Thread by @PNWSelina

Problem w #SusanCollins's evidentiary standard for sex assault claims - in vast majority of cases, only two are present. In many older cases, there isn't contemporaneous corroborating testimony, just friends, family, therapists who can attest as to when vic first disclosed. 1/

https://twitter.com/lkmcgann/status/1048297565609975808

#BelieveWomen is trite, unconstitutional nonsense. We can't simply believe everything every woman claims now becs women & girls' reports too often haven't been taken seriously. We just need to take reports seriously. Which requires investigation in order to build a case vs perp 2

We need to safeguard due process, becs each of us will need it if/when we're accused of violating a law. And no, a mere allegation, w/out more, can't be enough to find guilt. Some people make false claims for malicious purpose. It happens. 3/

If it's true that only 2% of rape claims are false (& that's probably v low), then thousands are wrongly accused of sex crimes each year in US. And that's in an environment where some number of women seem to believe sex assault claims aren't taken seriously by law enforcement. 4/

We also need to safeguard public confidence in such inquiries, becs each of us - whether we were an SA vic or unjustly accused - wd want investigation in our case to be thorough, fair, & focused on discovering truth. (Ofc, if we're guilty, shoddy investigation couldn't hurt) 5/

So we shd be concerned abt witnesses, testimony, proferred evidence some say #FBI didn't examine. In this hot a political climate, breaking news deserves skepticism until substantiated by solid, reliable investigative reporting, but this is concerning. 6/
qz.com/1415990/read-l…

A critic just responded, "Accusers don't have rights. The accused do." That's half right. Accusers/victims also have rights. We're also American citizens who enjoy the rights, liberties, & responsibilities of citizenship. We are also entitled to equal protection under the law 7/

More fundamentally, in a democratic nation rooted in rule of law, all need to feel system serves us. We don't need all we say believed out of hand. We do need it to be given at least as much weight as the accused's story, given relative credibility w/in full context of evidence 8

And this is where I keep stumbling w/ #Kavanaugh. What % of people - even diehard BK supporters - *really* think 14 different references to "#RenateAlumni/us" in yearbook were an expression of *affection*?? Half a football team doesn't have *that* much affection for a gal pal 9/

So what sounds more plausible? That? Or recollection of football team manager & three other classmates that BK & friends often made sexually degrading comments abt Renate? Latter sounds a lot closer to reality. That doesn't make him a rapist, obvs. But it does make him a liar 10/

#Kavanaugh could have just admitted to being a scurrilous cad in his youth. He could have told the Committee the story of how, as an older, wiser adult, he eventually came clean with his very good friend Renate & apologized profusely to her. (Unless he never did.) 11/

Is it kind of odd that he stayed such good friends w Renate? He & his buddies led their entire school to believe she was one of MD's loosest girls & commemorated multiple times it in their yearbook. So many friendships naturally grow distant w time. Why didn't that one? 12/

Renate must feel seriously betrayed. Brett Kavanaugh tried to present himself as a latter-day Wally Cleaver. Cd be he was more a combo of every loathsome 80s James Spader character. Most likely, he was a mix. But he wasn't Wally Cleaver. 13/

This is turning into an omnibus "Things that still bug me about #Kavanaugh" thread. So here's a few observations from the other day 14/

https://twitter.com/SelinaDavis73/status/1048225010194632705?s=19

ICYMI: ABA Judiciary Committee issued statement Friday morn. Reopened their eval of #Kavanaugh due to concern abt last week's testimony. 16/

Cc: @lisamurkowski @SenatorCollins
@JeffFlake @Sen_JoeManchin @ChuckGrassley @OrrinHatch
@SenMikeLee @BenSasse

https://twitter.com/SelinaDavis73/status/1048235274466078720?s=19

Useful insights from Justice Stevens

https://twitter.com/mattshuham/status/1047979710750371841?s=19

#Kavanaugh wasn't legal to drink in Maryland until he was 21 - he was too young for grandfather clause becs he wasn't 18 before July 1, 1982. 18/

https://twitter.com/SelinaDavis73/status/1048062180606627840?s=19

Again, issue isn't underage drinking. That was v common. It's the lying abt it. Esp bizarre to lie abt it when truth is so easy to find.

Quite vexing to have a fed judge & potential Justice lie under oath to Judiciary Comm. It shd be disqualifying 19/

washingtonpost.com/archive/local/…

I prefer honesty, esp under oath, in Justices.

Thinking some people (oneself & others w elite credentials & careers) are exempt fr some rules/laws they find inconvenient should be disqualifying

Surprised #Grassley #Hatch #Collins #Sasse #Lee #Manchin don't feel same
20/

tl;dr: Hv significant concerns abt #Kavanaugh honesty & integrity after Ford hearing. Also some concern - not yet well-substantiated - that expanded FBI background check failed to interview enough of the witnesses relevant to determining truth of Ford & Ramirez claims 21/

I also find it interesting how many conservatives have suddenly become Twitter experts re: hypnosis-induced false memories. Many noted that #Ford helped lead a 2008 study into self-hypnosis & risk of false memory creation. Sounds like she actually *is* an expert on it. 22/

So apparently some think a woman who's EXPERT on risks of inducing false memory via therapeutic hypnosis & helmed a study on it 2008, underwent hypnosis in marriage counseling (an esp odd place for it) 4 yrs later, which created these false memories. 23/ realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/…

If you've relied on this "theory" to reconcile finding Ford's testimony credible with disbelief that #Kavanaugh ever cd hv done something like this, please ask yourself: does that story *really* seem logical or plausible to you?? (Hint: it doesn't. Not remotely.) 24/

If you think psych expert on hypnosis-induced false memory used self-hypnosis to convince *herself* in 2012 that #Kavanaugh brutally attacked & attempted to rape her, may I respectfully ask: are you on crack? You think she gave herself a false traumatic memory like that? Why? 25/

.@TuckerCarlson: Which is more likely true:
1. Above bizarre scenario of CBF intentionally self-inducing psych torture in '12?
Or
2. You found CBF credible but don't want BK to be guilty, so you grabbed onto aspect of her research & generated this bizarre alt theory of case 26/

Subthread: hyper-politicized process & dumb simplistic talking points ON BOTH SIDES cd cause significant social harm. If you say false equivalence, consider whether you're exhibiting same care for rts of vics & accused you wd want for self or loved one
27/

https://twitter.com/SelinaDavis73/status/1048646172854734848?s=19

If you care abt victim rights & our access to justice, you *have* to support rsnbl & rigorous inquiry into SA claims necessary & sufficient for court or jury to find, beyond reasonable doubt, that crime was committed. That's what constitutional due process requires to convict 28/

If you care about the accused's ability to defend themselves & clear their names of false allegations, you have to support rigorous investigations in such cases. Because a vigorous fact-finding effort is only way to truly rehabilitate one's reputation after false claims. 29/

But of course, much of this is now moot as to Kavanaugh, as the full Senate has now confirmed him to SCOTUS. So just a few more thoughts to wrap up. 30/

I want to say a hearty "[expletive deleted] YOU" to ALL the Lefty "anti-respectability politics" idiots who thought that mobbing US Senators, screaming at them, & trying to bully and terrorize them into voting against Kavanaugh would be AT ALL effective means of persuasion. 31/

YOU likely ensured Kavanaugh's confirmation. By acting like hysterical, unhinged, crazed partisans orchestrating political theater, you managed to largely drown out and tarnish ALLLL the rest of us urging caution & raising legitimate concerns abt BK's fitness. 32/

YOU gave centrist & right folks of integrity an excuse to ignore, discount BK critics' concerns. YOU gave institutionalists like #Flake, #Grassley, #Hatch, #Sasse, #Lee, #Manchin, #Collins reason to fear dinging BK wd only encourage even more of this socially destructive crap 33/

#Murkowski, too. She, Flake, Collins could have been encouraged to orchestrate a grand compromise. They clearly could have been persuaded to oppose BK. They & Sasse CLEARLY had misgivings about confirming. Y'all botched it. BADLY. 34/

.@womensmarch organizers ALL espouse idiotic, disproved, & wholly ineffective radical theories of political change. Y'all read some '70s New Left tracts & thought you discovered genius methodology, ignoring reality that New Left turned on itself & imploded w/in a few years. 35/

Plus they failed to obtain ANY positive results afaik.

Radical ideas crept back into Lefty & Lib political theory in recent years. Too many now blithely encourage & justify anti-democratic BS like shouting people down, punching [suspected] Nazis, "burning it all down," etc 36/

BLM, WmnsMarch, Antifa are all led &/or were founded by folks w zero idea of how to organize *effective* mass movements for change in ideologically diverse democratic society. Some hv no interest in even trying. They fervently believe whole system HAS to collapse & be rebuilt 37/

They're completely, utterly, breathtakingly, WRONG. They blithely ignore reality that our most vulnerable are most likely to be hurt or even killed by the chaos societal collapse would unleash. Do they think being in vanguard will protect them & those they care about? Fools. 38/

Many of the leaders come from deep in Lefty politics. There, claiming to speak on behalf of entire demographic groups, they assert failure to embrace their agenda is racist, sexist, whateverist & bludgeon pols into kowtowing. That can work on Left. It doesn't work on Right. 39/

I've got some ideas as to why that is the case, but don't feel like taking that lengthy digression at the moment 40/

Anyway, here's another mini thread re: how the demonization of opposition leads to assuming far too frequently that the opposition is animated solely by cynical drive for partisan advantage rather than noticing opposition's legit & sincere concerns 41/

https://twitter.com/SelinaDavis73/status/1048753305894014976?s=19