Month: September 2018

Michael Avenatti drops a bombshell on Judge Kavanaugh

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True to his word, attorney Michael Avenatti dropped a bombshell on Judge Brett Kavanaugh this morning. Talking Points Memo reports, Avenatti Client Emerges With New Allegations Against Kavanaugh:

Another woman has come forward with new sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, detailing his alleged inappropriate behavior toward women at high school parties in a sworn declaration released by her lawyer, Michael Avenatti.

The client, Julie Swetnick (above), alleges in a sworn declaration that in 1980 and 1981 she attended house parties with Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, Kavanaugh’s accused accomplice in the alleged attack of Christine Blasey Ford in the early 1980s.

Swetnick paints a picture of heavy alcohol consumption and non-consensual sexual activity at the parties, alleging that Kavanaugh drank heavily and acted aggressively towards women present, both in word and action. She claimed that male party attendees participated in “gang rapes,” where they would, in turns, violate a woman who had been incapacitated with spiked drinks. Swetnick said that she herself was a victim of this specific crime, and that Judge and Kavanaugh were “present” when the alleged attack took place.

These dramatic allegations have surfaced just a day before Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford are due to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on her sexual assault allegation.

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(Update) A sham hearing and a denial of due process

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This. Is. Not. Normal.

This is unprecedented for a confirmation hearing.

The eleven privileged white male Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are going to hide behind the skirts of a hired gun female prosecutor to question Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Kavanaugh because they cannot contain their obvious contempt for a woman who is the victim of a sexual assault and express their view that the real victim here is privileged white male Brett Kavanaugh.

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) concedes that GOP men can’t be trusted to treat Dr. Ford appropriately during hearing:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is praising the move by GOP Judiciary Committee members to use outside counsel to question the accuser of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during Thursday’s hearing. It’s pure genius, he said, because, frankly, GOP men simply can’t be trusted to act culturally appropriate toward a woman.

“I think it’s really smart of them to get outside counsel,” Corker told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday. When asked why he thought the all-male Republican members of the panel shouldn’t handle the questioning of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford themselves, Corker responded:

“Somebody will do something that you guys will run 24/7 and inadvertently somebody will do something that’s insensitive.”

Gee, “insensitive” like calling Dr. Blasey Ford “mixed up” such as Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) did or saying her sexual assault claims have been a “drive-by shooting” of Kavanaugh like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) did? Both are members of the Judiciary Committee but, really, how could any man be expected to know that dismissing a PhD and trauma victim as “this woman” or “that lady” is sexist? C’mon, give the fellas a break—people are so touchy touchy these days about basic human decency.

“Gee, what could possibly be more sexist than hiring a woman to do the dirty work while the men ultimately continue to retain all the power?”

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Dr. Hiral Tipirneni Sees Special Election Momentum Leading to Victory in November

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House Congressional District Eight Democratic Nominee Dr. Hiral Tipirneni

In her Glendale office filled with dedicated staff and volunteers, Dr. Hiral Tipirneni sat down with her campaign advisor Jason Kimbrough to convey how she would win in the November elections over Debbie Lesko and what she will do in her first months as the new House Representative in District Eight.

This will be the second race between these two candidates in seven months. Tipirneni is an emergency room physician, a cancer research advocate and Democratic rising star. In April, she gave a voice to all the Democrats, independents, and disaffected Republicans yearning for someone to campaign for them (the previous office holder Trent Franks had run virtually unopposed in the last three election cycles) and shocked the political establishment by coming within five points of defeating Debbie Lesko.

Her performance in a district that Donald Trump won by 21 points catapulted Dr. Tipirneni to political stardom and further reinforced the impression that a Blue Wave is coming this November.

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In David Garcia’s Arizona, No One Will Be Left Behind

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Democratic Gubernatorial Nominee David Garcia has put together an impressive team with over 5,400 core volunteers and offices in every part of the state. 

At their headquarters in Phoenix, Democratic Gubernatorial candidate David Garcia, along with his Communications Director Sarah Elliott relayed how the candidate plans to win the Governor’s race and what he would do once inaugurated in January 2019.

A former Army veteran (unlike his opponent), a teacher and professor, a legislative analyst and Associate Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Garcia displayed a vibrant and charismatic persona when presenting his reasons for running and what he would do if elected Arizona’s next Governor in November.

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McSally campaign whiffs again with her latest attack ad

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The Martha McSally campaign has an unhealthy fixation on pink tutus. It is all the campaign and its allied Super PACs wants to talk about. It is insipid and stupid.

The only other point that the McSally and its allied Super PACs want to make is that Rep. Kyrsten Sinema “denigrated the service” of members of the military in protesting the Iraq War after 9/11.

In an earlier post, McSally ad lies to denigrate the First Amendment rights of Americans, I pointed out that a Politifact Fact Check rated the claim “mostly false” — Sinema did wear a pink tutu, but she did not “denigrated the service” of members of the military in protesting the Iraq War after 9/11.

The GOP Super PAC Senate Leadership Fund took exception to Politifact, based upon a subsequent report in CNN and sent a demand to PolitiFact to “Immediately Correct Your Patently False Rating on Martha McSally.”

CNN K File reported, Arizona Senate: Kyrsten Sinema’s anti-war group blasted ‘U.S. terror,’ depicted soldier as skeleton in 2003 flyers:

As an anti-war activist in the early 2000s, Arizona Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema led a group that distributed flyers depicting an American soldier as a skeleton inflicting “U.S. terror” in Iraq and the Middle East.

Sinema campaign spokeswoman Helen Hare that Sinema did not approve or design the flyers at the time. So once again, this is yet another guilt by association accusation.

If the GOP had any video, audio or written statements by Kyrsten Sinema actually “denigrated the service” of members of the military, you can be certain that it would be airing it every minute of every day from now to November. They’ve got nothing.

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