Joe Nation
Joe Nation's JournalI am intrigued by Mark Judge's vacillating conscience.
Dr. Blasey Ford testified that she caught Judge’s eye during the assault and thought that he might help her. She also testified that he vacillated between encouraging Kavanaugh and trying to stop Kavanaugh from what he was doing. It’s also interesting that the thing that finally freed Dr. Blasey Ford from the bedroom was Judge jumping on the bed and bouncing everyone onto the floor.
Judge obviously seemed conflicted in the moment and what other reason could there have been for him to jump on the bed with enough force to cause two other people to be knocked to the floor? I think that he wanted to maintain his buddy-buddy relationship with Kavanaugh while preventing an assault of this poor young girl. He may have found the only solution that satisfied both desires.
I think Kavanaugh was the ring leader and Judge the sidekick. There are plenty of young male relationships that mimic this exact dynamic. I think that Judge may have had a conscience early on and who knows what happened after that point. Judge may have gone along to get along the rest of their friendship.
If you look at Judge’s life trajectory, he went on to write about many terrible events that he participated in in an almost confessional sort of way that was obviously pretty thinly veiled. He self-medicated his conscience with alcohol because maybe he felt that he had done things that he felt guilty for doing. Today, he seems like a broken person whose life is floundering.
Now this is entirely speculation but certainly plausible. And, if I were to give Mark Judge advice, I’d say unload the burden of your sins and confess to everything you and Kavanaugh did and make things right. Healing can’t begin until you open yourself to your own past and begin to make restitution. Try and show as much courage as your victim showed this week after suffering for decades. You may have unintentionally or intentionally been the hero and Dr. Blasey Ford may not even know what you did for her.
I am the same age as Kavanaugh and was in college at the same time in the early 80's
When I was in high school in the late 70's, my group of friends included one young lady that I had a crush on. Well, many us in the group had a crush on her because she was cute, very nice, very friendly and open, smart, and just a good person. Her parents were sort of religious nuts and controlled her every move and she had a pretty lousy home life but still managed to be just a great person in spite of her parents.
Several of the guys in our group dated her on and off after high school and I wished that I had the courage to ask her out. I never did and instead had relationships outside that circle of friends/roommates and sort of drifted away from my friendship with this young woman and pretty much lost interest in a relationship with her.
One Saturday night after a wedding reception of a mutual friend, I saw this young woman plastered out her mind being escorted to a car of one of the guests that to say the least, wasn't interested in just driving her home. I swooped in and took her by the arm and said something like, "Oh no, I'll take my sister home". On the way to her apartment, I could barely peel her off of me while I was driving. She was trying to kiss me, grab me, and rub herself all over me in a drunken state. I pushed her back into the passenger seat until I made it back to her apartment. I helped her up to her floor and got her inside with a lot of help since she couldn't even open the lock. By this point, she wasn't feeling very well and went into the bathroom and began to throw up. I stuck around long enough to make sure that she was OK and when her roommate finally came home, I left and went home.
This young woman had spent most of the time after leaving home getting drunk and being used by anyone who happen to be open to doing whatever they wanted to her. She had some major mental health issues and there seemed to be no shortage of men in the bars that were willing to take advantage of a woman that had no idea who they were once she began drinking. The unusual thing about her is that it only took one drink and she was plastered. She said that she had Native American blood and couldn't process alcohol very well. I don't know about that but I have never seen anyone get that drunk that fast in my life.
Many men have used alcohol as a way to take advantage of women and to bolster their own courage. It seems so cowardly and pathetic and immature. We even have quaint little rhymes for the practice. How many of us have heard, "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker"?
Brett Kavanaugh knows that he participated in this practice and so do the GOP committee members. They believe that it is just part of growing up and as long as you don't do it as an adult, you shouldn't be punished for doing it as a young man. They completely forget the harm that young women suffer as a result and blame the victims for putting themselves in the situation in the first place.
My young friend was crying out for help and only received further abuse, first at the hands of her parents, and then at the hands of men she didn't even know. I even saw a military recruiter she met take advantage of her when she sought possible enlistment. It just never ended for her. I eventually left for college and moved out of state and lost track of her. I'd be amazed if she survived this long as bad as she was back then. I hope she found the help she needed and is doing well today. I guess I'll never know. But no one can tell me that liquored up young men don't turn their attention to liquored up young women as Brett Kavanaugh seems to want us to believe. If he was doing it in high school, college life threw him into high gear. Once you cross that line, you can justify anything you do thereafter. Brett Kavanaugh was capable of anything after knocking back a few glasses of liquid courage and he bragged about doing so often. He likes beer.
I completely believe Christine Blasey Ford.
This Anonymous Op-Ed Writer is a GOP P.O.S!
The naked political calculation this Op-ed is espousing is that as long as we get tax cuts for the well-off one percent class, deregulation of environmental protections for the corporations, and fanatical judges purely to control women's bodies, this anonymous writer is just fine with trying to control this erratic, amoral, deranged fascist dictator. Trump is a convenient idiot that they think they can control by ignoring the Constitution, subverting the White House, and then warning us with a wink and a nod that they are in control even if Trump isn't.
Well, color me unimpressed with this anonymous "resistance" and its phony reassurances. It has far less to do with a resistance movement and far more to do with collaborators and sympathizers. No one on either side of the aisle should feel good about the words written in the New York Times.
If you have a College Illinois! Saving Plan, read this...
An interesting fact I learned recently just netted me about $9,000!!! I have two College Illinois! savings plans for my kids and was amazed to learn that the approx. $35,000 I had in each account was never depleted and they never informed me that I needed to write them a handwritten letter to request the final balance on the account.
The issue was that my kids didn't use the accounts to attend Illinois schools. They went out-of-state. The plan pays for 8 semesters at an Illinois school or the equivalent quarters, not sure there are any Illinois schools on quarters. When the student attends an out-of-state school, the contract no longer pays for semesters, it pays by the number of credit hours, in other words, it becomes cash rather than semesters. I had a total of 60 credit hours for each kid, most people buy 120 hours, I have a 50% discount. In one case, my oldest son used his 60 hours but the payouts only totaled about $29,000. I figured when they ran out of hours, the money was depleted. Apparently not. The remaining balance will not be paid out because he ran out of "hours" but the balance can be requested by writing a letter to College Illinois! and asking them to send it to you.
If you are in this situation, and your kids went out-of-state or to a private school, log onto your account and look at the total of all the invoices for all semesters/quarters and see if was less than your contract total amount. You might be owed a refund with interest that they never bothered to tell you about.
Did you ever wonder if the Progressive Democrats need a more progressive symbol than a donkey?
I mean, for a party that is supposed to represent progressive ideals, the donkey says any but progressiveness. Any thoughts on what the new symbol should be if you could pick it? It doesn't even have to be an animal. I'm thinking maybe an eagle or maybe something celestial like the earth, the universe, etc.
What would you suggest to bring this party into the 21st century and excite the younger generation?
To Trump Supporters, If There Be Any Here On The DU
I know that many liberals tend to just dismiss Trump supporters and call them idiots and a whole host of other names. I can't say that I haven't done the same. I now realize that this isn't a viable solution to build a bridge, and, that when you put politics aside, these same people are my neighbors, friends, and family members. So help me to understand your support. That is all I am asking. Please, no side comments from the regulars of DU. I already know what you think.
Anyway, Please list as succinctly as possible the top three things that Donald Trump has done to earn your support. Not the things he said he would do but the things he has actually done. While I do not support him or his administration, even I can name things he or the GOP have done that have actually benefited me. So let me start:
1. Because I have a high household income, I have received about $10,000 more annually from the Trump/GOP tax cuts.
2. Honestly, Donald Trump has energized the Democratic Party and the youth vote like nothing else in years, it's undeniable.
3. Finally, I feel that Trump's presidency will hasten the demise of the GOP which demographically has been doomed for years.
I realize that there may be few to no Trump supporters here and I am OK with that. But if you're lurking and can muster up the courage of your convictions, please help me to understand your support choice. I promise not to judge. 
Wells Fargo All Out FB Media Blitz
If you want to have a good time, go to the comment section of Wells Fargo's FB Ads. They are being roasted while their minions try to defend the organization with serious responses to comments like "You suck Wells Fargo". It is the most fun you can have right now on FB. I now look forward to every new Wells Fargo Ad that pops up just to read the comments. Have a look. Enjoy.
What Rosanne COULD DO Moving Forward
If, and I mean if, Rosanne Barr were smart, and I think that we have ample evidence that she is far from the top of her graduating class, she would turn this entire debacle into a movement by becoming a bridge between the American racist subculture she embraces and the very people she had been deriding for years. She has the fame to affect change and could begin to erase her reputation as an unabashed supporter of bigotry over a long period of time if she chose to take the higher road. Not doing so will put the final nail in her legacy as an abhorrent social pariah that will inevitably follow her to her grave.
If she is comfortable with being identified as a racist and rich enough to hide from the public until she is eventually forgotten and finally dies alone only to have this entire incident brought back as the defining moment in her career all over the media, then she should just keep making excuses and spewing racist tweets all the way into irrelevance. This is her moment to make that choice.
What will you do Ms. Barr? The country is watching. Which side of history will you come down on?
The winner of the Vikings-Saints game?
Vegas baby!! If Minnesota would have kicked the easy extra point, they would have covered the spread and Vegas would have lost millions. I wonder what was being said in their ear while waiting to run the last play?
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Gender: Do not displayMember since: Mon May 27, 2013, 01:46 PM
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