK with me. Ketterer opposes it, so I have to "unpack" this.

(6) (When I was a liberal, I'd have used the word "deconstruct" iso "unpack." I finally learned common sense.)

This part seems perfectly logical to me, given the context. Remember, he wrote this under penalty of felony. Very unusual for an obese man to be hit on in a bar.

(7) Notice the wording throughout. Unlike the words of anti-Kavanaugh accusers & their supporters, Ketterer says "I believe," "I feel," iso "She intended," as if it's possible for him to know what she intended, without a logic/evidence path for arriving at a conclusion.

(8) As a policy analyst with decades of experience working with lawyers, I MUCH prefer to read testimony that has been written and reviewed along these lines, bc it saves me so much time wading through it and noting areas of credibility concern.

(9) This is where he implies that if the conversation had gone differently, he wd have had sex with her. That decision is of no importance to your or me. But it shows why he was reluctant to speak up, adding to his credibility. He stood to lose a lot, & gain little, if anything.

(10) Swetnick didn't need to ask this at that time. She'd have been smarter not to. Interest in group sex isn't all that uncommon, nor was it uncommon then. Usually a person waits until they know the other person better, before mentioning it. If the relationship matters to them.

(11) This is one of the points that Democrat-run media are running away with today.

Look, it's directly relevant to Swetnick's credibility about Kavanaugh.

Group sex isn't uncommon among adults, but among teenagers in the 1980s it was pretty rare, IMO. Also:

(12) Swetnick volunteered this info to Ketterer when she didn't need to, & it ultimately ended the relationship. I'm not morally outraged if she had group sex as a teenager. But her casual attitude to discussing it in this situation is ONE OF several credibility-weakening signs.

(13) It's true, HIV/AIDS was a huge issue at the time, & it's one reason why Gen-Xers still tend to be more careful than "the kids of today" (said in a get off my lawn voice.)

Before anti-retroviral treatments were available, it was a death sentence, swift & severe.

(14) One of the most important points made.

When a couple discuss crossing that line into having sex, survivors almost always disclose that they are survivors. I know this from personal experience & from learning about what life is like for survivors.

(15) Even though he had friend-zoned her 3 years earlier, he thought of her when he planned his campaign, suggesting she had not reacted angrily when he did that.

(16) This too, suggests Swetnick had not gone out of Ketterer's life on bad terms.

In those days if you lost someone's phone number it was normal to phone their parent to ask for it. Younger people might not realize that.

My comment about this section continues below.

(17) A key phrase is "at that time." Ketterer is not saying anything about Swetnick's mental health AFTER 1996. The only evidence he has about it is what he remembers her father saying. The info was so striking that he remembers it well. "Psychological & other problems" is vague.

(18) IDK what Swetnick's relationship with her father was like then or since. Democrats will attack Ketterer on his own record, of course. I don't particularly care. He sued for wrongful dismissal & disclosed a "diagnosis" in 1995. HOWEVER, washingtonpost.com/archive/lifest…

(19) In the 1990s & to some extent since, psychiatrists were labeling just about anyone who came before them as having Bipolar II. Today, there is a whole range of diagnoses for mood disorders eg Cyclothymia, which need not seriously interfere with the ability to work.

(20) We can't have witnesses in a SCOTUS confirmation hearing process ruled out solely on the basis that someone, somewhere, "diagnosed" them with something scary-sounding decades ago.

The decision makers are the Senators. No one else.

(21) And, most Democrat Senators made their decision on Kavanaugh the day Justice Kennedy announced his retirement, anyway. The tiny number who MIGHT vote yea will base their decision solely on political considerations, not the legally established facts.

(22) This part speaks to me of the intense emotional roller coaster that Ds have needlessly placed so many of us onto. Whether you're a (genuine) survivor, a loved one, a supporter of Kavanaugh, or just a normal person with a working moral compass, you're likely sick of it now.

(23) Democrats have alienated their supporters (except for the extremists), fence-sitters, & the rest of us. So in that respect, I enjoy watching their slow self-immolation electorally.

America will survive this. You will heal, as you have before. God loves America.

(24) If Democrats mention Ketterer's #HimToo disclosure at all, it will be to discount his experience, & even question his honesty about it.

Which is the perfect boomerang to hit them with... it's absurd to believe OR disbelieve ALL accusers. And #DueProcess is gender neutral.

(25) A note about "eternal considerations." Arguably, the raison d'être of the USA itself was religious freedom. Certainly it was #EnlightenmentValues, of which it is one. We must get back to those values.

He's referring to his own beliefs. The opinion of others is irrelevant.

(26) Like most people, Mrs Ketterer showed understanding and grace. Honesty is always the best policy, isn't it?

He was afraid to tell her bc it would reveal that he'd lied by omission to her, & may still be hiding extramarital sex before or during their marriage.

(27) This is great leadership by Ketterer as a father and grandfather. Doing the hard thing because it is the right thing. I don't think the family will be too alarmed by it. He had a brief affair that didn't involve sexual intercourse.

Forgivable, according to the Bible.

(28) He made his decision before seeing Mrs Kavanaugh in the hearing. I guess it confirmed for him he had done the right thing.

The legal/judicial process allows & requires the credibility of other witnesses to be tested.

This account contributes to that. Nothing more.

(29) At least it enables the Democrat CIRCUS to move on from the dreadful charge of throwing ice at someone in a bar 33 years ago.

I wonder what they'll be covering in 12-24 hours' time?

The confirmation debate is already being held on the Senate floor.