There is a time and place for everything. It was inappropriate for the father to walk up at that exact time in an attempt to shake his hand.
Why shake his hand? It would have given the father an opportunity to ask one question regarding gun control which he would either have to answer, or turn his back on him. Scandalizing headline any way Kavanaugh plays it with a score of media around.
It was also sets a bad example. Everyone with an issue from Guns to Roe to Trump would be attempting the same move at this type of hearing the next time if he humoured the father and shook his hand. Then guess what? These things are no longer open to the public because one nut job will take it too far.
He is there to answer questions from Congress on why he should be appointed to the Supreme Court.
If Gutenberg wants to make a difference and change the way gun control works, he can run for office. It is the BEST way to enforce change in something you believe in.
And no, let’s just say it was a Democrat appointed judge and it was David Duke looking to shake hands, he wouldn’t go near it.
There is a time and place for everything. It was inappropriate for the father to walk up at that exact time in an attempt to shake his hand.
Why shake his hand? It would have given the father an opportunity to ask one question regarding gun control which he would either have to answer, or turn his back on him. Scandalizing headline any way Kavanaugh plays it with a score of media around.
It was also sets a bad example. Everyone with an issue from Guns to Roe to Trump would be attempting the same move at this type of hearing the next time if he humoured the father and shook his hand. Then guess what?
These things are no longer open to the public because one nut job will take it too far.
You are calling the father of a child killed in Parkland a nut job for trying to shake a guys hand or do you mean Kavanaugh is a nut job which makes more sense.
So you are implying that Kavanaugh is such a triggered snowflake that he can't handle one question on gun control. Maybe that's because he's on the wrong side of the issue otherwise what is there to be scared about?
Supposing it even went that way Parkland dad "will you ban the machine guns?"
Kav : "I'm a judge not a lawmaker. Anyway, I am truly sorry for your loss. God bless."
He can't do that????
Instead he looks like a partisan hack being put in place by a president who is an unidicted co-conspirator to multiple felonies. Is Kavanaugh being put there to protect Republicans from being prosecuted for crimes which is exactly what Trump explicitly called for his AG to do on the eve of these hearings? It sure looks like it.
He is there to answer questions from Congress on why he should be appointed to the Supreme Court. ... And no, let’s just say it was a Democrat appointed judge and it was David Duke looking to shake hands, he wouldn’t go near it.
You compare the father of a child killed by gun violence to an notorious racist. I'd think thats false equivalency, one is a guy who is forced to act for common sense and the other is David Duke, longtime racist activist with indefensible views.
Republicans are not interested in questions about whether this activist judge is suitable for the supreme Court and that's why they are hiding his records and rushing him through the process. He will get "how wonderful are you really?" questions from Republicans when the time comes just like Gorsuch did.
I don't blame him for not shaking the man's hand, I would have done the same in the situation as see it from the clips. Kavanagh was starting to move away from where the handshake would have happened and he was not looking to start a conversation with anyone from the audience. Also the way the man was approaching from afar with his extended hand, in a rather unspontaneous way, together with the tenacious look on his face, looked like he was trying to make some kind of a point publicly, and not like a start to some normal everyday handshake.
No I am saying, the next person or the person after that or the person after that, who fiegns a hand shake and then decks the person is a nut job.
What if the question was, “how many more children have to die like my daughter before the Supreme Court overturns xxxx bill (@booinyoureyes mentioned it, with the wording of the second amendment)? Will you push to make that happen?” (And trust me, he was coached to say a question like that)
He doesn’t answer, he turns his back, which would be worse than what actually happened. Or if he does answer, it wasn’t the time to have a debate about gun control.
Supposing it even went that way Parkland dad "will you ban the machine guns?"
Kav : "I'm a judge not a lawmaker. Anyway, I am truly sorry for your loss. God bless."
He can't do that????
If you're feeling a bit intimidated, maybe no. Maybe he wouldn't have known what to say and it might have turned out to be an even worse scene. Also that's absolutely the best, the most favourable guess of the father's pending words and actions - who knows what he would have said, and how long he would have held Kavanagh's hand, how hard he would squeeze on it etc. Looks banal, but it's a sensitive situation and it was probably the most reasonable choice to turn the other way. Serious dialogue doesn't happen like that anyway.
Also as a matter of principle, i would never go out to shake a judge's hand while he's in a public forum as a servant to the public as I know that a judge should keep a certain appearance of separation from anyone and everyone in the spirit of the principles of his public function.
I don't care if it was proper or excusable or not. The image is out there. GOOD. Screw it. I don't care if it was coached or pre-planned. I'd take solace in the idea that someone knows we aren't playing hackey-sack. I'm sick to death of the idea that this current regime is going to be defeated with high-minded ideals, fair play, and appealing to America's better angels. This idea that I should care about protocol or niceties when it comes to the Supreme Court when the person I voted for was basically stripped of his constitutional power to appoint a judge for a vacancy (thus altering the court for most of the rest of my life) is laughable.
i feel that that kind of activism is weak. i mean this instance is inconsequential, but that theatrical fighting attitude outside of the real political arena where real scores are gained is not turning the right heads the right way. not hitting the regime where it hurts, simply
i feel that that kind of activism is weak. i mean this instance is inconsequential, but that theatrical fighting attitude outside of the real political arena where real scores are gained is not turning the right heads the right way. not hitting the regime where it hurts, simply
There isn't any amount of activism or theatrics that can change the fact that the court has been solidified as a conservative bastion for the next 30 years based wholly on the most cynical, brazen, unprecedented move I have seen in all my years of following politics. It's over. There isn't even any reason to have this hearing. Shit, no one has his documents anyway. If Democrats were smart they would have just refused to show up at all. End the charade and move on with installing him into the seat.
i feel that that kind of activism is weak. i mean this instance is inconsequential, but that theatrical fighting attitude outside of the real political arena where real scores are gained is not turning the right heads the right way. not hitting the regime where it hurts, simply
There isn't any amount of activism or theatrics that can change the fact that the court has been solidified as a conservative bastion for the next 30 years based wholly on the most cynical, brazen, unprecedented move I have seen in all my years of following politics. It's over. There isn't even any reason to have this hearing. Shit, no one has his documents anyway. If Democrats were smart they would have just refused to show up at all. End the charade and move on with installing him into the seat.
You gotta fight. If that means not showing up fine but probably better to be there. Either way you have to get it out that this whole thing is complete BS. Once this guy is installed Democracy is completely lost. I have zero faith in any of the Republicans lifting a finger on issues like gerrymandering that benefit Republicans. Trump already said he doesn't want any "popular" Republicans being charged with crimes and Kavanaugh is his man.
Anyway even once this partisan hack right wing nutter is confirmed all is not lost. There will be more fights later to be fought. Yes things look bad and we have an orange moron in the executive. Yeah nevermind things are terrible lol. We're headed towards being like Russia - a repressive Right wing dictatorship with pretend elections and a few billionaires and a bunch of exploited normal people.
It is sad when people with different ideas cannot even shake hands. Kavanaugh’s kids were there. What kind of message is that sending to them? Don’t have common courtesy for someone who disagrees with you in a civil manner?
I’m sure there are examples of this happening on the left, as well. It’s all just very sad.
You can thank the 'All-Seeing Eye' of the new media for this situation. I've known this since I found out that Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton are good buddies now that they're out of politics (well Clinton is still involved a little I guess but he's not as much in the spotlight anymore). The media doesn't just report news anymore, it also attempts to create it. I wouldn't play by their rules either. If he tried to shake my hand at McDonalds or at the park with no cameras around, no problem.
The NY Times just released an anonymous op-ed from someone who is CURRENTLY in the Administration that basically confirms the entire thesis of Woodward's book. Which is that there is an active effort to thwart Trump's natural inclinations and impulses to protect the country from complete disaster. Again, it is written by someone who is working for him right now. And it seems to indicate the 25th Amendment has been seriously contemplated.
Trump is going to go absolutely batshit about this.
The NY Times just released an anonymous op-ed from someone who is CURRENTLY in the Administration that basically confirms the entire thesis of Woodward's book. Which is that there is an active effort to thwart Trump's natural inclinations and impulses to protect the country from complete disaster. Again, it is written by someone who is working for him right now. And it seems to indicate the 25th Amendment has been seriously contemplated.
Trump is going to go absolutely batshit about this.
I feel they are just enabling the train wreck to last longer.
Let him drive us all off the cliff instead of us propping him up and extending the misery.
He's nuts, who does it benefit to ever so slightly cover that up. By making him appear slightly less terrible it just prolongs things and makes him look better.
The NY Times just released an anonymous op-ed from someone who is CURRENTLY in the Administration that basically confirms the entire thesis of Woodward's book. Which is that there is an active effort to thwart Trump's natural inclinations and impulses to protect the country from complete disaster. Again, it is written by someone who is working for him right now. And it seems to indicate the 25th Amendment has been seriously contemplated.
Trump is going to go absolutely batshit about this.
Any guess who it is?
I bet it’s Sessions and it is his preemptive strike against Trump. Fire me and I will spill so much more than I did to the Times.
Who ever it was showed little respect for him as President, calling him Mr. Trump instead of president Trump.
Regardless of who it was, Trump will claim it is fake and made up.
The NY Times just released an anonymous op-ed from someone who is CURRENTLY in the Administration that basically confirms the entire thesis of Woodward's book. Which is that there is an active effort to thwart Trump's natural inclinations and impulses to protect the country from complete disaster. Again, it is written by someone who is working for him right now. And it seems to indicate the 25th Amendment has been seriously contemplated.
Trump is going to go absolutely batshit about this.
I feel they are just enabling the train wreck to last longer.
Let him drive us all off the cliff instead of us propping him up and extending the misery.
He's nuts, who does it benefit to ever so slightly cover that up. By making him appear slightly less terrible it just prolongs things and makes him look better.
The answer to this line of thought is pretty simple. Everyone around him agrees he is unstable and dangerous, but they still want to use him as a figurehead to push the typical Republican agenda. But Dr. Frankenstein lost control of his monster. So will the Republican Party.
And this is a problem for other reasons. Absolutely no one elected this group of people. And if what is being described is accurate, it can only be described as a sort of soft coup d etat.
Finally, if this is true, if the senior officials and aides around him TRULY believe he is unstable and dangerous, then trying to "control" him to hold onto power is playing with a grenade with the pin pulled. Eventually (especially now) Trump will resist the control. And he is the one with all the power. Pence can push their retrograde agenda just as easily. They are playing with a fire they can't control.
Does the so-called “Senior Administration Official” really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!
Does the so-called “Senior Administration Official” really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!
Oh man, that is scary on so many levels.
Yes, it is, because Trump is again equating himself with the State (or country). An attack on him is an attack on the country itself. When he suggested this today before a gathering of sheriffs, the cops cheered him on (nothing worries me more than groups of law enforcement reacting to Trump's rhetoric with with raucous applause).
Also, the NYT would have to be absolutely off-the-wall insane to make something like this up. It's not fake. They are already receiving enough criticism of it on it's face for allowing it to remain anonymous. But they did not write a fake op-ed by a fake Administration official.
Does the so-called “Senior Administration Official” really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!
Oh man, that is scary on so many levels.
Turn him over for what? Not allowing Trump to ruin the country as much as he wants to?
Anonymous sources are sources the press needs to be prepared to protect. Suppose the press just turned him in, who would trust the press the next time there's some government schenanigans to reveal. What if the government murders this guy? The TV next whistle blower won't blow his whistle because he can't trust the government and he can't trust the press - if they reveal the source.
All that being said this guy is not really helping by enabling and propping up this rage filled child occuping the office of the presidency.
Well, it turned out that Stringer wasn't nearly as smart as he thought he was. "Playing those away games" is what Avon called it. But I also saw that tweet and couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. Seriously, go watch "The Wire" if you haven't already. Though for those that need some context, Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell are two childhood friends who have long had a total monopoly on the West Baltimore drug trade. Avon (Wood Harris) is a dyed in the wool street solider, while Stringer (Idris Elba) is trying to insulate the organization from the street and use their money to branch out into respectable business ventures like real estate, and the crux of Season 3 is the tension between the two.
There's speculation that the writer is Pence. Since apparently the word 'lodestar' is an unusual word he uses on the regular going back to his radio show suggests it’s him.
I highly doubt it is Mike Pence. Ever seen the prayer sessions that guy leads before those televised cabinet meetings?? And I honestly hope the New York Times isn't allowing the frickin' Vice President to remain anonymous if he is pushing something like this. I just don't see a decades long movement conservative like Pence giving something like this to the NYT, of all media outlets.
I highly doubt it is Mike Pence. Ever seen the prayer sessions that guy leads before those televised cabinet meetings?? And I honestly hope the New York Times isn't allowing the frickin' Vice President to remain anonymous if he is pushing something like this. I just don't see a decades long movement conservative like Pence giving something like this to the NYT, of all media outlets.
Shrug. I don't care personally. It could be Pence or the frickin doorman Bob. Either way they are propping up the impulsive impetuous child ruining the country. He's not a 'hero' for prolonging this corruption and destruction of the Republic.
If the president is as insane as the guy claims he is and he appears to be, the guy should come out to say it publicly, and let our democracy decide what to do. If the 25th amdendment needs to be invoked so be it.
But alas he's a coward and an opportunist choosing party over country. He's taking part in the GOP effort to use Putin's investment in Donald Trump's criminal rise to power for his own personal gain. Not a hero. A coward who should either resign or do what needs to be done to protect the country.
The author knew it was a Pence word and put it in to throw off the trail so to speak.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Pence was part of the “resistance” though.
It's not a deep state if it's the Republicans doing it. It's the 'steady state'. Lol whatever. Republicans are always doing themselves what they accuse the other side of doing.
Was it Pence or not? We don't know signs point to him, and he has something to gain if Trump goes down, but we don't know. At any rate the author claimed to be in cahoots with others in the administration to curb Trumps crazy implusive insane whims.
Here is a video of Kamala Harris backing Kavanaugh into a corner where he spends 8 minutes desperately trying not to perjure himself, because based on his "answer" it's clear he has almost certainly done what she is asking and won't admit it. Because Harris obviously knows that he did. A former prosecutor would not ask this question if she didn't know the answer.
Meanwhile, Corey Booker is threatening to release certain Kavanaugh documents against Senate rules, and is daring the Republicans to expel him for it. Possibly because he and other Dems have finally figured out that there ARE NO Senate rules anymore.
Harris should be able to specify what exact individuals she's asking about when asking Kavanaugh about any conversations he's had with a given law firm--as someone pointed out, you'd have to know who exactly belongs to a given law firm in order to say if you've spoken with anyone from the law firm. If you speak to John Smith but don't know he worked at a law firm, you can't say for certain that you've spoken with someone at that law firm or not--you can only say that you've spoken with John Smith.
That being said, Kavanaugh should have been able to answer that question very easily. It was in fact a yes or no question, and he could have answered it 100% in one of two ways:
1. I've spoken with people aside from my fellow judges about the special counsel, but to my knowledge, none of them worked at the law firm founded by Donald Trump's personal lawyer. I don't know who works at that firm. 2. I've spoken with people aside from my fellow judges about the special counsel, and of those people, X/Y/Z worked at that law firm.
Either of those answers would have satisfied. The better-sounding answer is definitely the first one, so I see no reason he would hesitate to say the first one unless it wasn't true--which suggests to me that Kavanaugh knows or suspects that one or more of the people he's spoken with about the special counsel worked at the law firm owned by Trump's personal lawyer.
If the answer was "not to my knowledge," you should be able to say "not to my knowledge." You wouldn't need a list of employees at that law firm to say "not to my knowledge."
Well he probably did talk to Trump's lawyer and is trying to weasel out of admitting it right.
Booker released the emails that were marked committee confidential. Republicans have gone to great lengths to hide disqualifying documentation from the public.
Trump claimed executive immunity on a wide swath of documents from Kavanaugh's time under Bush to hide hundreds of thousands of pages of documents related to torture, racial profiling, abortion, and other topics.
Grassley and other Republicans marked "committee confidential" on other documents that they didn't want Kavanaugh to have to answer about. The documents contain no actual classified information only information that the Republicans don't want to make public because they are ashamed of it.
Comments
Why shake his hand? It would have given the father an opportunity to ask one question regarding gun control which he would either have to answer, or turn his back on him. Scandalizing headline any way Kavanaugh plays it with a score of media around.
It was also sets a bad example. Everyone with an issue from Guns to Roe to Trump would be attempting the same move at this type of hearing the next time if he humoured the father and shook his hand. Then guess what? These things are no longer open to the public because one nut job will take it too far.
He is there to answer questions from Congress on why he should be appointed to the Supreme Court.
If Gutenberg wants to make a difference and change the way gun control works, he can run for office. It is the BEST way to enforce change in something you believe in.
And no, let’s just say it was a Democrat appointed judge and it was David Duke looking to shake hands, he wouldn’t go near it.
So you are implying that Kavanaugh is such a triggered snowflake that he can't handle one question on gun control. Maybe that's because he's on the wrong side of the issue otherwise what is there to be scared about?
Supposing it even went that way Parkland dad "will you ban the machine guns?"
Kav : "I'm a judge not a lawmaker. Anyway, I am truly sorry for your loss. God bless."
He can't do that????
Instead he looks like a partisan hack being put in place by a president who is an unidicted co-conspirator to multiple felonies. Is Kavanaugh being put there to protect Republicans from being prosecuted for crimes which is exactly what Trump explicitly called for his AG to do on the eve of these hearings? It sure looks like it. You compare the father of a child killed by gun violence to an notorious racist. I'd think thats false equivalency, one is a guy who is forced to act for common sense and the other is David Duke, longtime racist activist with indefensible views.
Republicans are not interested in questions about whether this activist judge is suitable for the supreme Court and that's why they are hiding his records and rushing him through the process. He will get "how wonderful are you really?" questions from Republicans when the time comes just like Gorsuch did.
What if the question was, “how many more children have to die like my daughter before the Supreme Court overturns xxxx bill (@booinyoureyes mentioned it, with the wording of the second amendment)? Will you push to make that happen?” (And trust me, he was coached to say a question like that)
He doesn’t answer, he turns his back, which would be worse than what actually happened. Or if he does answer, it wasn’t the time to have a debate about gun control.
Also as a matter of principle, i would never go out to shake a judge's hand while he's in a public forum as a servant to the public as I know that a judge should keep a certain appearance of separation from anyone and everyone in the spirit of the principles of his public function.
Anyway even once this partisan hack right wing nutter is confirmed all is not lost. There will be more fights later to be fought. Yes things look bad and we have an orange moron in the executive. Yeah nevermind things are terrible lol. We're headed towards being like Russia - a repressive Right wing dictatorship with pretend elections and a few billionaires and a bunch of exploited normal people.
Trump is going to go absolutely batshit about this.
Let him drive us all off the cliff instead of us propping him up and extending the misery.
He's nuts, who does it benefit to ever so slightly cover that up. By making him appear slightly less terrible it just prolongs things and makes him look better.
I bet it’s Sessions and it is his preemptive strike against Trump. Fire me and I will spill so much more than I did to the Times.
Who ever it was showed little respect for him as President, calling him Mr. Trump instead of president Trump.
Regardless of who it was, Trump will claim it is fake and made up.
And this is a problem for other reasons. Absolutely no one elected this group of people. And if what is being described is accurate, it can only be described as a sort of soft coup d etat.
Finally, if this is true, if the senior officials and aides around him TRULY believe he is unstable and dangerous, then trying to "control" him to hold onto power is playing with a grenade with the pin pulled. Eventually (especially now) Trump will resist the control. And he is the one with all the power. Pence can push their retrograde agenda just as easily. They are playing with a fire they can't control.
Oh man, that is scary on so many levels.
Also, the NYT would have to be absolutely off-the-wall insane to make something like this up. It's not fake. They are already receiving enough criticism of it on it's face for allowing it to remain anonymous. But they did not write a fake op-ed by a fake Administration official.
Anonymous sources are sources the press needs to be prepared to protect. Suppose the press just turned him in, who would trust the press the next time there's some government schenanigans to reveal. What if the government murders this guy? The TV next whistle blower won't blow his whistle because he can't trust the government and he can't trust the press - if they reveal the source.
All that being said this guy is not really helping by enabling and propping up this rage filled child occuping the office of the presidency.
Trump must realize that he can't fire him and may also need Pence to pardon him.
If the president is as insane as the guy claims he is and he appears to be, the guy should come out to say it publicly, and let our democracy decide what to do. If the 25th amdendment needs to be invoked so be it.
But alas he's a coward and an opportunist choosing party over country. He's taking part in the GOP effort to use Putin's investment in Donald Trump's criminal rise to power for his own personal gain. Not a hero. A coward who should either resign or do what needs to be done to protect the country.
The author knew it was a Pence word and put it in to throw off the trail so to speak.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Pence was part of the “resistance” though.
Was it Pence or not? We don't know signs point to him, and he has something to gain if Trump goes down, but we don't know. At any rate the author claimed to be in cahoots with others in the administration to curb Trumps crazy implusive insane whims.
Meanwhile, Corey Booker is threatening to release certain Kavanaugh documents against Senate rules, and is daring the Republicans to expel him for it. Possibly because he and other Dems have finally figured out that there ARE NO Senate rules anymore.
That being said, Kavanaugh should have been able to answer that question very easily. It was in fact a yes or no question, and he could have answered it 100% in one of two ways:
1. I've spoken with people aside from my fellow judges about the special counsel, but to my knowledge, none of them worked at the law firm founded by Donald Trump's personal lawyer. I don't know who works at that firm.
2. I've spoken with people aside from my fellow judges about the special counsel, and of those people, X/Y/Z worked at that law firm.
Either of those answers would have satisfied. The better-sounding answer is definitely the first one, so I see no reason he would hesitate to say the first one unless it wasn't true--which suggests to me that Kavanaugh knows or suspects that one or more of the people he's spoken with about the special counsel worked at the law firm owned by Trump's personal lawyer.
If the answer was "not to my knowledge," you should be able to say "not to my knowledge." You wouldn't need a list of employees at that law firm to say "not to my knowledge."
Booker released the emails that were marked committee confidential. Republicans have gone to great lengths to hide disqualifying documentation from the public.
Trump claimed executive immunity on a wide swath of documents from Kavanaugh's time under Bush to hide hundreds of thousands of pages of documents related to torture, racial profiling, abortion, and other topics.
Grassley and other Republicans marked "committee confidential" on other documents that they didn't want Kavanaugh to have to answer about. The documents contain no actual classified information only information that the Republicans don't want to make public because they are ashamed of it.
Booker's right this whole thing is RIGGED.