Political Blaze #1- The Senate Spectacle

Welcome to a new series on the blog, Political Blaze, where I’ll be covering just politics and the things that shape it. Today’s topic will be covering the recent success of the Trump administration through the Kavanaugh confirmation and the aftermath that followed.

For those who missed it, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed by the United States Senate last Saturday by a vote of 50-48. He is now sitting on the Supreme Court, and heard his first arguments this week. At least to me, his confirmation felt like the refreshing end to a long, hard, and often turbulent journey. From the day Justice Anthony Kennedy announced that he would retire, to the day that Kavanaugh was officially announced by President Trump as his nominee to the Supreme Court, all the way to the final Senate vote and swearing-in, it felt like there was a sort of life-changing journey that came with it. I’m not just talking about the fact that Kavanaugh’s life will never be the same again due to the string of relentless uncorroborated accusations and the horrific attacks against his family and his personal name and honor. I’m also talking about how the public and senators responded to his attempts to defend himself. It was truly a journey, with many trials along the way.

The “journey” began on June 27, 2018. That day, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, appointed by former President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and known as the Court’s “swing vote”, announced that he would retire at the end of July, after over thirty years of service on the Supreme Court. After about two weeks of careful consideration, President Trump nominated Kavanaugh. Throughout the rest of the summer, Kavanaugh would begin meetings with senators, personally talking to about two-thirds of them by the time his hearings began. Having the people who would vote on the nomination learn more about the nominee and his views was of the utmost importance.

Over the summer, protestors and activists, primarily allied with the Democratic Party, tried to derail his nomination, which were unnecessary but not unexpected trials in the process. These same protestors had made it known that they would oppose Kavanaugh from the beginning, with Democratic Senator and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York saying from the beginning that he would fight the nomination. Keep in mind, this was all before any allegations of sexual misconduct arose. Senators like Schumer had no real reason to oppose Kavanaugh at this time.

The confirmation process took an unexpected turn for the worse in mid-September. Following Kavanaugh’s hearings in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee(in which he was relentlessly attacked and slandered by Democratic Senators), Sen. Dianne Feinstein of, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, came forward with a letter from a Palo Alto college professor and former high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s, a woman named Christine Blasey Ford. In the letter, written in early July when Kavanaugh had not yet been announced as the nominee, Ford stated that she had been sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh and one of his friends, a man named Mark Judge, at a high school party in 1982, 36 years ago. However, she could not remember many important details of the incident, such as the specific time, place, and situation that the incident occurred under. I remember that I did not believe the allegations, but wanted to give her a chance to give her story in front of a hearing.

Two other accusations emerged in the days following the release of Ford’s allegations: the accusations of Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick. These accusations were extremely circumspect, as they came only after Ford’s allegations, and because they came from less than reliable sources. Ramirez’s allegations were first reported by an article in the New Yorker, a less than reputable news source, and contained allegations that were completely unverifiable. They involved Kavanaugh allegedly “exposing himself” to Ramirez at a college party, around the same time as the Ford allegations. Meanwhile, Swetnick’s allegations were reported by Michael Avenatti, someone who I think is nothing but a glory hound and an anti-Trump “Resistance” leader. Also, if the accusations by Swetnick were true, and Avenatti had known about them for a good amount of time, then he should have reported them to the authorities, in order to help his client. Instead, he kept these questionable allegations to release at a certain time. As you might have guessed, I did not believe either new allegation.

The hearing took place on September 27, exactly three months after Kennedy had first announced his retirement. This was the first big climax, or defining moment, of the process. Ford gave a very emotional testimony that I might have found convincing, if not for her lack of corroborative evidence. I truly felt bad for her. Later that day, Brett Kavanaugh himself testified in a rebuttal of Ford. He seemed very emotional, passionate, and outraged all at the same time, and truly seemed to reach the high point of his confirmation when he denounced the accusations and unfair treatment given to him by certain senators, and defended his name and honor. I thought that Kavanaugh gave a powerful, rousing speech defending himself. However, it quickly became evident that not everyone loved his testimony. The vote on the nomination by the Judicial Committee took place soon after, and passed on a partisan vote of 11-10. The nomination process received a further setback soon after thanks to Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, a moderate senator who has publicly feuded with President Trump. Flake forced an FBI investigation into the allegations, which many Republicans were resisting.

Finally, after a week of investigations, the FBI reported that there was no corroboration of Ford’s claims or the claims of the other two women, Ramirez and Swetnick. On Saturday, October 6, the journey finally came to an end. At the final climax of the process, the Senate confirmed Brett Kavanaugh as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, by a vote of 50-48. One Democratic senator, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted in favor of Kavanaugh, while one Republican senator, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted “present”. Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana was absent. With that, Kavanaugh was sworn in at a private ceremony later that day, and a public televised one on Sunday, October 7. This week, he took his seat on the Supreme Court and heard his first arguments, a week after the court’s 2018 term had begun. The long journey, which had begun over three months prior, had come to an end.

I believe that Kavanaugh was well qualified and fit to be on the Supreme Court, and I was glad that he was confirmed. I admit I might be a little biased, being a Republican supporter and a conservative, but I would still probably say that there was no corroborative evidence if a similar situation had arose involving the other side of the aisle. Hopefully, Brett Kavanaugh will be a great Supreme Court justice and make a difference in our nation.

 

The Crazy World We Live In

It’s no question that we live in a busy world. Everyday, weird, funny, horrifying, or interesting events occur throughout the world. Examples of these happen more frequently than you may think. For instance, just this month, several major stories dominated the news. In just September, Serena Williams cursed out the umpire at the final to the U.S. Open Woman Singles, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faced confirmation hearings and was accused of sexual misconduct, the Senate held hearings on bias against certain websites and viewpoints by Google, Facebook, and Twitter, and Hurricane Florence slammed into the Carolinas. Many of these stories happened in recent times, with major consequences as a result, and I’d like to give my views on them.

First off, we’ll go over the Serena Williams and the Hurricane Florence stories, the ones unrelated to politics. In my opinion, there is no question that Serena Williams was completely disrespectful and she got what she deserved: a hefty fine and a loss in the U.S. Open. Not only did she accuse the umpire, Carlos Ramos, of being a “thief”, which makes no sense at all, but she also attempted to make a wild claim of sexism on the part of the Ramos, and overshadowed the glory of beating one of the best players that her opponent, relative newcomer Naomi Osaka, should have received. Even if Osaka had been equal in skill or better than Williams, Williams should not have reacted in such a ridiculous manner. I feel like she showed unsporting behavior, and was penalized accordingly. The second story is about Hurricane Florence, which made landfall in the Carolinas in the early morning of September 14th. My prayers go out towards everyone affected by the hurricane, and I hope that you are all fine. I am glad that everyone was given advance notice so they could either evacuate the area or prepare adequately, which likely saved many lives.

In politics, one of the biggest stories was the hearings for the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired in July. Personally, I believe that Kavanaugh is well qualified for a seat on the Supreme Court. However, the confirmation hearings, which were repeatedly interrupted by protestors, including by actress Piper Perabo, were completely derailed when accusations of sexual misconduct emerged. California Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated that a professor from Palo Alto, California, a woman named Christine Blasey Ford, who was also a former high school classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Georgetown Preparatory School in Maryland, wrote her a letter claiming that she was nearly raped by a drunk Kavanaugh. While I thought Kavanaugh was a good pick for the Supreme Court, and still do, I hope that the Senate will find out whether or not this incident actually happened. The final story we’ll go over is the allegations of bias against certain viewpoints by tech companies. The Senate held hearings on bias present in Google, Facebook, and Twitter, including processes known as shadow banning(as seen back in July) or having a double standard altogether(as seen from the Sarah Jeong-Candace Owens situation last month). I believe that shadow banning is wrong, and while tweets such as Candace Owens’s are wrong, she was trying to make a point of how Sarah Jeong must also be banned, which I agree with.

That wraps up this news post for this month, folks! We’ll see you again soon.