Yup and that is the crux of it. Hopefully she’ll get her “stuff” together and show up on Monday with the how, when and where, why and who paid for the lawyer and who set up the polygraph…then there will be something to discuss in the Senate. She does not need to “wait” for the FBI to figure all that out for her…or maybe she thinks they will fill in her lost memories but that is just too bizarre to contemplate. If not, unfortunately, they will vote in Kavanaugh and I can’t say I blame them for doing so.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is donating $10 to women’s groups after an internal investigation confirms harassment and unwanted touching over the course of 18 years by a top team executive and other incidents by other employees. The executive stayed with the team until 2000 despite allegations in 1998.
Why do you say she can’t make a “good case” that he was the perpetrator? She knew him. How is her word not good enough? I personally think her steps up to this point have been logical and prudent. I’d hope someone else derailed him, too. I’d probably try the anonymous route first, too. The lie detector test seems sensible. She agreed to let the person doing their marriage counseling release that part of the record. All incremental steps that make sense. Gosh, she is not lunging to give her name to the alt-right, and sit in front of a hostile all male committee majority and be attacked by them? Surprise, surprise.
“it is baffling why she threw her information out there knowing that.”
I’m not baffled. You do it because you feel you have an obligation to speak up with whatever you have, whether you are believed or not, in order to keep a bad person from a position of great power over vulnerable populations. Many patriots have thrown themselves onto physical and metaphorical grenades, knowing their sacrifice will likely be in vain but giving it all they have.
I do not know if she was attacked or by whom. But I don’t doubt her sincerity. Her actions makes sense if you suppose that she (1) believes what she says and (2) cares about her country.
$10 or $10 million. Cuban has political aspirations, but it is hard to buy your way out of having overseen an organization with these issues. But I think that is what he is trying to do.
Her personal info- all phone numbers, address, email, were posted on twitter and despite numerous complaints, were not taken down for hours. Does anyone really doubt death threats and harassment? Seriously?
She didn’t send an anonymous letter. She put her name to it. Her name was redacted when the content of the letter was passed on. Once she started having reporters coming to her home she realized that her name had been leaked {by someone at a Senate office? (my theory)}. She then took steps to go public.
“How is her word not good enough?” – why is his word not good enough?
That’s a sincere question. I don’t want to live in a world where women are never believed. But I also don’t want to live in a world where women are automatically believed, just because they are women. There has to be a reasonable middle ground, because replacing a morally wrong situation with another morally wrong situation isn’t the answer, IMO. I think that’s very dangerous to the men we love. I’m curious how many on here have husbands, sons, brothers. I assume you also would not want to live in a world where a woman with a grudge or an external agenda could make an accusation with ulterior motives – simply an accusation, with no proof – against someone you love and be believed simply because she is a woman. I get the situations with people like Les Moonves and Harvey Weinstein because there is a pattern and multiple accusers. I honestly don’t get this, especially when the opportunity for ulterior motive is so obvious.
“You do it because you feel you have an obligation to speak up with whatever you have, whether you are believed or not, in order to keep a bad person from a position of great power over vulnerable populations.”
I agree, I’m sure this is true sometimes. And sometimes I think the possibility is there that the accuser’s story is not true yet they pursue the accusation for the exact same reason – they feel they are a patriot and are throwing themselves onto a physical and metaphorical grenade because they care about their country.
@waitingmomla Yes. Thank you. For a long time I thought I must be living in some alternate reality, because the belief-without-question-or-due-process thing seemed so utterly bizarre and dangerous to me, and for a long time no one seemed willing to challenge it. Yes, I understand that coming forward with an accusation of sexual assault can be absurdly risky and demeaning in certain settings, but, as you say, “replacing a morally wrong situation” with another makes zero sense. In my mind, it also sets the clock BACK for women in many ways.
I’m a woman. I know damn well that women are not all delicate little angels who would never lie to manipulate a situation. I have no idea what happened in the situation at hand, but the idea that a person’s (man or woman) life and career can be destoyed in the wink of an eye by another person’s accusation, without due process, is frightening.
Part of the reason I stopped using social media was because it seemed that anyone who was perceived to deviate in the slightest from the party line, or question anything, was utterly trampled. I could go on with those stories for pages! It was really ugly and abusive to both men and women.
End rant.
Well isn’t that what presumption of innocence is all about and the right to cross examine? I could never say who is truthful or who is lying at this point. I presume that is the point of inviting her to tell her story in person either publically or privately. An anonymous accusation is meaningless so I respect her stepping up and owning the accusation.
I am rather disgusted that one female Senator referenced her male counterparts to “shut up” as the male members of the committee could have railroaded the vote and dismissed Ms Blasey Ford’s accusation but they did not. I just can’t envision any male Senator being rude enough to tell their female counterparts to “shut up.” We are living in a really awful time with an enornous amount of disrespect and incivility.
I will, however, be very embarrassed for my gender if any of this turns out to be less than truthful or orchestrated…metaphorical granade or not. I like to think “we” are better than that lol.
I would encourage everyone to watch the video below on why victims may take a long time to come forward. This is a moving testimony from a noted columnist.
So, in couples counselling six years ago, she spoke of her traumatic experience with the ulterior motive of documenting it just in case Kavanaugh someday in the future was nominated for a SC position? Really?
Exactly. It’s why I have never spoken of being sexually assaulted in college, to anyone to this day. Yet, I remember every single smallest detail of what happened 47 years ago.
From my own experience and from leading support groups and research:
Sexual assault victims often do not report and do not tell because they do not want to continue the shame. Often they are shamed, blamed, or not believed. The cost benefit ratio is not in their favor. They WILL tell if they think it will benefit others, making the shame cost worth the benefit.
Ford chose to tell for the public good. She was then used by Democrats and will most likely be abused by Republicans if she’s testified. Neither party has treated her with respect.
An FBI hearing would be neutral. Politicians wanting to protect or vilify Kavanaugh don’t care about facts. They will retraumatize her.
This may be particularly true if the victim did something that might have increased her risk of becoming a victim (like underage drinking) or that is illegal or immoral in itself (like underage drinking).
In this particular instance, because there is considerable evidence (for example, his yearbook page) that he drank heavily in high school. He almost certainly has gaps in his memory of some of those drinking occasions. The most he could say honestly is “I have no memory of such an incident” (if in fact that is true). He can’t honestly say “It didn’t happen” because he doesn’t know that. It might have happened and he doesn’t remember it.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to all “he said/she said” situations. But it does apply to this one.
