Judge Kavanaugh ethics complaints, Christine Blasey Ford death threats, Kavanaugh sexual assault allegations, Shelter Migrant Child Abuse

 

-  Chief Justice John Roberts is referring ethics complaints against new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh

- Statement on BrettKavanaugh.com

-  Christine Blasey Ford Still Can't Return Home Due to Threats

-  Democrats not giving up Kavanaugh battle "taking steps to obtain and release detailed documents and emails about the sexual assault allegations against him"

-  Arizona Shelter Shut in Latest Case of Migrant Child Abuse

 

 

Roberts asks federal judges to handle Kavanaugh complaints
The Associated Press MARK SHERMAN Oct 10th 2018
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts is referring ethics complaints against new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to federal judges in Colorado and neighboring states.

 

The complaints deal with statements Kavanaugh made during his confirmation hearings. They were filed originally with Kavanaugh's old court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

 

Roberts took no action on them while Kavanaugh's nomination was pending. He received the first three of 15 eventual complaints on Sept. 20, a week before Kavanaugh's angry denial of a sexual assault allegation by Christine Blasey Ford.

 

It's possible the complaints will never be investigated if the lower-court judges determine they have no jurisdiction over a Supreme Court justice under the judiciary's ethics rules. The judges may be forced to conclude "that intervening events have rendered the allegations moot or make remedial action impossible," said Arthur Hellman, an ethics professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

 

Another ethicist, Stephen Gillers of New York University, disagreed that the complaints are moot. Kavanaugh remains a federal judge and the complaints "allege misconduct that occurred while Kavanaugh was on the D.C. Circuit and subject to the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges. Any violation of the Code does not disappear because he is now on another federal court," Gillers said in an email.

But Gillers said the complaints "may be found not to be meritorious in the end."....

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/10/10/roberts-asks-federal-judges-to-handle-kavanaugh-complaints/23557425/ 

 

 

Statement on BrettKavanaugh.com
October 9, 2018
Three years ago, I bought a handful of URLs that I thought might be useful in any forthcoming Supreme Court confirmation battles. Included were BrettKavanaugh.com, .org and .net.

 

Today I am redirecting those three to a landing page with resources for victims of sexual assault.

I believe Dr. Ford. I believe Prof. Hill. I also believe that asking for forgiveness is a sign of maturity and strength, not weakness.

 

Watching the White House ceremony last night and listening to the President again cast doubt on the veracity of Dr. Ford’s claims, while not hearing a word of contrition from the newest justice, was difficult for many Americans who have experienced sexual misconduct firsthand.

Fix the Court stands with you. We believe you, and we support you. And if you seek additional resources, you can go to BrettKavanaugh.com.
https://fixthecourt.com/2018/10/kavanaughurl/

 

 

Christine Blasey Ford Still Can't Return Home Due to Threats
By Natasha Bach October 8, 2018

The book is closed on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. But while he has been confirmed to the highest court, the story isn’t over for his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

 

Ford’s lawyers told NBC News on Sunday that Ford and her family have still been unable to return to their home due to the death threats she continues to face after testifying against Kavanaugh on Sep. 27.

 

“Her family has been through a lot,” Debra Katz said. “They are not living at home. It’s going to be quite some time before they’re able to live at home.”

“The threats have been unending,” she added, “It’s deplorable. It’s been very frightening.”

 

Ford had already alluded to these threats in her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, telling the committee that she and her family had been living in “various secure locales” with security guards since Sept. 16. She said that she and her family had been subject to harassment and death threats, and that she had been “called the most vile and hateful names imaginable.”

“My greatest fears have been realized—and the reality has been far worse than what I expected,” she said.

 

Ford’s other attorney, Lisa Banks, told NBC that the government’s handling of Ford’s case was “far worse” than that of Anita Hill. With Hill, she said, “there was a full FBI investigation before there was ever a hearing.”

 

She added that Ford was “horrified” by Trump’s comments that sought to undermine her credibility. “She was upset by it, yes, as any woman would be who’s the victim of sexual assault and was mocked and belittled by anyone, never mind the president of the United States,” Banks said.

http://fortune.com/2018/10/08/christine-blasey-ford-still-facing-threats/

 

 

 

Democrats not giving up Kavanaugh battle
The conservative jurist is settling into a lifetime appointment, but Democratic leaders think they can still discredit him and GOP leaders
By JOSH GERSTEIN 10/10/2018

 

Democrats are showing no signs of backing off their battle against newly minted Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, pressing forward with legal fights to unearth potentially damaging records that didn’t go public during the white-hot nomination contest.

 

Democratic leaders are taking steps to obtain and release detailed documents and emails about the sexual assault allegations against him and disputed aspects of his service during the Bush administration.

 

While Democrats are strategizing to get what they consider the most potentially impactful records out soon, it’s all but certain that the process will drag on for years and perhaps even decades.

 

Many Democrats are skittish about talk of impeaching Kavanaugh, an effort that seems doomed in the Senate even if Democrats win control of the House in midterm elections next month. But there seems to be a broad consensus on the left to keep up the fight for documents lawmakers believe should have been made public before the vote on Trump’s second high court nominee.

 

Democratic lawmakers say it’s worth serving up a reminder of how Republicans tried to short-circuit the process and gave short shrift to Ford’s allegations.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi followed through Wednesday on a promised Freedom of Information Act request demanding records related to the background investigation the FBI reopened into Kavanaugh after Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he sexually assaulted her during high school, a claim Kavanaugh categorically denied.

 

“The FBI’s supplemental background investigation appears to have been significantly limited in scope to ensure that a thorough investigation would not take place, numerous witnesses would not be questioned, and numerous questions would not be asked — including whether Justice Kavanaugh deliberately misled Congress on multiple subjects,” Pelosi wrote in her letter seeking documents about the FBI's interviews and the ground rules for the inquiry. “The public must know what limitations were imposed on the FBI and who imposed them, so this never happens again.”....
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/10/kavanaugh-faces-drip-drip-drip-on-records-892054

 

 

Arizona Shelter Shut in Latest Case of Migrant Child Abuse

By Associated Press

 

(PHOENIX) — Staff members at a Phoenix-area shelter for unaccompanied migrant children physically abused three children, leading to the closure of the shelter, federal officials said. It was the latest in a series of incidents of alleged abuse involving staff members at shelters and children.

 

Southwest Key’s Hacienda del Sol shelter was shut down last Friday, but federal officials did not reveal the reason behind the closure until Tuesday.

The Texas-based federal contractor has fired the staffers involved in the Sept. 18 incident, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement....

 

Arizona has seen numerous allegations of sexual abuse at its many shelters for immigrant children, including one made by the government of El Salvador, which said it received reports of three children, 12 to 17, who were sexually abused at unnamed shelters in Arizona. 

 

Last month, a former youth care worker was convicted of sexually abusing seven teenage boys at a Phoenix-area shelter for immigrant children.

In August, authorities arrested a 32-year-old man on allegations that he had molested a 14-year-old girl at a Southwest Key facility the previous month....
http://time.com/5421462/arizona-migrant-children-shelter-abuse/ 

Yale roommate says Kavanaugh lied under oath about drinking and yearbook, How Trauma Affects Memory, More Believe Ford Than Kavanaugh, A Cultural Shift From 1991

-  Yale roommate says Kavanaugh lied under oath about drinking and yearbook

-  Kavanaugh's college roommate: He was lying (interview)

-  How Trauma Affects Memory: Scientists Weigh In On The Kavanaugh Hearing

-  Poll: More Believe Ford Than Kavanaugh, A Cultural Shift From 1991
 

Yale roommate says Kavanaugh lied under oath about drinking and yearbook
By Kate Sullivan, CNN Wed October 3, 2018

Washington (CNN)James Roche, one of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's freshman year roommates at Yale, said Wednesday that Kavanaugh lied under oath about his drinking and about the meaning of his yearbook entries.

In an op-ed for Slate, Roche writes, "Brett Kavanaugh stood up under oath and lied about his drinking and about the meaning of words in his yearbook. He did so baldly, without hesitation or reservation."

"In his words and his behavior, Judge Kavanaugh has shown contempt for the truth, for the process, for the rule of law, and for accountability," Roche added. "His willingness to lie to avoid embarrassment throws doubt on his denials about the larger questions of sexual assault."

Kavanaugh testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he has never been blackout drunk. He was appearing before senators to answer an accusation from California professor Christine Blasey Ford that he sexually assaulted her when they were both in high school in the early 1980s. Kavanaugh denies the allegation and says he has no memory of the party where Ford says the incident happened.

Roche says he believes his friend Deborah Ramirez, who has accused Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her at a college dorm party.

He told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night that "there is zero chance that she is making up this story."

Kavanaugh has denied Ramirez's allegation. CNN has reached out to the White House for reaction to Roche's comments.

Roche told CNN, "I saw him both what I would consider blackout drunk and also dealing with the repercussions of that in the morning."

"I didn't socialize with Brett," Roche said. "He would come home and he was incoherent, stumbling, he would sometimes be singing, he occasionally would wear this -- I think it was an old leather football helmet -- and he would throw up, and then in the morning would have a lot of trouble getting out of bed."....

Roche writes he does not know if Kavanaugh attacked Ford in high school or exposed himself to Ramirez in college, "But I can say that he lied under oath."

In Roche's appearance on "Anderson Cooper 360," he said he was "shocked" when he heard Kavanaugh say "boofing" meant flatulence and "Devil's Triangle" was a drinking game, "because those words were commonly used and they were references to sexual activities. ... I heard them talking about it regularly. I think that contributed to some of my feelings about the fact that these guys treated women in a way that I didn't like."

"We were in a room together -- our beds were 10 feet apart for a couple of months," Roche told Cooper. "And what struck me and made me more interested in speaking out about it is not only did I know that he wasn't telling, you know, the truth, I knew that he knew that he wasn't telling the truth."
Roche told CNN his memory of Kavanaugh is that "he was on the far edge of this -- he was notably heavier in his drinking than other people."....
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/03/politics/yale-roommate-kavanaugh-cnntv/index.html

Kavanaugh's college roommate: He was lying
CNN Published on Oct 3, 2018
James Roche, the college roommate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, speaks to CNN's Anderson Cooper about his experience with Kavanaugh at Yale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQGrTMLYTCI

How Trauma Affects Memory: Scientists Weigh In On The Kavanaugh Hearing
September 28, 2018 Rhitu Chatterjee
In Thursday's testimony at Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings, Christine Blasey Ford alleged Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party in 1982, when she was 15 years old and he was 17.

Kavanaugh staunchly denied these allegations.

But memory is fallible. A question on many people's minds is, how well can anyone recall something that happened over 35 years ago?

Pretty well, say scientists, if the memory is of a traumatic event. That's because of the key role emotions play in making and storing memories.

On any given day, our brains store or "encode" only some of the things we experience. "What we pay attention to is what's more likely to get encoded," says Jim Hopper, a teaching associate in psychology at Harvard University and a consultant on sexual assault and trauma.

A region of the brain called the hippocampus plays an important role in this process. Ford referred to the hippocampus when questioned by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., about how she was so sure that Kavanaugh was the perpetrator of the alleged assault.

"The hippocampus certainly plays a role in taking things into short-term memory and then transferring them and consolidating them into long-term memories," says Hopper.

If an event elicits an emotional reaction in us, then it's more likely to make it into our memory. "Things that have more emotional significance tend to get more encoded," he says.

And when something elicits an intense negative emotion, like a trauma, it's even more likely to be encoded in the brain....

That's because a high-stress state "alters the function of the hippocampus and puts it into a super-encoding mode," says Hopper, especially early on during an event. And "the central details [of the event] get burned into their memory and they may never forget them."....

However, this doesn't mean that these memories include every detail of the event. The brain holds on to the most important stuff at the expense of the peripheral details....

Another factor that affects how memories are stored is alcohol use.

"Generally alcohol can make people forget things," says Mary Beth Miller, a clinical psychologist at the University of Missouri, Columbia who has studied the impact of alcohol consumption on making and retrieving memories.

Earlier this month, Ford told The Washington Post that she remembers Kavanaugh being "stumbling drunk" whereas she recalls having one beer that night.

Other accusers who did not testify Thursday have also suggested Kavanaugh was part of a group of friends who indulged in heavy drinking in the 1980s....
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/28/652524372/how-trauma-affects-memory-scientists-weigh-in-on-the-kavanaugh-hearing

Poll: More Believe Ford Than Kavanaugh, A Cultural Shift From 1991
October 3, 2018 Domenico Montanaro

After a day of wrenching testimony from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford — who has accused him of sexual assault in high school — more Americans say they believe Ford's account over Kavanaugh's denials, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Wednesday.

In choosing who is telling the truth, 45 percent said Ford is, up from 32 percent ahead of her Sept. 27 testimony. A third (33 percent) said Kavanaugh is the one telling the truth, up slightly from 26 percent before he testified but not as much of a rise as for Ford.

The daylong hearing appears to have been influential in helping people decide who was telling the truth. Before the hearing, 42 percent said they were unsure whom to believe. Now, just 22 percent are unsure.

The results represent a shift from 1991, when more people said they believed then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas over Anita Hill. Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment in the workplace. A 1991 CBS/New York Times poll, also conducted days after their dramatic, televised Capitol Hill testimonies, found that 58 percent believed Thomas more, as opposed to just 24 percent who said Hill.

"If it remains 'he said, she said,' the benefit of the doubt is very different than 1991, and it goes to Ford not Kavanaugh," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the poll. "It shows the reaction to the testimony and does show an underlying change in attitude than 27 years ago."....

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/03/654054108/poll-more-believe-ford-than-kavanaugh-a-cultural-shift-from-1991

Kavanaugh - Swetnick sex abuse allegations, 'belligerent and aggressive' drinker, bar fight, text messages to refute accuser's claim before it became public

 

-  Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick speaks out on sexual abuse allegations

-  Text messages suggest Kavanaugh wanted to refute accuser's claim before it became public

-  Police questioned Kavanaugh after bar fight in 1985

-  Brett Kavanaugh was 'belligerent and aggressive' drinker, Yale classmate says

Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick speaks out on sexual abuse allegations

"I felt like somebody took me and basically said, 'You're worthless. You are nothing to us. You are disposable.'" by Kate Snow Oct.01.2018

 

....In an exclusive broadcast interview with NBC News, Swetnick claims she saw Kavanaugh behave inappropriately at parties in the early 1980s.

"He was very aggressive — very sloppy drunk, very mean drunk. I saw him — go up to girls and paw on them, try to, you know, get a little too handsy, touching them in private parts. I saw him try to shift clothing," she told Snow.

 

Swetnick said that it was only after Christine Blasey Ford came forward in a Washington Post article from September 16 to allege in Kavanaugh had attacked her during at a party that she realized she had a similar story to tell.

NBC News was unable to independently corroborate Swetnick's claims and has not spoken with anyone who says they saw Swetnick at parties with Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh has said he does not know Swetnick and has called her claims a farce.

 

Swetnick provided NBC News with the names of four friends who she said went to the parties with her. One is deceased, while two others did not respond to requests for comment. A fourth told NBC News he didn't remember Swetnick and didn't think he'd socialized with her.

Swetnick says she saw boys gathered outside closed rooms at parties but did not know what was happening behind those closed doors until she says she herself was attacked around 1982.

 

"My body was violated," she said, sighing. "My soul was broken ... I felt like somebody took me and basically said, 'You're worthless. You are nothing to us. You are disposable.'"

She described feeling unwell, being "shoved into a room" and then being raped by more than one man.

She says Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were in the same part of the house earlier that evening but she cannot be sure if they were involved....

 

Swetnick said she told her mother and a police officer about the attack shortly afterward. Both her mother and the officer are now deceased. NBC News filed a public records request for related documents, but local officials said a response could take up to 30 days....

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/kavanaugh-accuser-julie-swetnick-speaks-out-sexual-abuse-allegations-n915641

 

Text messages suggest Kavanaugh wanted to refute accuser's claim before it became public
A former classmate of the Supreme Court nominee has reached out to the FBI but hasn't received a response.
by Heidi Przybyla and Leigh Ann Caldwell Oct.01.2018

 

WASHINGTON — In the days leading up to a public allegation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh exposed himself to a college classmate, the judge and his team were communicating behind the scenes with friends to refute the claim, according to text messages obtained by NBC News.

 

Kerry Berchem, who was at Yale with both Kavanaugh and his accuser, Deborah Ramirez, has tried to get those messages to the FBI for its newly reopened investigation into the matter but says she has yet to be contacted by the bureau.

 

The texts between Berchem and Karen Yarasavage, both friends of Kavanaugh, suggest that the nominee was personally talking with former classmates about Ramirez’s story in advance of the New Yorker article that made her allegation public. In one message, Yarasavage said Kavanaugh asked her to go on the record in his defense. Two other messages show communication between Kavanaugh's team and former classmates in advance of the story.

 

In now-public transcripts from an interview with Republican Judiciary Committee staff on September 25, two days after the Ramirez allegations were reported in the New Yorker, Kavanaugh claimed that it was Ramirez who was “calling around to classmates trying to see if they remembered it,” adding that it “strikes me as, you know, what is going on here? When someone is calling around to try to refresh other people? Is that what’s going on? What’s going on with that? That doesn’t sound — that doesn’t sound — good to me. It doesn’t sound fair. It doesn’t sound proper. It sounds like an orchestrated hit to take me out.”

 

The texts also demonstrate that Kavanaugh and Ramirez were more socially connected than previously understood and that Ramirez was uncomfortable around Kavanaugh when they saw each other at a wedding 10 years after they graduated. Berchem's efforts also show that some potential witnesses have been unable to get important information to the FBI....
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/mutual-friend-ramirez-kavanaugh-anxious-come-forward-evidence-n915566

 

Text messages between Brett Kavanaugh and his classmates seem to contradict his Senate testimony David Choi

Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his staff were reportedly sending text messages to former classmates to underplay allegations that he exposed himself during a party at Yale University.
One of Kavanaugh's friends said in a message that she corresponded with "Brett" and "Brett's guy."
A recipient of the text messages said she forwarded them to the FBI because "they merit investigation by the FBI and the Senate."

She said she conveyed the contents of the messages to the FBI twice, but has not heard back as of Monday morning.
The timing of the text messages sent from Kavanaugh and members of his team may renew the inquiry surrounding testimony he gave to the Judiciary Committee last week.
Kavanaugh previously testified that he had not discussed or heard of Ramirez's allegations from The New Yorker.
But Kavanaugh later appeared to contradict himself by saying he had heard that one of his accusers was "calling around to classmates trying to see if they remembered it."

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, and his staff were reportedly sending text messages to former classmates to underplay allegations that he exposed himself during a party at Yale University.

 

The text messages, which were obtained by NBC News, were reportedly between Kavanaugh's friends, Kerry Berchem and Karen Yarasavage. Based on the contents of the messages, Kavanaugh himself may reached out to his classmates to undercut the claims made by former classmate Deborah Ramirez, who told The New Yorker that Kavanaugh had exposed himself in front of others at a dorm-room party during the 1983-84 school year.

According to one message, Yarasavage said that Kavanaugh had asked her to defend him on the record, NBC News reported. Other messages indicate that Kavanaugh's surrogates had communicated with his former classmates before the story's publication....
https://www.businessinsider.com/did-brett-kavanaugh-commit-perjury-testimony-new-yorker-article-deborah-ramirez-2018-10

 

Police questioned Kavanaugh after bar fight in 1985
Anchor Muted Background By Kate Sullivan, CNN
Mon October 1, 2018

Washington (CNN) Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of starting an altercation while he was a student at Yale, according to a 1985 police report obtained by CNN, after police responded "in regards to an assault."
In the New Haven, Connecticut, police department report, a man named Dom Cozzolino said Kavanaugh had thrown ice on him and Kavanaugh's friend Chris Dudley had thrown a glass that hit him in the ear.
"The argument between the two started when Mr. Cozzolino stated that Brett Kavanaugh threw ice at him for some unknown reason and he then got hit in the ear with a glass," the report says.

Dudley denied the allegations, according to the report, "and Mr. Kavanaugh didn't (want) to say if he threw the ice or not. "

The police report does not indicate whether anyone was arrested, and New Haven's police chief, Anthony Campbell, told CNN there are no other records he is aware of involving Kavanaugh....

 

Chad Ludington, a former classmate of Kavanaugh's, has said Kavanaugh did not tell the truth about his drinking in his testimony Thursday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In Ludington's statement released Sunday he also mentions an altercation involving Kavanaugh: "On one of the last occasions I purposely socialized with Brett, I witnessed him respond to a semi-hostile remark, not by defusing the situation, but by throwing his beer in the man's face."

Ludington told CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time" anchor Chris Cuomo that the altercation happened after a UB40 concert, when he and a group of friends were drinking at Demery's.
They were sitting near a man who they thought looked like the lead singer of UB40, Ali Campbell, and were trying to figure out whether it was him, Ludington told Cuomo.
The man noticed Ludington, Kavanaugh and the others looking at him and -- according to Ludington -- aggressively asked them to stop.

Ludington told Cuomo he initially remembered Kavanaugh then threw his beer at the man, but recently found out from the report that there were ice cubes in the thrown drink.
"We weren't drinking water, so it must've been some sort of mixed drink," Ludington told Cuomo.
The man next then "took a swing at Brett," Ludington continued, and then they were "two guys fighting -- that was all very quick."

 

Dudley then took his drink and "proceeded to smash it up against the guy's head," Ludington recalled.
There was some shouting, and then the police showed up, Ludington said. They looked around and asked questions, he said, and then Dudley was put in a squad car and taken to jail....
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/01/politics/nyt-police-kavanaugh-bar-fight/index.html 

Brett Kavanaugh was 'belligerent and aggressive' drinker, Yale classmate says
John Bacon, USA TODAY Oct. 1, 2018

Another Yale classmate of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh challenged the truthfulness of the Supreme Court nominee's Senate testimony, saying Kavanaugh was often "belligerent and aggressive" when he drank.

Charles "Chad" Ludington, an associate professor of history at North Carolina State University, released a statement saying Kavanaugh "has not told the truth" when denying he never blacked out and downplaying his drinking as a young man.

 

"On many occasions, I heard Brett slur his words and saw him staggering from alcohol consumption," Ludington wrote. "When Brett got drunk, he was often belligerent and aggressive."

Ludington said he would not discuss Kavanaugh with the media but would tell his story to the FBI. The agency is conducting a one-week investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against the federal judge that date back to high school.

 

Last week, Seattle physician and Yale classmate Liz Swisher said Kavanaugh was a "sloppy drunk" in college. Freshman-year roommate James Roche said Kavanaugh was a "notably heavy drinker, even by the standards of the time, and … became aggressive and belligerent when he was very drunk."

 

Roche said he believed Deborah Ramirez, another Yale classmate, who accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh denied the allegations.

The New York Times reported Monday that in September 1985, Kavanaugh was involved in an altercation at a bar in which he was accused of throwing ice at another patron. The Times report cited a police report of the New Haven incident and said Kavanaugh was not arrested.

 

According to the police report, the victim in the case said that after Kavanaugh hurled the ice, a friend of Kavanaugh's threw a glass and hit the victim in the ear, causing him to bleed. The man was treated at a hospital and Kavanaugh, speaking to officers, did not want "to say if he threw the ice or not," the Times quoted the police report as saying.

 

Ludington said he was a varsity basketball player and Kavanaugh enjoyed socializing with athletes. Ludington said he "cringed" when he watched Kavanaugh describe his drinking on a Fox News TV interview and in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"In recent days, I have become deeply troubled by what has been a blatant mischaracterization by Brett himself of his drinking at Yale," Ludington wrote. "Brett was a frequent drinker, and a heavy drinker."...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/01/brett-kavanaugh-yale-classmate-drinking-statement/1484822002/ 

Christine Ford’s Prepared Statement, Organized Abuse Conference UK, Sect leader Deborah Green sentenced for child abuse

-  Updates from the Riveting Testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh

-  Read Christine Blasey Ford’s Prepared Statement

-  Charities to host forum tackling child sex abuse in Dundee

-  Organised Abuse in the UK - Conference

-  Paramilitary sect leader Deborah Green sentenced for child abuse in New Mexico

Updates from the Riveting Testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh By The New York Times Sept. 27, 2018

....‘Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life’: Dr. Blasey delivered an emotional opening statement

Dr. Blasey delivered her opening statement, at times through tears, at times resolute — but always with palpable emotion.

 

Speaking her first words in public, Dr. Blasey told senators in explicit detail, her voice breaking at times, of the night she said the future Judge Kavanaugh pinned her to the bed, tried to rip her clothes off and clapped his hand over her mouth as she screamed.

 

“It was hard for me to breathe and I believed that Brett was going to accidentally kill me,” she said.

Dr. Blasey also described the lasting impact of the attack, especially how he held his hand over her mouth: “Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life.”....

 

As other senators sought to clarify Dr. Blasey’s memory, Mr. Durbin took the question head on.

“I am asking you to address this new defense of mistaken identity directly,” he said. “Dr. Ford, with what degree of certainly do you believe Judge Kavanaugh assaulted you?”

Dr. Blasey, who sometimes uses her married name, Ford, responded unequivocally.

“One hundred percent,” Dr. Blasey said....

 

An unusually clinical witness

During the questioning, Dr. Blasey’s background as a professor of psychology affiliated with Stanford University and Palo Alto University shaped her answers to questions. For example, describing the lingering consequences of having been attacked as a teenager, she invoked an obscure term — sequela — which refers to aftereffects of a disease or traumatic incident.

 

Asked how she remembers that it was Judge Kavanaugh and not some other person who attacked her, she answered clinically with a description of how memories of traumatic events form in the brain: “Just basic memory functions and also just the level of norepinephrine and the epinephrine in the brain that sort of, as you know, encodes — that neurotransmitter that codes memories into the hippocampus and so the trauma-related experience is locked there whereas other details kind of drift.”

 

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee, responded: “So what you are telling us is this could not be a case of mistaken identity.”

“Absolutely not,” Dr. Blasey replied.

 

And, a bit later, asked what her strongest memory was, something she could not forget, she replied: “Indelible into the hippocampus is the laughter — the uproarious laughter between the two, and their having fun at my expense.”....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/us/politics/kavanaugh-hearings-dr-ford.html

 

Read Christine Blasey Ford’s Prepared Statement
By The New York Times

Sept. 26, 2018

Christine Blasey Ford is scheduled to address the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday about sexual assault allegations she made against Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court.

 

The following are prepared remarks of Dr. Blasey’s opening statement, as released by the Judiciary Committee....

 

Early in the evening, I went up a narrow set of stairs leading from the living room to a second floor to use the bathroom. When I got to the top of the stairs, I was pushed from behind into a bedroom. I couldn’t see who pushed me. Brett and Mark came into the bedroom and locked the door behind them. There was music already playing in the bedroom. It was turned up louder by either Brett or Mark once we were in the room. I was pushed onto the bed and Brett got on top of me. He began running his hands over my body and grinding his hips into me. I yelled, hoping someone downstairs might hear me, and tried to get away from him, but his weight was heavy. Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes. He had a hard time because he was so drunk, and because I was wearing a one-piece bathing suit under my clothes.

 

I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. When I did, Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming. This was what terrified me the most, and has had the most lasting impact on my life. It was hard for me to breathe, and I thought that Brett was accidentally going to kill me. Both Brett and Mark were drunkenly laughing during the attack. They both seemed to be having a good time. Mark was urging Brett on, although at times he told Brett to stop. A couple of times I made eye contact with Mark and thought he might try to help me, but he did not.

 

During this assault, Mark came over and jumped on the bed twice while Brett was on top of me. The last time he did this, we toppled over and Brett was no longer on top of me. I was able to get up and run out of the room. Directly across from the bedroom was a small bathroom. I ran inside the bathroom and locked the door. I heard Brett and Mark leave the bedroom laughing and loudly walk down the narrow stairs, pin-balling off the walls on the way down. I waited and when I did not hear them come back up the stairs, I left the bathroom, ran down the stairs, through the living room, and left the house. I remember being on the street and feeling an enormous sense of relief that I had escaped from the house and that Brett and Mark were not coming after me.

 

Brett’s assault on me drastically altered my life. For a very long time, I was too afraid and ashamed to tell anyone the details. I did not want to tell my parents that I, at age 15, was in a house without any parents present, drinking beer with boys. I tried to convince myself that because Brett did not rape me, I should be able to move on and just pretend that it had never happened. Over the years, I told very few friends that I had this traumatic experience. I told my husband before we were married that I had experienced a sexual assault. I had never told the details to anyone until May 2012, during a couples counseling session. The reason this came up in counseling is that my husband and I had completed an extensive remodel of our home, and I insisted on a second front door, an idea that he and others disagreed with and could not understand. In explaining why I wanted to have a second front door, I described the assault in detail. I recall saying that the boy who assaulted me could someday be on the U.S. Supreme Court and spoke a bit about his background. My husband recalls that I named my attacker as Brett Kavanaugh....

 

Since Sept. 16, the date of The Washington Post story, I have experienced an outpouring of support from people in every state of this country. Thousands of people who have had their lives dramatically altered by sexual violence have reached out to share their own experiences with me and have thanked me for coming forward. We have received tremendous support from friends and our community.

 

At the same time, my greatest fears have been realized — and the reality has been far worse than what I expected. My family and I have been the target of constant harassment and death threats. I have been called the most vile and hateful names imaginable. These messages, while far fewer than the expressions of support, have been terrifying to receive and have rocked me to my core. People have posted my personal information on the internet. This has resulted in additional emails, calls and threats. My family and I were forced to move out of our home. Since Sept. 16, my family and I have been living in various secure locales, with guards. This past Tuesday evening, my work email account was hacked and messages were sent out supposedly recanting my description of the sexual assault.

 

Apart from the assault itself, these last couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life. I have had to relive my trauma in front of the entire world, and have seen my life picked apart by people on television, in the media and in this body who have never met me or spoken with me. I have been accused of acting out of partisan political motives. Those who say that do not know me. I am a fiercely independent person and I am no one’s pawn. My motivation in coming forward was to provide the facts about how Mr. Kavanaugh’s actions have damaged my life, so that you can take that into serious consideration as you make your decision about how to proceed. It is not my responsibility to determine whether Mr. Kavanaugh deserves to sit on the Supreme Court. My responsibility is to tell the truth.....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/us/politics/christine-blasey-ford-prepared-statement.html

Charities to host forum tackling child sex abuse in Dundee
by Lindsey Hamilton September 24, 2018

A conference on how to tackle child sex abuse and help survivors will be held in Dundee later this year.

The Organised Abuse conference will cover a range of topics, including how to empower survivors, current support services and how to deal with convicted sex offenders.

 

The event, at Tayside Deaf Hub, has been organised by Dundee charities Izzy’s Promise, which conducts research into causes of ritual abuse and ways of preventing it, and Eighteen and Under, which supports young victims of sexual abuse.

 

The conference will feature talks by a number of experts in the field of abuse issues, including Izzy’s promise founder Laurie Matthew OBE, who is also executive manager for Dundee-based Eighteen And Under.

Sarah Nelson, author of Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Radical Approaches will also make an appearance, as will abuse survivor Matt Carey, alongside counsellor Sarah Paton Briggs.

 

Completing the speakers will be Joseph Lumbasi, manager of Izzy’s Promise.

Laurie said: “We are hoping that this conference will address the ongoing abuse and sexual exploitation of young people which is happening right here in our city.

 

“These are often the most vulnerable young people and we all need to work together to raise awareness.”

Joseph said: “The conference is aimed at bringing together survivors of abuse, support organisations, social services, NHS, police, Dundee City Council and other council officials to talk about ways of providing support to survivors to be able to tell and report abuse when it happens and not to wait until we are dealing with it as historical abuse.

 

“We should not be having to deal with historical sex abuse, but dealing with the abuse when it happens.”

Joseph has backed the Tele’s Our Kids Need Justice campaign, which is calling for a change in the law to ensure those who are convicted of committing sexual offences involving children face mandatory jail terms....

The conference is at Tayside Deaf Hub, The Old Mill, 23 Brown Sreet, between 9am and 5pm on November 7.

https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/charities-to-host-forum-tackling-child-sex-abuse-in-dundee/

 

Organised Abuse in the UK - Conference
Speakers
Laurie Matthew, OBE, - Founder and Executive Manager for Eighteen And Under, Izzy’s Promise and a host of other organisations all aimed at supporting survivors of abuse and prevention of abuse.

 

Sarah Nelson, - Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee, has written and presented widely for decades on sexual abuse issues. Her research includes the voices of young survivors, critiques of current child protection systems, backlash theories, community prevention, and physical and mental health issues for survivors. She is author of Tackling Child Sexual Abuse: Radical Approaches (2016)

 

Joseph Lumbasi(PhD Student) – Manager of Izzy’s Promise.

 

Matt Carey(with Sarah Paton Briggs) survivor and author

 

Conference Topics

Empowering Survivors
The Myth of the Satanic Panic
How Online Support Spaces are viewed and experienced by Ritual Abuse Survivors
A Small Boy Smiling: A remarkable journey of healing from the trauma of child sexual abuse to spiritual awakening.

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/dundee/tayside-deaf-hub/organised-abuse-in-the-uk-conference

 

Paramilitary sect leader Deborah Green sentenced for child abuse in New Mexico September 27, 2018

GRANTS, N.M. -- A New Mexico judge sentenced a paramilitary religious sect leader Wednesday to more than seven decades in prison after her conviction in a child sex abuse case that authorities say involved a victim who was taken from Uganda as a baby and mistreated throughout her life. KRQE-TV reports that the 72-year sentence for Deborah Green in Grants followed emotional testimony from a victim, who told the judge she had 11 surgeries for broken bones suffered during years of abuse. She also said she has yet to recover emotionally and physically from what she described as torture by Green.

 

On Tuesday, a jury found Green, 71, guilty of kidnapping, criminal sexual penetration of a minor and child abuse.

 

"A weaker person would not have survived," Judge James Sanchez told the victim. "That means you can continue on being strong."

 

Last year, authorities raided the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps' secluded Fence Lake compound in western New Mexico after a two-year investigation into concerns about child abuse. Former sect members said the abuse dated back years, while Cibola County Undersheriff Michael Munk said the former members described leaders treating followers like slaves and physically beating children.

 

He also said the sect had evaded law enforcement by moving and operating in seclusion....

 

As CBS News affiliate KRQE in Albuquerque reports, the abuse fist came to light in 2017 when a former member of the sect claimed years of sexual abuse by Green and her son-in-law Peter Green. That information prompted authorities to raid the Fence Lake compound, where they discovered 11 children -- some as young as 4 years old and being held against their will. KRQE reports the 11 children rescued from the compound remain in the custody of New Mexico's Children, Youth and Families department.

 

Green still faces a second trial in the death of 13-year-old Enoch Miller. Authorities said he died at the compound in 2014.

Green has been charged with child abuse resulting in death and tampering with evidence....

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paramilitary-sect-deborah-green-aggressive-christianity-missions-new-mexico-sentence/

 

Avenatti: New client will go public with Kavanaugh accusations by Wednesday

Avenatti: New client will go public with Kavanaugh accusations by Wednesday
By Emily Birnbaum - 09/24/18

 

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who says he has "credible information" about more sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, said Monday that he expects his new client will appear for an on-camera interview within the next 48 hours.

 

Avenatti told The Hill that he anticipates his client will go public with her accusation against Kavanaugh in a television interview within the next two days.

"We anticipate that that is what is going to occur," Avenatti said, confirming an earlier report from Politico.

He said he does not know which media outlet she will appear on, adding, "We have not finalized the details."....

 

Avenatti on Sunday tweeted a screenshot of an email he sent to Mike Davis, the chief counsel for nominations for the Senate Judiciary Committee. In the email, Avenatti said he is “aware of significant evidence of multiple house parties in the Washington, D.C. area during the early 1980s, during which Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge and others would participate in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs to allow a ‘train’ of men to subsequently gang rape them.”

"There are multiple witnesses that will corroborate these facts and each of them must be called to testify publicly,” Avenatti wrote.

 

Avenatti has declined to disclose most of the details about his client, though he told Politico that "she’s had multiple security clearances over the years, including public trust and secret security clearance."

Avenatti's client would be the third woman to publicly accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct....

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/408151-avenatti-new-client-will-go-public-with-kavanaugh-accusations-in-next-48

Avenatti promises new Kavanaugh accuser to come forward in next 48 hours
Sophie Tatum By Sophie Tatum, CNN Mon September 24, 2018
Washington (CNN)

 

Michael Avenatti said Monday night that he has new information regarding allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Avenatti, the lawyer also representing adult film star Stormy Daniels who is suing President Donald Trump, said on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time" that he has multiple clients and "at least one" is prepared to come forward publicly within the next 48 hours.

 

"At this point, Chris, it's clients. We're going to make a public disclosure within the next 48 hours of detailed allegations, as well as the identity of at least one of my clients relating to what she witnessed and experienced concerning Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, and ultimately we're going to let the American public decide who's telling the truth," Avenatti told CNN's Chris Cuomo.
Avenatti had previously alluded to representing an additional accuser who would be coming forward soon. In an interview with Fox News earlier Monday, Kavanaugh vehemently denied allegations Avenatti alluded to on Twitter.

 

....Despite Republican efforts to keep Kavanaugh's confirmation on track, the process continues to be a slog following accusations of sexual assault and inappropriate sexual behavior from two women who have come forward on the record.

 

In the first alleged instance, the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while the two were at a party during their high school years. She said Judge was in the room when the alleged assault happened. Judge has denied the allegation.

 

The second alleged incident took place while Kavanaugh and that accuser, Deborah Ramirez, were attending Yale. Ramirez claimed Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a college party.
Kavanaugh has repeatedly denied the allegations.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/24/politics/michael-avenatti-brett-kavanaugh-cnntv/index.html

 

Kavanaugh Denies Fresh Harassment Allegations From College Classmate

Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, from Brett Kavanaugh’s College Years
By Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer September 23, 2018

 

As Supreme Court, Senate Democrats are investigating a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The claim dates to the 1983-84 academic school year, when Kavanaugh was a freshman at Yale University. The offices of at least four Democratic senators have received information about the allegation, and at least two have begun investigating it. Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote. The Democratic Senate offices reviewing the allegations believe that they merit further investigation. “This is another serious, credible, and disturbing allegation against Brett Kavanaugh. It should be fully investigated,” Senator Mazie Hirono, of Hawaii, said. An aide in one of the other Senate offices added, “These allegations seem credible, and we’re taking them very seriously. If established, they’re clearly disqualifying.”

 

The woman at the center of the story, Deborah Ramirez, who is fifty-three, attended Yale with Kavanaugh, where she studied sociology and psychology. Later, she spent years working for an organization that supports victims of domestic violence. The New Yorker contacted Ramirez after learning of her possible involvement in an incident involving Kavanaugh. The allegation was conveyed to Democratic senators by a civil-rights lawyer. For Ramirez, the sudden attention has been unwelcome, and prompted difficult choices. She was at first hesitant to speak publicly, partly because her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident. In her initial conversations with The New Yorker, she was reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty.

 

After six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney, Ramirez said that she felt confident enough of her recollections to say that she remembers Kavanaugh had exposed himself at a drunken dormitory party, thrust his penis in her face, and caused her to touch it without her consent as she pushed him away. Ramirez is now calling for the F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh’s role in the incident. “I would think an F.B.I. investigation would be warranted,” she said.

 

In a statement, Kavanaugh wrote, “This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name—and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime building—against these last-minute allegations.”....

 

Ramirez said that, when both she and Kavanaugh were freshmen at Yale, she was invited by a friend on the women’s soccer team to a dorm-room party. She recalled that the party took place in a suite at Lawrance Hall, in the part of Yale known as Old Campus, and that a small group of students decided to play a drinking game together. “We were sitting in a circle,” she said. “People would pick who drank.” Ramirez was chosen repeatedly, she said, and quickly became inebriated. At one point, she said, a male student pointed a gag plastic penis in her direction. Later, she said, she was on the floor, foggy and slurring her words, as that male student and another stood nearby. (Ramirez identified the two male onlookers, but, at her request, The New Yorker is not naming them.)

 

A third male student then exposed himself to her. “I remember a penis being in front of my face,” she said. “I knew that’s not what I wanted, even in that state of mind.” She recalled remarking, “That’s not a real penis,” and the other students laughing at her confusion and taunting her, one encouraging her to “kiss it.” She said that she pushed the person away, touching it in the process. Ramirez, who was raised a devout Catholic, in Connecticut, said that she was shaken. “I wasn’t going to touch a penis until I was married,” she said. “I was embarrassed and ashamed and humiliated.” She remembers Kavanaugh standing to her right and laughing, pulling up his pants. “Brett was laughing,” she said. “I can still see his face, and his hips coming forward, like when you pull up your pants.” She recalled another male student shouting about the incident. “Somebody yelled down the hall, ‘Brett Kavanaugh just put his penis in Debbie’s face,’ ” she said. “It was his full name. I don’t think it was just ‘Brett.’ And I remember hearing and being mortified that this was out there.”

 

Ramirez acknowledged that there are significant gaps in her memories of the evening, and that, if she ever presents her story to the F.B.I. or members of the Senate, she will inevitably be pressed on her motivation for coming forward after so many years, and questioned about her memory, given her drinking at the party.

And yet, after several days of considering the matter carefully, she said, “I’m confident about the pants coming up, and I’m confident about Brett being there.” Ramirez said that what has stayed with her most forcefully is the memory of laughter at her expense from Kavanaugh and the other students. “It was kind of a joke,” she recalled. “And now it’s clear to me it wasn’t a joke.”....

 

A classmate of Ramirez’s, who declined to be identified because of the partisan battle over Kavanaugh’s nomination, said that another student told him about the incident either on the night of the party or in the next day or two. The classmate said that he is “one-hundred-per-cent sure” that he was told at the time that Kavanaugh was the student who exposed himself to Ramirez. He independently recalled many of the same details offered by Ramirez, including that a male student had encouraged Kavanaugh as he exposed himself.

 

The classmate, like Ramirez, recalled that the party took place in a common room on the first floor in Entryway B of Lawrance Hall, during their freshman year. “I’ve known this all along,” he said. “It’s been on my mind all these years when his name came up. It was a big deal.” The story stayed with him, he said, because it was disturbing and seemed outside the bounds of typically acceptable behavior, even during heavy drinking at parties on campus. The classmate said that he had been shocked, but not necessarily surprised, because the social group to which Kavanaugh belonged often drank to excess. He recalled Kavanaugh as “relatively shy” until he drank, at which point he said that Kavanaugh could become “aggressive and even belligerent.”

 

Another classmate, Richard Oh, an emergency-room doctor in California, recalled overhearing, soon after the party, a female student tearfully recounting to another student an incident at a party involving a gag with a fake penis, followed by a male student exposing himself. Oh is not certain of the identity of the female student. Ramirez told her mother and sister about an upsetting incident at the time, but did not describe the details to either due to her embarrassment.

 

Mark Krasberg, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of New Mexico who was also a member of Kavanaugh and Ramirez’s class at Yale, said Kavanaugh’s college behavior had become a topic of discussion among former Yale students soon after Kavanaugh’s nomination. In one e-mail that Krasberg received in September, the classmate who recalled hearing about the incident with Ramirez alluded to the allegation and wrote that it “would qualify as a sexual assault,” he speculated, “if it’s true.”....

 

Several other classmates said that they believed Ramirez to be credible and honest, and vouched for her integrity. James Roche was roommates with Kavanaugh at the time of the alleged incident and is now the C.E.O. of a software company in San Francisco. “Debbie and I became close friends shortly after we both arrived at Yale,” he said. “She stood out as being exceptionally honest and gentle. I cannot imagine her making this up.” He said that he never witnessed Kavanaugh engage in any sexual misconduct, but did recall him being “frequently, incoherently drunk.” He described Ramirez as a vulnerable outsider. “Is it believable that she was alone with a wolfy group of guys who thought it was funny to sexually torment a girl like Debbie? Yeah, definitely. Is it believable that Kavanaugh was one of them? Yes.” Another acquaintance from college, Jennifer Klaus, similarly said that she considered the allegation plausible, adding, “Debbie’s always been a very truthful, kind—almost to the point of being selfless—individual.” A third classmate, who Ramirez thought had attended the party, said that she was not present at the incident. The former student, who asked not to be named, said that she also found Ramirez credible....

 

While at Yale, Kavanaugh became a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, or “DKE,” which several students said was known for its wild and, in the view of some critics, misogynistic parties. Kavanaugh was also a member of an all-male secret society, Truth and Courage, which was popularly known by the nickname “Tit and Clit.”....

 

Her attorney, Garnett, said that he and Ramirez had not yet decided when and how she would convey the details of her allegation to the Senate Judiciary Committee and whether new counsel would represent her in Washington. “We’re carefully evaluating what the appropriate next steps would be,” he said. They both said that an F.B.I. investigation of the matter was merited. “I do believe an F.B.I. investigation of this kind of character-related information would be appropriate, and would be an effective way to relay the information to the committee,” Garnett said. Of Ramirez, he added, “She’s as careful and credible a witness as I’ve encountered in thirty-six years of practicing law.” Ramirez said that she hoped an investigation could be carried out before the committee voted on Kavanaugh’s nomination. “At least look at it,” she said of her claim. “At least check it out.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez

 

Kavanaugh Denies Fresh Harassment Allegations From College Classmate
September 23, 2018 Kelsey Snell, Brett Neely

Days before the Senate is set to hear from a woman who alleges Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh attempted to sexually assault her while in high school, Kavanaugh is denying fresh accusations from a college classmate who also alleges he acted inappropriately towards her.

 

In a story published Sunday evening by The New Yorker, Deborah Ramirez says Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during a drunken party while both were first year students at Yale University.

"It was kind of a joke," Ramirez told the magazine. "And now it's clear to me it wasn't a joke."

Kavanaugh denied the allegation in a statement released by the White House.

"This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen," Kavanaugh said. "The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple."

 

The fresh allegation comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee is preparing to hear testimony from another woman, Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party more than 30 years ago. The two incidents are alleged to have occurred within just a few years of one another.

Kavanaugh also denies those allegations.

 

Ford is set to testify before the Judiciary Committee about her allegation on Thursday. The politically charged hearing has already been criticized by Democrats who are calling for an FBI investigation into Kavanaugh's conduct.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the committee, sent a letter to committee chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Sunday evening asking that all proceedings related to Kavanaugh's nomination be suspended....
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/23/650979665/kavanaugh-denies-fresh-harassment-allegations-from-college-classmate 

 

Child Abuse Research  https://ritualabuse.us 

 

Articles by Neil Brick  http://neilbrick.com

 

Professor groomed female clerks for Kavanaugh, Accuser offers to testify to Senate, Doesn't want to be in same room, ‘Zero chance’ I would confuse Kavanaugh with other student

- Yale Law dean: Reports that professor groomed female clerks for Kavanaugh 'of enormous concern'

-  Brett Kavanaugh accuser offers to testify to Senate

-  Kavanaugh accuser testimony conditions, doesn't want to be in same room

-  Ford: ‘Zero chance’ I would confuse Kavanaugh with other student

-  Calif. Children Tortured 'for Sadistic Purposes': Prosecutor

  "claims her grandkids “lived in torture” and accused their father of worshiping Satan"

Yale Law dean: Reports that professor groomed female clerks for Kavanaugh 'of enormous concern'

Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken wrote that she wanted to "address the press reports today regarding allegations of faculty misconduct."
by Adam Edelman and Kasie Hunt Sep.20.2018

The dean of Yale Law School on Thursday responded to reports that a prominent professor at the school had advised students seeking judicial clerkships with Brett Kavanaugh on their physical looks, saying the reported allegations of faculty misconduct are "of enormous concern" and calling on anyone affected to come forward.

According to reports in The Guardian, the Huffington Post and Above the Law, Amy Chua, a professor at the law school, would advise students on their physical appearance if they wanted to seek a clerkship for Kavanaugh. Specifically, Chua would help potential applicants to have a "model-like" appearance.

In a letter Thursday to the law school community, Yale Law School Dean Heather Gerken wrote that she wanted to "address the press reports today regarding allegations of faculty misconduct" and that "the allegations being reported are of enormous concern to me and to the School."....

"While we cannot comment on individual complaints or investigations, the Law School and the University thoroughly investigate all complaints regarding violations of University rules and take no options off the table," Gerken wrote.

"I strongly encourage any members of our community who have been affected by misconduct to take advantage of Yale University's resources for reporting incidents and receiving support," the letter continued. "The Law School has a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which all of our students can live and learn in a community of mutual respect, free of harassment of any kind."

Yale has not specified what the misconduct might be.

Kavanaugh, currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, is President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court....

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/yale-law-dean-reports-professor-groomed-female-clerks-kavanaugh-enormous-n911571

Brett Kavanaugh accuser offers to testify to Senate

A woman who accuses Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh of trying to rape her in 1982 has offered to testify to the Senate if it can "ensure her safety".

Christine Blasey Ford's lawyer says her client will not appear on Monday, as senators proposed, but might do so next week on "terms that are fair".

Republicans had vowed to press ahead with the confirmation amid uncertainty over whether the accuser would testify.

Judge Kavanaugh has issued a fresh rebuttal of the allegation....

What did Dr Ford's lawyer say?

The California psychology lecturer's legal team emailed the panel's staff on Thursday.

Debra Katz, the lawyer, wrote that she wished to "discuss the conditions under which [Prof Ford] would be prepared to testify next week".

"As you are aware, she's been receiving death threats which have been reported to the FBI and she and her family have been forced out of their home."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45593290

Kavanaugh accuser testimony conditions, doesn't want to be in same room
Who would testify first? Would they be in the same room together? These are among the issues Christine Blasey Ford's lawyer has raised.
by Leigh Ann Caldwell, Kasie Hunt and Frank Thorp V Sep.20.2018

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for the woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh spoke with attorneys for the Senate Judiciary Committee and laid out conditions for her appearance before the panel, including not being in the hearing room with him and assurances that she will be safe.

In nearly an hour-long telephone call in which the Judiciary Committee staff did most of the listening, Debra Katz, an attorney for Christine Blasey Ford, went through a series of concerns and preferences should she agree to appear before the committee next week.

It's the first time Republicans on the committee have spoken directly with Ford's attorneys since she went public with the allegation against Kavanaugh on Sunday and the discussion seems to have thawed a stand-off between the two parties as to whether she would testify.

Among the requests, the one that appeared to be non-negotiable for Ford was a Monday appearance. The earliest she could show would be Thursday, Republican and Democratic sources told NBC News. Monday is the day that Senate Republicans had originally offered for Ford to come testify and when Kavanaugh has said he is ready to testify.

Ford’s attorney also relayed her concern about security and asked that the committee work with her to ensure she would be safe if she agrees to testify.

Here are the other items Ford requested:

Wants to testify second and Kavanaugh to appear first;
Doesn't want Kavanaugh in the room at the same time with her;
Prefers not to be questioned by outside counsel, but rather by the senators on the committee;
Would like the committee to subpoena Mark Judge, the other student Ford alleges to be in the room at the time of the assault, to testify;
Says each senator should have equal time questioning (already committee practice);
No time limit on her opening statement; and
Will appear at a public hearing but she would like to limit the number of cameras to pool coverage.

After consulting with committee members, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is expected to present Ford with a counter offer as early as Friday....

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/kavanaugh-accuser-lays-out-conditions-her-testify-about-alleged-assault-n911706

Ford: ‘Zero chance’ I would confuse Kavanaugh with other student
By Megan Keller - 09/20/18

The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault quickly dismissed a theory that circulated online Thursday that she may have confused him with another classmate.

"There is zero chance that I would confuse them," Christine Blasey Ford said in a statement reported by The Washington Post.

Ford issued the statement after Ed Whelan, a former clerk for the late justice Antonin Scalia who serves as president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, put forward the theory in a series of tweets that sparked instant backlash online.

Whelan, a supporter of Kavanaugh, identified another former classmate of the judge in a series of tweets, sharing floor plans, maps and other photographs to suggest that Ford may have confused Kavanaugh with the other student.

"To be clear, I have no idea what, if anything, did or did not happen in that bedroom at the top of the stairs, and I therefore do not state, imply or insinuate that [Kavanaugh's classmate] or anyone else committed the sexual assault that Ford alleges," Whelan tweeted.

The Hill could not reach Whelan for immediate comment.

Ford said in her statement reported by The Post on Thursday said that she knew both Kavanaugh and the classmate identified by Whelan, adding that she socialized with them and visited the second classmate in the hospital once.

Ford has accused Kavanaugh of attempting to sexually assault her at a party in the early 1980s when they were in high school.

She has acknowledged that she does not remember at what house or when exactly the alleged assault occurred. Ford has also said she cannot recall how she got to the party or what she did afterward.

Kavanaugh has flatly denied the allegation against him, saying in a statement earlier this week, "I have never done anything like what the accuser describes—to her or to anyone."....
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/407718-ford-dismisses-mistaken-identity-theory-zero-chance-i-would-confuse-kavanaugh

Calif. Children Tortured 'for Sadistic Purposes': Prosecutor
Court documents claim the children were punched, strangled, and shot with weapons such as crossbows and BB guns as well as waterboarded
By NBC Bay Area Staff May 15, 2018

The grandmother of 10 children who were removed from what some are calling a “house of horrors” in Fairfield, California, claims her grandkids “lived in torture” and accused their father of worshiping Satan. 

....Rogers’ daughter, Ina Rogers and her husband Jonathan Allen have both denied charges of child abuse.

"Awakening Lucifer" book inside "Devil worship room." Wanda Rogers says Jonathan practiced this in the home.

Authorities arrested the children’s father, 28-year-old Allen, on Friday and charged him with nine counts of felony torture and six counts of felony child abuse. He is currently being held on $5.2 million bail and has pleaded not guilty.

On Tuesday, Ina Rogers was charged with nine felony counts of child abuse. New court documents show the children were punched, strangled, and shot with weapons such as crossbows and BB guns as well as waterboarded. The documents also claim that Ina Rogers not only knew about the abuse but assisted in the torture as well.

The children were removed from their Fairfield residence after officers, responding on March 31 to a report that one of the children was missing, discovered "horrible living conditions" in the house. The officers found “unsafe and unsanitary living conditions, including garbage and spoiled food on the floor, animal and human feces and a large amount of debris making areas of the house unpassable,” said Lt. Greg Hurlbut with Fairfield Police.....

Some of the children, in interviews with police, described years of persistent abuse that sometimes resulted in puncture wounds, burns, bruising and injuries consistent with being shot with a pellet gun, police said Monday.

Officials said that, based on interviews with at least eight of the children, they believe that "significant torture took place" in the home at least as far back as 2014....

Wanda Rogers called her son-in-law “an abuser” and accused him of devil worship. She provided pictures of what appears to be a table with a knife and a Satanist book which she claimed is his “devil room.”

“Jonathan worships the devil. He had a devil room, a devil room that he called a meditation room,” Wanda Rogers said. “He was using my grandkids for sacrifice.”

Police have said that some of the abuse that took place appeared to be of a “sadistic nature” but have not elaborated.

“My grandkids they talk so much they tell so much, they have so much to tell,” Rogers said, detailing abuse by her son-in-law which involved duct tape and even water torture....

She added that her son-in-law said that “the demons were making him do it.” “He said ‘when the voices stop, I’ll stop hitting you,”’

In a jailhouse interview with KCRA news station in Sacramento on Tuesday, Jonathan Allen denied all the allegations against him....

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/House-of-Horrors-Grandmother-of-10-Children-Rescued-From-Fairfield-Home-Accuses-Father-of-Sadism-and-Devil-Worship-482729971.html