US President Donald Trump has authorised the one-week FBI investigation. But will it change anything? It’s tough to say, but expect every statement Mr Kavanaugh has made on the record in his own defence to now to be scrutinised. Devil’s Triangle? He said the reference in his bio in the yearbook referred to a drinking game. Did it? Boofing? Is it a fart joke, as he told the committee, or a reference to anal use of drugs as has been reported? Renate Alumnius? The dates on his calendar? His relationship to Professor Ford? As Americans lose faith in government institutions, this appointment to “the highest court in the land” has become a symbol of something much bigger. If he’s caught out in even one lie, it’s over.
Category Archives: human rights
NY Women Talk About Confronting Jeff Flake Before Pivotal Kavanaugh Hearing: Gothamist
Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila were the two women who confronted Flake inside an elevator in the Capitol soon after he made his initial pro-Kavanaugh announcement. They refused to allow him to leave until they were done telling their stories of sexual abuse, channeling “a rising anger among many who feel that, too often, women’s voices are silenced and their pain ignored,” as the Times wrote. “On Monday, I stood in front of your office, I told the story of my sexual assault,” said Archila. “I told it because I recognized in Dr. Ford’s story that she is telling the truth. What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court. This is not tolerable. You have children in your family. Think about them.” “Don’t look away from me,” added Gallagher, who is from Westchester. “Look at me and tell me that it doesn’t matter what happened to me, that you will let people like that go into the highest court of the land and tell everyone what they can do to their bodies.” You can see the whole encounter below.
Source: NY Women Talk About Confronting Jeff Flake Before Pivotal Kavanaugh Hearing: Gothamist
The Truth Escaped the Kavanaugh Hearing Undetected | La Prensa San Diego
If Dr. Ford, a credible, educated, articulate women couldn’t be taken seriously when detailing an assault she says she’s “100%” certain was perpetrated by a known assailant, then what hope do young boys, girls, teenagers, runaways, wives, husbands, actresses, and other victims have that their claims will be believed? Victims’ claims should be reviewed, investigated, and vetted to ensure proper due process is afforded to both the accuser and the accused. No one should fear either outright rejection or prejudiced prosecution. But, this week’s political theatre left both sides unsatisfied that the truth was pursued, that justice was served, or that victims will be better protected in the future. In the end, politics won the day. Lives were forever altered. And the truth escaped the light of day. It was another black eye for our society that seems to only move forward in fits and starts, and mostly by taking one step forward and two steps back. And it was another reminder that politics operate on another plane, are slow to change, and resistant to social pressure until voters demand change through elections. We will all have to wait to see if the November elections usher change in
Source: The Truth Escaped the Kavanaugh Hearing Undetected | La Prensa San Diego
‘MeToo must become WeToo’: Jacinda Ardern’s speech to UN rebuts Trump | Politics | The Guardian
The prime minister of New Zealand has been met with thunderous applause at the UN for her speech espousing global cooperation and kindness from world leaders, in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s portentous rejection of globalism earlier in the week. Jacinda Ardern’s national statement was viewed by many commentators as a direct rebuttal to the US president’s call for increased isolationism and national self-interest. Ardern called for equality for women, action on climate change and a recommitment to multilateralism, saying : “We must rediscover our shared belief in the value, rather than the harm, of connectedness.”
Source: ‘MeToo must become WeToo’: Jacinda Ardern’s speech to UN rebuts Trump | Politics | The Guardian
Russian-US tycoon boasted of ‘active’ involvement in Trump election campaign | US news | The Guardian COLLUSION!
Mueller is reportedly looking at Americans with deep ties to Moscow who gave money to Republican political causes. They include Kukes, Len Blavatnik, and Andrew Intrater. Collectively they contributed nearly $2m to political funds supportive of Trump. All are US citizens. Intrater is a cousin of the oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and was born in the US. He oversees the US affiliate of Vekselberg’s Renova group. Federal agents working for Mueller recently questioned Vekselberg when he arrived in the US on a private plane. Vekselberg is one of several oligarchs sanctioned in April for playing a “key role in advancing Russia’s malign activities”. Blavatnik gave $133,600 to the RNC in 2016 and another $1m to Trump’s inauguration through his company Access Industries. He was born in Soviet Ukraine and has US and UK citizenship. Kukes worked in Moscow with Blavatnik, Vekselberg and the tycoons Mikhail Fridman and German Khan between 1998-2003 when Kukes was president of the Russian oil company TNK, and they sat on the board. On September 28 2016, Kukes gave $99,000 to Trump Victory, according to federal filings. The next day Kukes attended a private Jewish fundraising event for Trump hel
The Kavanaugh hearing puts white male entitlement on angry display
It takes a very particular, a very insidious kind of entitlement to convince a man that he has earned a Supreme Court seat. But if there’s anything to be taken from Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony on Thursday, it’s exactly that — he believes he’s won this appointment fair and square. “I busted my butt in …
Source: The Kavanaugh hearing puts white male entitlement on angry display
Senate Panel Approves Kavanaugh, but Flake Wants F.B.I. Investigation Before Final Vote – The New York Times – hope he sticks to his word
“We ought to do what we can to make sure we do all due diligence with a nomination this important,” Mr. Flake said when senators returned to the hearing room. “This country is being ripped apart here.” He said he was seeking an F.B.I. investigation “limited in time and scope to the current allegations that are there.”
With a Key Vote Secured, Senators Will Advance Kavanaugh’s Nomination – The New York Times Flake proves his unworthiness by discounting voice of woman attacked.
“Our system of justice affords a presumption of innocence to the accused, absent corroborating evidence,” he continued. “That is what binds us to the rule of law.”
Greece: Three “Fileleftheros” journalists arrested for defaming minister – IFEX – This “crime” against freedom in home of democracy – shame.
Three journalists were arrested and held overnight in an Athens police cell after the defence minister, Panos Kammenos, filed a defamation complaint against them.
Source: Greece: Three “Fileleftheros” journalists arrested for defaming minister – IFEX
Is a New Russian Meddling Tactic Hiding in Plain Sight? – The New York Times
USAReally, by contrast, was quickly banned by both Facebook and Twitter, although it recently opened a second Facebook page. A Twitter spokesman said that USAReally’s account was suspended for violating the site’s rules against spam. A Facebook spokesman said the company had enough evidence that the first page was involved in coordinated inauthentic activity to take action against it. He said the group’s second page was being investigated, and that the company had been aware of the account before being contacted by The New York Times. Despite Mr. Malkevich’s claims, there are hints that USAReally may be drawing from the Internet Research Agency’s playbook, in addition to adopting the more open tactics of RT and Sputnik. Last week, users on the popular message board Reddit complained that links to USAReally stories were being posted on the site’s largest pro-Trump forum, r/the_donald. The links were disguised, appearing to belong to websites like geotus.army and geotus.band. But when users clicked on the links, they were redirected to stories on USAReally’s website. (G.E.O.T.U.S., or “God Emperor of the United States,” is a nickname for President Trump popularized by users of r/th
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