"Fair points. It is odd that they proceeded to testimony without any sort of investigation. The way they conducted testimony also undermined the process. It was more political theater than anything. While it is hard to say with 100% certainty what happened, I agree that we shouldn't be rushing to defend Judge Kavanaugh. We should keep our minds open and hope the process gives us an answer. If it doesn't, this is only going to deepen the divide in this country. This entire thing is a mess, and there's a significant risk that the outcome damages the integrity of the last institution Americans seem to have a tremendous amount of faith in."
"Dear sir: Please find attached a declaration that literally does nothing more than parrot and purport to have personal knowledge of things that have already been discussed in the media, and doesn't particularly make any sense. I promise that, despite seeming even less credible, this one is hopefully more credible than the last pile of garbage I served up. Also, I am going to refuse to tell you who is alleging these things so that it is impossible for you to refer them to the Justice Department for making false statements concerning a matter within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Senate. Please do whatever it is that, as of this moment, Democrats are whining about you not doing. ANSWER ME NOW. Sincerely yours, Cree P. Pornlawyer"
Two more prosecutors come out and tear Mitchell's memo apart: Opinion | Kavanaugh prosecutor's supposedly expert analysis of Dr. Ford was deeply misleading
"There's no corroboration! How can we believe anything this woman says!" . . . "This so called 'corroboration' is too close to the first story! It can't be believed!"
That assertion simply ignores the futility of women going to law enforcement for any accusation let alone one from decades ago. Again only four percent of reported sexual assault cases ever get referred for prosecution. Primarily because the cases are he said / she said cases which can't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal prosecution. That in no way means that women are supposed to just shut up and take it, or of they don't shut up and take it, they must therefore be guilty of a political hit or some other ulterior motive. Civil suits and public hearings like this are legitimate venues to get their accusations heard.
A former prosecutor who called Mitchell a mentor said it best (paraphrasing based on memory) saying to the effect that the only thing she should have written is that more investigation is needed He also called her report absurd and absolute bullshit pointing out the same thing I wrote to you that we shouldn’t interpret the vague timeline issue as evidence of her lying etc...but that in fact she has preached this to other attorneys and made the same arguments in court His interview is on mother jones today. I think his name is Matt Long
No offense but that reply has little to no value. Of course the CJ system is imperfect. The issue here is that most women never report sexual assault because the CJ system is largely stacked against them, and of the women who do report sexual assault only four percent of cases ever get referred for prosecution, only half of those get convictions. Yet you and other conservative here are posting repeatedly, that a victim of sexual assault has no valid complaint unless they waste their time and sacrifice their emotional well being to crime that is difficult to prosecute and a system that is enormously stacked against them. Now, I assume that you have women in your life that you care about. If you do, I hope they aren't victims of sexual assault who have to face this issue... and face people like the ones here who would accuse them of political hit jobs or other ulterior motives for not going through that system that is overwhelmingly stacked against them and will put them through victim blaming and slut shaming for even attempting to find justice.
It also ignores the fact that going to the local police would have either likely lead to nothing, or at best, to exactly where we are right now. As minors at the time of the alleged assault, had Ford gone to the local police, it's likely their response would be any charges would likely be misdemeanor assault, which in 1982 had a 1-year statue of limitations in Maryland. And in 1982, 17-year olds weren't charged as adults in Maryland for these crimes. Therefore, there is nothing the Bethesda Police can do. At which point, Ford either goes away quietly, sends her letter to Feinstein, or since Bethesda is in the Beltway, a local reporter gets wind of the story and tracks Ford down. Since Ford didn't want to go away without telling the Senate her story, hopefully with anonymity, going to the local police accomplishes nothing for Ford. It's a waste of time and energy and probably even a bigger longshot than 1 in 50. In other words, if Ford wanted Kavanaugh and Judge in jail, that ship has sailed. But she can try and keep Kavanaugh from being a SCOTUS Justice. Which is why she sent her letter in the first place.
So what's the solution? If a victim of sexual assault cannot/should not go to law enforcement because it's a "futile" attempt to secure some form of justice for the alleged act ….. what should they do? Have a public hearing and let the alleged victim tell her story …. then, the alleged miscreant tell his? And ……. if the alleged victim (and in some cases her hyper-partisan handlers) is not satisfied with that public hearing, law enforcement is then engaged to investigate? You state these "public hearings" are legitimate venues for a person claiming to be a victim to be heard. Well, what if the alleged victim is just wrong? What then? Ford had her say ….. and where are we now? No one knows if she was ever assaulted …. or when she was assaulted …. and who may have assaulted her. Many think or "know" it was Kavanaugh, just as Ford claimed …. but they have no idea what happened to her, if anything. For all we know it was someone else …. or perhaps she was never assaulted.
The solution is to encourage women to come forward as soon as possible. And today, especially with the #metoo movement, the environment is a better place for victims of sexual assault than it was in 1982. Still a long way to go. The solution is change the laws so that boys as young as 16 can be tried as adults for sexual assault and there is a longer, or even on statue of limitations placed on sexual assault crimes. Things that have already been changed in Maryland. But our laws cannot be retroactive, which means that even if the laws have changed in Maryland, the laws on the books at the time in 1982 remain in place for Ford, Kavanaugh, and Judge. The solution is when a woman comes forward, don't slut shame and don't blame her until an investigation complete. If the accusation is false, and it comes out during the investigation, then you can shame the woman for bringing false accusations against a man and making it more difficult for women who have been assaulted to come forward. But don't do that until all the possible facts have been investigated. And even if you think you know all the facts before the investigation, don't assume. We can't change the past. We can only hope to learn from it and make the future a better place. If we had a time machine to go back to 1982, get definitive proof of any assault or non-assault, and if we had proof of assault, tell a 15-year old Ford to go to the police immediately, we would. But that's impossible. But what we can do is encourage the next girl or woman who is assaulted to come forward. As far as Kavanaugh is concerned, we now have sworn testimony including what he believed words like devil's triangle, boofing, and being a member of the Ralph Club means. Kavanaugh also have claimed not to be such a heavy drinker that he never acted belligerent towards anyone or passed out from having too much to drink. Investigate these claims to see if Kavanaugh is telling the truth or lying. And if he lied about these things, the next question should be, what else is he lying about. And while it's too late for Kavanaugh and Judge to go to jail, that doesn't mean it's not too late for Ford to tell her story and possibly keep Kavanaugh from being a Supreme Court Judge.
What you are proposing doesn’t work since there is no process to handle the investigation of an allegation except through and by law enforcement. We cannot allow what just transpired to happen, again. What you propose in absence if filing a criminal allegation with law enforcement is tantamount to a lynching or witch burning.
