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The Unbelievable Cruelty of the GOP’s Kavanaugh Charade

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By Jill Richardson / OtherWords

This past week, my private reality and the public reality playing out on the television have diverged. It’s hard to believe that I live in the same world as Senator Chuck Grassley, the Senate judiciary chair trying to Brett Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court.

When Christine Blasey Ford first alleged Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her — and when talking heads on TV began doubting her veracity, or insisting that the assault was not a big deal — a different conversation began.

It’s a private conversation, one-on-one, mostly. A few of us posted about sexual assault in general or about our own past assaults on our Facebook pages. Then the private messages began.   [Read more…]

California 2018 Propositions 10-12 | Are They Really About Rent Control, Lunch Breaks and Cage-Free Eggs?

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In the conclusion to this series on statewide propositions, we’ll look at two measures that aren’t what they seem to be and one that is what it seems to be, even though opponents claim otherwise.

Prop 10 asks voters to repeal the law prohibiting communities from regulating what landlords can charge residential tenants. Prop 11 asks voters to legalize a questionable labor policy. And Prop 12 ups the ante on the treatment of animals raised for human consumption.

On Monday, I looked at Propositions 1 through 4, and yesterday it was 5 through 8. If you’re wondering about Prop 9–aka the billionaire scheme to split California into three parts–you won’t find it.

 The “Three States Initiative” was removed from the ballot by California Supreme Court” because significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition’s validity and because we conclude that the potential harm in permitting the measure to remain on the ballot outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.”

 Alas, venture capitalist and cryptocurrency investor Tim Draper has declared he’ll no longer be interested in this form of political tinkering by 2020.   [Read more…]

Mark Bartlett, Chula Vista City Council D1 | Candidate Profiles for the November 2018 Ballot

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Chula Vista is the second most populous city in San Diego County. With nearly 300,000 people, we are projected to grow immensely in the next coming decades. Chula Vista is also a city that is booming. Our city is coming back with a strong resurgence after a sluggish decade wherein budgetary decisions made by the previous administration had a direct impact leading to the downward trend.

New development and construction are cropping up across the city, and community leaders, as well as elected officials, know our city has a bright future. The Bayfront Project, Millenia Project, the potential four-year public university, and the flourishing of our Third Avenue Downtown center are just some of the city’s major growth activities.

We have quite a lot for which to be thankful; however, I would not be running for office if I saw everything as idyllic and perfect. Chula Vista, for all its strengths, has significant pitfalls that elected officials must address. We have a lack of public resources in our northeast corner of the city.

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Text of the Declaration by Julie Swetnick, the Third Women to Accuse Kavanaugh of Sexual Misconduct

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In her sworn statement, Swetnick says that she “fully understands the seriousness” of her accusations and charges that she was “gang-raped” when she was a high school student at a party where Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were both in attendance.

Represented by attorney Michael Avenatti, a third woman, Julie Swetnick, came forward publicly on Wednesday to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of gross sexual misconduct when he was a young man.

In her sworn statement, Swetnick says that she “fully understands the seriousness” of her accusations and charges that she was “gang-raped” when she was a high school student at a party and that Kavanaugh, and his friend Mark Judge, were both “present.”

She also says she that Kavanaugh and his friends were known at the time for “targeting” girls with alcohol and drugs in order to take advantage of them sexually, and that she has “a firm recollection” that Judge and Kavanaugh were among the “boys lined up outside rooms at many [other] parties waiting for their ‘turn’ with a girl inside the room.”   [Read more…]

Donald Trump’s Sexual Predator Friends – from Michael Moore’s ‘Fahrenheit 11/9’ | More Video Worth Watching

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Here are some excerpts from Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 to help provide additional context to the sham show of a hearing being staged today by Senator Grassley’s Senate Judiciary Committee.   [Read more…]

16 Women and Donald Trump | Video Worth Watching

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This Brave New Film compilation from November 2017 of vignettes of the testimony of sixteen women who have come forward to report being sexually assaulted or harassed by Donald Trump should provide some context for today’s Senate hearings on the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. (h/t to AGD)   [Read more…]

Written Testimony of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford | United States Senate Judiciary Committee

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Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein, Members of the Committee. My name is Christine Blasey Ford. I am a Professor of Psychology at Palo Alto University and a Research Psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

I was an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina and earned my degree in Experimental Psychology in 1988. I received a Master’s degree in 1991 in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University. In 1996, I received a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Southern California. I earned a Master’s degree in Epidemiology from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2009.

I have been married to Russell Ford since 2002 and we have two children.

I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school. I have described the events publicly before. I summarized them in my letter to Ranking Member Feinstein, and again in my letter to Chairman Grassley. I understand and appreciate the importance of your hearing from me directly about what happened to me and the impact it has had on my life and on my family   [Read more…]

California 2018 Propositions 5 thru 8: Taxes, Tantrums, Time Changes, and Catheter Cash

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Grannies, potholes, sunshine, and healthcare. We sure do get to vote on a lot of interesting things in California.

Prop 5 changes the way property taxes are calculated for certain classes of (mostly wealthy) people. Prop 6 amounts to a Republican temper tantrum. Prop 7 wants to settle some timely questions. And Prop 8 is a more-complicated-than-it-seems battle of the Titans.

Yesterday I looked at Propositions 1 through 4, and on Thursday I’ll finish off the state ballot props, examining 10 thru 12. Some of the details/wording in this article is borrowed from a ’first look’ column I posted in late August; I’ve had the opportunity to do some more study and am sharing my findings.   [Read more…]

California’s 2018 Ballot Propositions | An Overview of Props 1 thru 4

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Today I’m writing about the first four of California’s 2018 Ballot Propositions for the general election.

What the first four ballot offerings have in common are requests to use taxpayer money for things proponents would like us to believe are for the common good.

Prop 1 would authorize borrowing for housing. Prop 2 would ask voters for permission to use a previously authorized tax revenue stream to include building housing for mentally ill people. Prop 3 wants voters to authorize bonds for water-related infrastructure. Prop 4 wants voters to authorize bonds for updates and construction of children’s hospital facilities.

On Wednesday I’ll delve into Props 5-8, and Thursday will conclude this series with 10-12. Some of the details/wording in this article is borrowed from a ’first look’ column I posted in late August; I’ve had the opportunity to do some more study and am sharing my findings.   [Read more…]

San Diego County’s 2018 Ballot Measures: A Question of Intent, Two Steps Back, One Step Forward

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As presently constituted, San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors is a dying breed.

Decades of a status quo determined by mostly white, Republican, and male overlords are coming to an end. Term limits, a less homogenous population, and the decline of the Grand Old Party’s base in California mean a change is coming.

This is the lens through which Measures A thru D–to be voted on by all San Diego County voters–must be viewed through.
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After the Education Wars: Someone Needs to Save Us from Our Billionaire Saviors

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After failing to prop-up Antonio Villaraigosa’s flagging gubernatorial campaign last June, Michael Bloomberg apparently spent the summer pondering whether it would be wiser for him to personally save the United States rather than waste his time trying to rescue California by proxy.  Last week the New York Times reported that Bloomberg was mulling a run for the Presidency as a Democrat because that represented the most viable path to victory.  As the Times story observed, while Bloomberg has engaged in some good work on guns and the environment, many of his other positions might not be very likely to win over the liberal base of the Democratic Party.  

Interestingly, the New York Times piece listed Bloomberg’s more conservative views on criminal justice reform, #MeToo, and bank regulation, but was strangely silent on education, one of the central fronts where Bloomberg has spent millions of dollars promoting largely terrible ideas and candidates that have done far more harm than good to American public education.     [Read more…]

South Carolina Prisoners Were Left In Cells as Florence Descended. Why Weren’t They Evacuated? | Video Worth Watching

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From the Democracy Now! YouTube website:

South Carolina officials are coming under fire for refusing to relocate prisoners in mandatory evacuation zones even as Hurricane Florence barreled down on the state. Prisoners were instead put to work behind bars making sandbags to prepare for the storm’s arrival. We speak with Kymberly Smith, a community organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. She has been protesting South Carolina’s choice to not evacuate prisoners during Hurricane Florence.

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