Blasey Ford says there is a witness, Mark Judge. Oddly, Senate Republicans don't want to call him to testify.

Hypothetically, should someone who has pulled a Kavanaugh be the president of the USA? Would it be a good idea to vote strategically to stop a person like that from being elected? (For the sake of this hypothetical, assume that you find both the policies of the Kavanaughian candidate and the second candidate unpalatable.)

i support crossnerd for mod, and for supreme court justice

What I’ve seen reported (which may or may not accurately reflect the state of the discussions) is that she has stated that the earliest she could get to Washington and testify is Thursday (reasonable), that she never be in the same room with Kavanaugh (I think this has already been granted) and that she get to testify after Kavanaugh (this one is less clear, but I think that whoever testified first should probably have an opportunity to dispute or rebut whatever specific points from the other’s testimony they deem necessary). She has also asked for an independent investigation before testifying (I don’t know if this is still a sticking point or if they have relented on this point) and there seems to be some disagreement about who will conduct the questioning but I’m having some trouble distinguishing what the accuser wants versus what senate democrats want on that point

I see what you’re saying, and I understand it’s a luxury, and you aren’t wrong

But a part of what is so hard about these issues for me is the relative impotence I feel to change anything. I think I try very hard to do what I can, but I can’t think of many more constructive and reasonable things I can do even if I get myself all worked up about it on a daily or weekly or whatever basis. I would probably be nastier to people (which I’m not sure would be a net good or bad thing) and I would definitely feel considerably more stress and frustration but I already confront these things as I encounter them in my personal life and short of things that would land me in jail I don’t think there’s much more I can do.

And again I get that it’s both a privilege and vastly unfair that I get to make that choice in some cases while others do not, and there are some fair conversations about how much privileged individuals can morally accept the results of that privilege without being complicit in the situation even if they are not actively seeking those benefits and even if they are actively working as best they know how to change the situations and conditions that lead to those advantages. I’m not sure what I think about that broadly because there are definitely problems with both sides of that argument, and I’m probably not in the best position to make it because I’m not at all sure how well I’m filtering out my own feelings and advantage from how I feel in general (which I’m usually pretty good at)

This is a really crappy post btw

I appreciate the thoughts.

Not to be a dick in response, but, in general, it is my strong belief that far too many good men do far too little when it comes to these issues.

I just had a crazy experience I want to share that reaffirms my faith in people. So I'm in a small town a little south west of Medellin Colombia called Jardin. I go to use an ATM but don't like the fees so I go to use another, then check my balance and see that both withdrawals were processed and I'm obviously like wtf...crap. I go back to the first ATM and the lady who had been waiting outside behind me is there with my money--which was a bunch. Tyty.

So people are not all that bad at least here in this part of the world.

I think its good for good men to be held to high expectations. So.. consider it a compliment, Herbie

Xnerd, what kinds of things would you like to see good men who are on the side of women do or do more of?

Basically, what can I do better to support the cause?

I've tried writing that a couple of times to make it sound less like a "What more can I doooooo" whining, because that isn't the intent. I want to honestly know how I can do better.

This is fair, and after posting what I did I proceeded to have about an hourlong conversation with my wife about it as well, I’m not sure we made any meaningful breakthroughs but it was interesting to hear her perspective on the subject (I hear it a lot, but not always specifically talking about it which makes it a bit different and more focused.

I do also think (related to what Master posted below) that I often find myself in situations where I am generally unsure of what if anything I should do in certain situations that I recognize as wrong but I feel kinda helpless to do anything about. These kinds of situations happen frequently in work settings even in what I would consider to be generally inclusive and not specifically hostile to women (like my current office). It’s things like women tending to defer to men, letting the men take credit for things and be the “face” of things in situations where it’s really not appropriate, or seeing men be casually dismissive of women in ways they would never be towards another man in the same situation but that doesn’t rise to the level of being clearly unreasonable or hostile, but it’s obvious to me nonetheless. Short of making a conscious effort to avoid those behaviors myself and being willing to both talk about it and bring it up when it seems appropriate to discuss it more broadly I feel like anything I would say or do in a more direct way in situations like that would probably do more harm than good, and even bringing it up to the men in question in private when I don’t have a personal relationship with them seems difficult because I know they aren’t doing it intentionally or consciously and it’s not a clearly actionable thing I’m talking about, just shades of subtext and behavior that I can clearly see as different but is very hard to articulate why.

So more rambling, but I do agree that men in general (even or perhaps especially “good ones”) should be held to higher standards on these issues and I recognize and appreciate the compliment, and I am definitely open to the idea that there is more that I could do

The senate democrats want the old white men to have to question her for political reasons. The Republicans are smart enough to want outside female counsel

Thursday is a fair enough request

She going last is ridiculous. She is accusing him. That's hogwash

She allegedly doesn't want to fly. They offered to come to her

I think the Republicans are beimg fair unless it is true that they won't let mark judge testify. She named him, he also needs to testify under oath. He doesn't want to. More the reason to subpoena him at this point

I agree he has to be subpoenaed

He denies it soi maybe she doesn't want him to but it doesn't matter

Republicans not forcing him to is unacceptable

So this Rod Rosenstein story is nuts

He almost doesn't deny saying it

Trump would be smart to not fire him before Mueller investigation is complete, but he's now justified in firing him

Perhaps the senate republicans should have thought of not making their entire judiciary committee consist of old white men.

Literally nothing happened. He isn't denying saying it because he said it as a joke.

Jesus ****.

You want people to ever take you seriously? Get your tongue out of the *******s of those giving you your marching orders.

crossnerd or anyone,

can you think of real life examples of things that men should be doing better? i try very hard in my personal relationships. i feel pretty good about those. i'm not sure about how i behave with people i don't really know.

for example last night at the casino some of the guys were comparing cocktail waitresses. i didn't like it, but i didn't say anything because i didn't think it was THAT bad.

two guys were admiring a beautiful cocktail waitress. they were doing do discreetly. she was quite a distance away, and oblivious. a third guy, sitting next to me, said "there is an even better one"

should i have said something? they're all pretty nice guys. maybe i should have said "the phrase more beautiful might be a little more respectful than 'a better one'"

or maybe i should tell the casino they shouldn't even have cocktail waitresses? or they shouldn't dress them up like sex objects?

i have a suggestion, especially for parents. watch how often you compliment your girl's looks compared to your boy's looks. i see little girls being told they're beautiful and cute soooooooo much more often than boys. **** that. that is some **** that pisses me off. in our society a woman's looks has way too much to do with her worth. and little things, like many comments on her looks reinforce that.

Yes this is one of those topics my wife has a lot to say about from her own upbringing - it can be incredibly harmful to women and their perceptions of self worth if the message you are sending is that she has value only or primarily because of how she looks, even if you intend it as a compliment.

her upbringing, and every single other human's upbringing. boys hear the non stop comments about girl's looks too. and we boys hear the compliments boys are getting, and they're rarely about looks. that affects the way boys value men and women

this brit at the poker table last night said he was proud of the royals i can't tell you much restraint it took for me to keep my criticisms to myself.

i did ask him if it bothered him when trump was waking in front of the queen and he got visibly upset i laughed pretty hard

Lettuce just say, this shouldn’t really surprise any (thinking) parent, and yet some of the stuff you see you sale is eye watering.

These thoughts seem contradictory.

he was obviously judging her looks, and not the quality of her entire being. so it's more accurate, and more self aware, to simply say he was commenting on her looks and not her as a person

That's a lot of profanity from the guy who is rewriting the report on what has been alleged.

The statement that "He almost doesn't deny saying it" seems pretty spot-on.

Are you not gravely concerned about the fact that secret information on an executive branch official was maliciously and politically leaked to the press?