Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation Thread

[hayden_horn 11358]

ok, someone explain procedure to me. why would they start with the prosecutor, and interrupt her after 5 minutes? i get congressional and parliamentary procedure to limit filibustering, but i feel the prosecutor was just establishing some background.

[kevwun 15572]

She's gonna pick it back up when the next Republican's time starts.  Each side gets alternating 5 minute segments to ask questions.  The prosecutor is going to use every Republican segment.  It's going to be disjointed as result.

Edited September 27, 2018 by kevwun

[BrickHorn 18134]

2 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

So far, she doesn't seem like an asshole. 

I usually seem like a really nice, helpful guy in the first hour of a deposition, too.  

[horncyclist 1384]

This procedure isn't going to work. Republican s want to conduct basically a friendly deposition. You can't do that being interrupted every 5 minutes. It's going to be a disaster.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23355]

 

[Brisketexan 104251]

9 minutes ago, sachick said:

Because she's not alone. So many of us have been there. I have friends who cannot watch because it bring up their own memory.

This, with a sledgehammer.  I have had conversations with several women the past few days -- top-notch, professional women, at the top of their game -- who are re-living their own experiences along with this.  Some of them are doing better than others, but the pain -- sweet Jesus, it's real, and it's astounding.

5 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

Me too. And for what it's worth, she sounds very much like them them when they have described their own experiences being assaulted. 

And this, with a sledgehammer driven by an atomic blast.  And every word of it is excruciating to hear.  Every.  Single.  Time.  I've never listened to a story of a woman's assault experience that DIDN'T have that effect, and they were uniformly delivered the same way.  Oh, and for the record, I've probably had a dozen women share their story with me over the years.  I can think of two -- TWO  -- that actually brought their complaint to the justice system, and one of those experiences was a classic stranger assault where the guy dragged her into a dark place and assaulted her, so exactly the kind of assault you'd expect to be reported.  The remainder....never went to the justice system.  Because that's how humans work.

5 minutes ago, Woodrow Call said:

That woman is stronger than any man in that room and it ain't close.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again.  On an individual basis, watching a woman in a crisis can be truly awe-inspiring.  The strongest men I've ever seen are women.

[Woodrow Call 494]

3 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

i think this prosecutor is a wolf in sheep's clothing (for the republicans). 

she is going to rip kavanaugh apart, i would reckon.

also, grassley needs to shut the actual fuck up.

Well, actually her style with laying those "ground rules," was not meant to reduce her stress. She's going to use those to pin her down. I'd withhold judgement on her fairness until the end. 

That's a standard procedure with prosecutors. 

Edited September 27, 2018 by Woodrow Call

[tantric superman 4667]

12 minutes ago, yoladu said:

True. Don't read the texags thread on the hearing. It's predictable. Very predictable. 

He's been clean since he graduated from law school.

[shnsajax 3589]

Dr. Ford has bigger balls than half the people on this thread and all of the GOP Senators in that room.

Curious to when the NRA calls her a crisis actor.

[Mack Tripper 693]

This procedure isn't going to work. Republican s want to conduct basically a friendly deposition. You can't do that being interrupted every 5 minutes. It's going to be a disaster.

This. It’s going to be completely disjointed and incoherent.

[WhatTheBuck 28696]

3 minutes ago, tantric superman said:

That vocal fry is a killer, but what's not to believe so far? 

Yeah, she's hard to listen to but that mousy voice kind of makes her seem like the sort who would've been targeted by aggressive teenage boys in her youth. 

[Firemans4Horn 17777]

This alternating 5 minute periods is already a disaster. This isn’t high school debate. 

[bad_teammate 13119]

2 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

ok, someone explain procedure to me. why would they start with the prosecutor, and interrupt her after 5 minutes? i get congressional and parliamentary procedure to limit filibustering, but i feel the prosecutor was just establishing some background.

They chose a female prosecutor. The men cannot let women talk. The men are constitutionally incapable of allowing women to talk uninterrupted.

[Buzzrock 14863]

ok, someone explain procedure to me. why would they start with the prosecutor, and interrupt her after 5 minutes? i get congressional and parliamentary procedure to limit filibustering, but i feel the prosecutor was just establishing some background.

DF turned her light on indicating she wanted to jump in.

[kevwun 15572]

The prosecutor is going to go after her at some point.  She's trying to lull her in to a false sense of security. 

[Gil Bang 25847]

2 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

Two or three folks on Fox News aren't total assholes.  

[hayden_horn 11358]

2 minutes ago, Woodrow Call said:

Well, actually her style with laying those "ground rules," was not meant to reduce her stress. She's going to use those to pin her down. I'd withhold judgement on her fairness until the end. 

That's a standard procedure with prosecutors. 

that's fair enough. she could be a stone cold assassin, but i think this particular witness is going to be difficult to pin down.

[Bat Guano 359]

I'm in favor of the prosecutor just so we don't have to listen to Hatch, Cruz, or more Grassley.

[tantric superman 4667]

Does someone have a hair clip  or baret (sp) that she can borrow?

[WhatTheBuck 28696]

Yes, Dr. Blasey Ford, we're all familiar with how the neurotransmitters epinephrine and norepinephrine encode memories in the hippocampus. Proceed. 

[Ghost of LL 15327]

3 minutes ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

How about it counselor? After one round of questioning do you think Ford's a good witness? If I was on a jury, she seems very credible. 

Also, if i was on a jury here - the staffer doing the questioning seems like she is attempting to set a credibility trap, but does not seem to be on the same page as Grassley. Where do you think she's going?

She's an excellent witness so far.  She's very credible.  And she's been coached really well by her lawyers--take your time to read the documents, don't guess, make sure your answers are precise.

The Republicans' questioner has a really hard job.  This is akin to a deposition--the questioner doesn't necessarily know what the answers are going to be.  A big part of questioning in a deposition is building a rhythm and developing a rapport with the witness.  You can't do either when you're being interrupted every five minutes.  It makes the questioning disjointed and really very ineffective.

[Dolemite 143]

Why is she editing a letter she has already written? 

[BrickHorn 18134]

Just now, kevwun said:

The prosecutor is going to go after her at some point.  She's trying to lull her in to a false sense of security. 

Yes.  This is how it’s done.  You make the witness comfortable, get them to drop their guard and start opening up.  Then you use their own testimony against them.  It’s cross examination 101.  

[Hugo Stiglitz 23355]

 

[hayden_horn 11358]

1 minute ago, bad_teammate said:

They chose a female prosecutor. The men cannot let women talk. The men are constitutionally incapable of allowing women to talk uninterrupted.

 

1 minute ago, Buzzrock said:

 

DF turned her light on indicating she wanted to jump in.

 

granted, but grassley set out the ground rules at the beginning, and i thought i heard that he witness would be allowed to finish answers as long as anyone wasn't filibustering

[Brisketexan 104251]

1 minute ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

Anecdotally, this is happening a lot, right now, all over the country.  I have friends -- folks locally, longtime friends on FB, etc. -- who are doing just that.  Both telling and hearing stories of sexual assault for the first time, which seems to be a spontaneous and collective response of "oh, so y'all don't think that sexual assaults happen often at these sort of things, and if they do, women report them right away?  Well, let me tell you a story I've never told you before...."

I'll tell you this.  If I was a woman, I would never vote for a Republican again.  Ever.  Shit, in my house, I have to steer clear of my wife and daughter (my wife was never assaulted, but was present when two of her friends were violently assaulted -- she didn't know what had happened till it was over), because they are fucking PISSED.  My wife's words last night were rather pointed -- "these assholes want to make sure they send a message -- report an assault, and we'll make sure you're victimized twice."

I used to be able to get her to vote for GOP judicial candidates.  I'm not even going to get that from her any more.  And I don't blame her.

[DDD Dad 14144]

Just now, Dolemite said:

Why is she editing a letter she has already written? 

You've never taken a deposition, have you?

[hayden_horn 11358]

1 minute ago, Ghost of LL said:

She's an excellent witness so far.  She's very credible.  And she's been coached really well by her lawyers--take your time to read the documents, don't guess, make sure your answers are precise.

The Republicans' questioner has a really hard job.  This is akin to a deposition--the questioner doesn't necessarily know what the answers are going to be.  A big part of questioning in a deposition is building a rhythm and developing a rapport with the witness.  You can't do either when you're being interrupted every five minutes.  It makes the questioning disjointed and really very ineffective.

[bad_teammate 13119]

Just now, DDD Dad said:

You've never taken a deposition, have you?

Or written something.

He sounds like a remedial English student.

"But I already wrote the paper, coach, what do you mean I have to edit it now? It's on the paper already! THIS IS BULLSHIT!"

[Buzzrock 14863]

granted, but grassley set out the ground rules at the beginning, and i thought i heard that he witness would be allowed to finish answers as long as anyone wasn't filibustering

I’m guessing the light had been on for a bit, or past the previous question and on to another. Dunno.

[Dolemite 143]

This lawyer is about to lower the boom. 

[Woodrow Call 494]

4 minutes ago, kevwun said:

The prosecutor is going to go after her at some point.  She's trying to lull her in to a false sense of security. 

Exactly. 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23355]

 

[cabowabo 4446]

this format is retarded.

[bad_teammate 13119]

lol at you guys who think this Maricopa County prosecutor is anything but an evil shark

[Firemans4Horn 17777]

Oh good, another 90 year old. 

[sachick 1189]

Each senator is older than the next.

[jimmyjazz 45431]

1 hour ago, EMAWesome said:

You can't possibly think there is one iota of credibility with Ramirez or creepy porn lawyer's client can you?  Especially CPL's client.  Claims to go to party where guys are spiking drinks and running rape trains on women.  What does she do?  Does she go to law enforcement?  Does she go to anyone's parents?  No, she goes back to nine more of these parties.  Claims to tell women to avoid the punch.   If any of this actually happened she would have been telling those women to avoid the parties, not the punch.  If you believe any of this you are straight up either insane or an idiot with the critical thinking ability of a small rock.

You attended K State.  You really should not be lecturing anyone around here about critical thought.  Enjoy the beatdown.

[horncyclist 1384]

Not only will the procedure be unworkable the contrasting styles is going to make republicans look terrible. She's cross examining her. It doesn't matter if she's friendly. Democrats are going to come back to "how did you feel?" "How has this affected your life?" And building her up.

[David Dennison 18491]

1 minute ago, Dolemite said:

This lawyer is about to lower the boom. 

The damage is done. If she lowers the boom now, it's only going to hurt Brett Kavanaugh.

[hayden_horn 11358]

1 minute ago, Dolemite said:

This lawyer is about to lower the boom. 

you think?

i think she's going to have a real hard time doing so in this format, if she is even inclined to do so.

[triplehorn 2664]

3 minutes ago, kevwun said:

The prosecutor is going to go after her at some point.  She's trying to lull her in to a false sense of security. 

I generally support stress tests, but I imagine questioning a trauma victim calls for extra ability from the questioner.

[deech 2249]

5 minutes ago, kevwun said:

The prosecutor is going to go after her at some point.  She's trying to lull her in to a false sense of security. 

She's locking in her testimony in each statement. In a few she's going to hit her over the head with any and all inconsistencies. 

[Anastasis 23331]

"We were both here 27 years ago." LOL. 

[kevwun 15572]

Just now, cabowabo said:

this format is retarded.

It's common practice for committee testimony.

[DDD Dad 14144]

I'll elaborate since apparently I upset Dolemite with my dismissive comment to the point he had to negrep me.

In a deposition, a good lawyer will attempt to pin down the witness to a specific set of facts.  Giving her the opportunity to "edit" her letter under oath now puts that letter with any revisions as her sworn testimony.  Of course the lawyer can always go back and point out that she "changed her story" with those edits, and that may or may not impact the witness's perceived credibility.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23355]

 

[Buzzrock 14863]

And now lots of interruptions while various senators create their campaign ads

[cabowabo 4446]

Is this old bastard going to ask any questions?

[Longhorn_Fan68 33780]

She should claim he has a mole on his ass so we get to see a scotus nominee drop trow on live tv. That would be par for the course with this clown show