Nominee Brett Kavanaugh

Wonder what an effect all this will have on female voters in the November elections...

I’m so glad rhe Republican senator Flake had the guts to ask for an FBI investigation, however a week will not be sufficient but at least it is something. I hope they investigate all 3 cases but I think he only asked for Prof Christine’s to be done.

It’s obvious the Old Boys’ Network is still going strong in the US unfortunately.

Judge Kavanugh is to be investigated, NanKate.

This case has opened my eyes to the fact that America is clearly not a democracy, it is ruled by members of the Supreme Court Who are there for life. Quite shocking.

It is likely that many of us ended up in situations we were greatly affected by many years ago - I know I was. However I wouldn't dream of 'going after' the other person 1. after all this time 2. because I put myself in that place, it just got out of hand so I consider I was 'consenting' but mismanaging and that is / was / and always will be my responsibility.

I have been following what’s happening in America on the investigative news channel msnbc for more than a year now. You can get it on the internet. Good programmes on msnbc are the Rachel Maddox Show, the Last Word and the Eleventh Hour. Msnbc supplies all the background, and what has been going on has to the best soap opera ever. On YouTube I enjoy Stephen Colbert’s humorous monologues.

What an undignified unedifying spectacle the hearing was. And this is a judge?? Belligerent, angry, arrogant and rude - I am obviously very naive to expect someone with the position of one of the most important legal positions in the USA, to be able to put his points calmly, clearly and without sniffing, sobbing and ranting. This is Trump's America, I hope our British judges would have more dignity.

Anniebach Harvey Weinstein is a very different case. There were reports to the police going back 30 years and their HR department has been heavily fined for the way they handled reports. One actress was asked to wear a wire and he admitted it. Then DA Vance decided not to prosecute and accepted a $10,000 donation from Weinstein's lawyer - Google 'Weinstein and DS Vance' and you can hear the recording and Vance trying to excuse it. He was also older and using his power. Women learnt that there was no point reporting Weinstein. Over 60 women have accused him including of rape.

I think he is a white man from a wealthy family who feels a sense of entitlement. Sadly he probably can't remember it, as I suspect this was "normal" behaviour for him. She is happy for it to be investigated by the FBI he is not. I felt he was just "paddying" because he's used to his own way.

Totally agree GranVee, He comes across as a very arrogant man who bullies his way to get what he wants.
Hopefully time will be taken to make the decision on him becoming a Supreme Court Judge. I understand that once appointed the job is for life so there will be no getting rid once he is in office.

Mark Judge is now an alcoholic who has made some money writing about his frat days. He was Kavanagh's best friend and has written about the way they behaved. It is very unpleasant and the forum for and manner of her questioning was horrendous - but he has not had due process which is important and it is not something that he can disprove. He is obnoxious and I would not want to be judged by him. The system is wrong. Maybe supreme court judges should sit for a fixed term and then have to be reappointed.

My first thoughts in any of these situations that happened in the past are what did the victim do following an assault. Maybe I have missed something and I am sure someone will put me right and the person /victim did make a complaint at the time but other than that why wait until now.

I watched the entire proceedings and Professor Ford did not convince me. She said she was terrified to appear at the hearing and used a trembly, tearful voice when giving evidence. This is a professional woman used to public speaking as a teacher who has obviously risen up the ranks. She seemed to be enjoying herself at times. If you look objectively at the evidence she could not give any accuracy as to year, month, exact house of the offence, how she got there and how she got home. All three people she named did not back up her story. Even if you want to believe her account she had no corroborative evidence of the offence.

Much as I dislike Trump and the very conservative views of Kavanaugh, I could understand his anger and despair of having his family dragged through the mud on very dubious grounds. The Democratic party were desperate to disqualify him and held onto the Professor’s evidence hoping to bring it out too late for any further investigation so that it could be used to influence his appointment and the mid term elections.

I am an early feminist. We fought for equal recognition and salaries but the “me too” women who are too scared to slap a man’s hands away annoy me. We were much tougher in my day! Like many of you I thought Kavanaugh showed far too much anger but I cannot support dismissing his candidacy without probable cause and this is trial by media and is a dangerous road to travel.

Jaycee5’s point about changing the system to fixed terms for American Supreme Court judges is very pertinent, the whole system over there appears bizarre. ?

Granvee. Why bring a persons skin tone into it?.

Exposing himself at a party when he was in his teens (one of the complaints) should not be held against him. Lots of boys do stupid, offensive things when they are young and getting to know their drinking limits. However, gang rape, that's different. I don't know whether he did it. I didn't hear her testimony but I heard his and I can't help thinking an entirely innocent man would welcome a proper investigation and, if only for the reputation of the American Justice System, would want to know that everything had been done to ensure that his integrity was not in question upon appointment.
Reading between the lines, there is evidence that this is a man who changes considerably when he has been drinking and becomes incredibly angry even as an older man, not just in his youth. Is this the best person for such an important job?
I agree with B9exchange. As a person who experienced the same, I can tell you that I might not have had a nervous breakdown or appeared so terribly affected outwardly to my friends but it never leaves me. With all this Jimmy Saville, Weinstein et al business, it comes back in waves. I can't remember every little detail because of the length of time, trying to bury it and my brain cells dying off but it doesn't make it any less true.

Very mixed feelings about this. As the nominee he has to be above reproach. She's an intelligent educated woman so hard to believe she would make it up, especially knowing the grief it would inevitably cause her. But it was many years ago and memories are not always reliable and clear. I consider myself reasonably intelligent and 'on the ball', but I've had the odd occasion when I think I've remembered something from the past but found myself wondering if it had really happened as i recall it or did I imagine/dream it. But certainly nothing as traumatic as she is alledging, which presumably is something she would have no doubt about. He did come across as bullish at times, but no-one gets to his position by being a shrinking violet. And if the claims are false he has a right to be angry and indignant. Truth is I don't know who to believe. But can't help thinking many of us are tempted to believe the worst of him because he's a Trump nominee - myself included.

I am now 70. When I was a child my mother took in lodgers to bring in extra money. Most of them were men who were absolutely fine however at one stage we had a newly married couple staying. My bedroom was next to their room and at night I would often hear the wife repeatedly saying “no”. Here I can only surmise she was refusing to have sex with him. My mother allowed him to build a shed in our garden to breed budgerigars and one day he would nvited me in to see the birds. There was one chair in the shed where he sat and eventually pulled me to sit on his knee. His hands eventually moved from around my waist to lower down. When they started to fondle my pubic area I felt very unhappy so jumped off him and ran out of the shed. I was too embarrassed to tell my mother what had happened but felt quite disturbed by it for several years. If that man was now in the same position as BK I would certainly expose him. I don’t remember exactly when this happened but the details are quite clear after some 60 years.

It is likely that many of us ended up in situations we were greatly affected by many years ago - I know I was. However I wouldn't dream of 'going after' the other person 1. after all this time 2. because I put myself in that place, it just got out of hand so I consider I was 'consenting' but mismanaging and that is / was / and always will be my responsibility

No caro as we are often reminded “it takes two” and a pair of boys will always have the upper hand on a girl,on her own. Just “putting oneself in that place” dies not excuse the behaviour of the other party. .

I agree with ezybee. I was attacked by a boy on a first date and he throttled me. I remember thinking that I was going to die. As I lost consciousness, he let go and ran away. If I told that story, my voice would not shake and quiver due to the many years that have passed since it happened. If I went to the police now,if I saw him, how on earth could anybdy know he was guilty?? I felt both Kavanaugh and the woman were putting on a show.Netfix The Staircase shows how staged trials are in America. I think where there is evidence of past crime, such as corroboration, prosecution is appropriate. It seems unjust and dangerous that any woman accusing any man is automatically given a degree of credence.

Absolutely brilliant!

Wendywoo I get your reasoning, but unless he did that to other girls there would be no proof. I know of two men who had parts of their lives ruined by accusations that had no proof to them at all and I believe did not happen.

I find it very uncomfortable that people expect to be believed after such a long time, and destroy someone else's life as a consequence. I heard her saying she had a duty to tell her story. After thirty-six years? Utter tripe! The statute of limitations should have shut her up years ago. If he did indeed commit the offence her duty was to tell the police at the time, when there were people around who could corroborate her story.

It is the same with some of the Harvey Weinstein stories. If some of those women were abused why on earth did they go back, or meet him alone again? Perhaps they are bitter now because their careers didn't get the boost they expected. It is all rather unseemly. When I was a young woman you learned how to deal with such behaviour, maybe life was simpler then!

I don't care what he did in the 80's aged 16 when drunk, and I didn't find her testimony very convincing although I did believe her story just not the lifelong PTS.
As far as I'm concerned Trump backs him so that's enough for me to reject him.

The two women who corralled Flake (a very unfortunate name) in the elevator were screaming banshees. He had nothing to do with their purported assault. Apparently Kavanaugh attempted to kiss her, not rape her. That was all in her 15 yr old mind. If she was daft enough to drink beer in the company of legally entitled young men, knowing that her parents and family would be horrified, then she should suck up the fact that one of them tried it on.
I'd also question why no-one is up in arms about Flake being denied room to exit the lift.
If it was a woman being hemmed in by two angry young men shouting and screaming in her face and blocking her exit...that would certainly be front page news and the two males would, almost certainly, be sued.
It's wholly distasteful that the 'victim' drags this up 30+ years down the line. What young men have never tried it on after a few beers at a party?
I have no time for these women, none at all.