“Two men, two stories. When what we hear on the news has been tabled to fit a certain narrative, it takes critical observation to separate fruits of truth from weeds of lies”
Photo credit: DOUG MILLS/PRESS POOL
Little was known about Brett Michael Kavanaugh, media-wise, until 2018 when the 45th president, Donald Trump, nominated him to serve as a Supreme Court Justice. Before his nomination, the now associate Justice served as a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeal for the District of Colombia.
He attended Yale University and graduated in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in history. In 1990, he earned a law degree from Yale Law School and clerked for Federal Appellate Court Justices, precisely for Walter Stapleton and Alex Kozinski. He worked a year in the office of US Solicitor General Ken Starr, and in 1993, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. From 2001 to 2003, Kavanaugh worked in the White House as associate counsel in the Bush administration.
After being nominated two times to the US Court of Appeals by President Bush and not confirmed by the Senate, he was again nominated in January 2006 to the D.C. Circuit, and he was confirmed in May. He married his wife, Ashley Estes, the same year. Kavanaugh has a reputation for being a conservative and judge hardworking.
In 2018, he was to replace Justice Kennedy, who was retiring. As the law requires, Supreme Court nominees come before the Senate Judiciary Committee for their hearing and are questioned on their credentials and how they would rule regarding certain matters.
Being a Republican and conservative, it was quite clear even during those hearings what Kavanaugh’s stance was on issues such as abortion, affirmative action, church and state, and voting rights. His confirmation was immediately contested by Democratic senators.
Things took a drastic turn when in September during the Senate hearing following a press report that revealed the existence of a letter that contained allegations of sexual misconduct involving Kavanaugh. The letter was written by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor at the University of Palo Alto, a registered Democrat, and a financial contributor to leftist political organizations. In her letter, she accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her or, as some other news outlets reported: “tried to rape her” when they both attended a house party in the summer of 1982. Patrick Smyth and Leland Ingham were the other two testimonies Ford named in her deposition alongside Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh.
Judge and Smyth have since denied any recollection of being at the party. Ingham, on the other hand, released a statement via her attorney saying: “Ms. Ingham does not know Mr. Kavanaugh, and she has no recollection of ever being at a party gathering where he was present, with or without Dr. Ford.”
She claimed she couldn’t tell anyone about what happened out of shame and fear, convincing herself that Kavanaugh didn’t rape her. She decided to move on until July 6th, when she felt the civic duty to come forward with what Kavanaugh did or almost did 36 years ago. She wanted to relay the information to the Senate and the President before any name was put forward for nomination. Concluding that she had the responsibility to tell the truth.
Following Professor Ford’s allegations, another sprung up, Deborah Ramirez, who accused Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her at a Yale party in the early 1980s.
Even though Dr. Christine Blasey Ford had no evidence for her allegations and Kavanaugh had served in public office for years without these allegations ever coming up, the democratic senators had a feast day which culminated in the phrase “believe all women,” as did the Main Stream Media. Every news outlet carried it, and different people called for Kavanaugh to be impeached. Chris Cuomo, who was a CNN news anchor (now fired for his involvement in his brother, Andrew Cuomo's sexual misconduct that led to the latter's resignation as NY governor), didn’t have any reservations when covering the Kavanaugh hearing.
As a journalist, one would expect nothing less, except when a journalist deliberately picks and chooses sides, thereby defying the very purpose of true journalism, which is to gather relevant facts and report them without being biased. He further called the entire Senate Hearing and the confirmation process an “insult.”
Some top democrats pushed for the withdrawal of Kavanaugh’s nomination, including Chuck Schumer, Jeff Merkley, and the now VP, Kamala Harris, calling to impeach Kavanaugh.
According to the Times report, “at least seven people, including Ms. Ramirez’s mother, heard about the Yale incident long before Mr. Kavanaugh was a federal judge.”
Following the same report, one of Kavanaugh’s classmates, Max Stier, who allegedly witnessed the incident, has refused to speak publicly about it. People who would have corroborated Ramirez’s claim were somehow not allowed to testify. How this can be true is unfathomable.
Against all odds
Kavanaugh was confirmed in September 2018 by the Senate with a 50 to 48 vote. He has spoken out about the falsity of the allegations and how he is a man of faith and would never dishonor any woman in such a manner—as he said these words, his wife was right by his side.
Women are believed because, somehow, not believing every sexual assault allegation means not supporting the victim or straight out being part of the problem. As Kavanaugh spoke in his defense of the allegations against him, he categorically emphasized the lack of evidence for the allegations. However, the incredibility of the sexual allegations was seen as a defeat to the MeToo movement. It wasn’t enough that she didn’t have proof, the media saw that as an injustice because “we” are supposed to believe all women, regardless of the presence of evidence or facts.
Getty Image
Andrew Cuomo is the son of former NY governor Mario Cuomo, and during the years, he has gradually worked his way up the political ladder from serving in the Clinton administration to marrying into the Kennedy family. He ended up serving as a governor for three terms, his last term was erupted by sexual scandal.
During the early outburst of the coronavirus, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s handling of the health crisis was defined by many as simply exemplary. He was once defined as “the gold standard for governors” by then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. One would dare say he was idolized by celebrities and talk show hosts like Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert.
He capitalized on his newfound celebrity status by signing a book deal of over 5 million dollars. He won an Emmy for his daily press briefings during the early stages of the pandemic.
His administration put out an executive order mandating nursing homes to take in seniors affected by the coronavirus as hospital beds became more and less available due to the increasing number of cases. An executive order led to the deaths of thousands of seniors in nursing homes as they were not required to test for COVID-19 before being admitted. After criticism, the mandate was reversed 2 months after being implemented, but the damage had already been done.
Amid the administration’s defense of the mandates, there were also allegations of its withholding of the actual number of deaths that resulted from the mandate.
Although the governor denied the allegations, members of his administration criticized the mandates, like Melissa DeRosa, who admitted that the real numbers of the deaths were frozen by the administration out of fear that it would be used against them—all of which led to an in-depth investigation. Since then, thousands of New Yorkers have openly protested against those mandates that led to the deaths of their loved ones and small businesses closing, with some asking for the governor to be impeached.
However, regardless of the severity of the matter of COVID-19 and nursing homes and New Yorkers learning about it all in April 2020, a study from the media research center (mrcNewsBusters.com) showed that the national media devoted a mere 51 seconds to its coverage; and in late July, the Biden administration halted any investigation into the withholding of nursing home data.
The governor went on to say in an interview that there were no correlations between the nursing home deaths and the mandate he ordered, blaming the deaths on the workers themselves.
On August 10, 2021, Governor Cuomo resigned from his position not because of the nursing home deaths but as a result of sexual harassment allegations from women who worked for years in his administration.
It was in 2018, during the Senate Hearings of now SCOTUS Brett Kavanaugh, that Governor Cuomo voiced his take on the allegations against Kavanaugh, stating:
“There is a disrespect for women that this (Trump) administration chronically exemplifies.”
In about two and a half years after his opinion on Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, his resignation came a week after NY attorney general investigations (New York State Attorney General Letitia James) found him guilty of sexually harassing 11 women.
Lindsay Boylan was a former aide to the NY governor and has accused him of sexually harassing her on numerous occasions during her time in his administration. She was the first to publicly come forward and accuse the governor in December 2020. Her claims, which she wrote on a website called “Medium,” include the governor kissing her on the lips during a one-on-one briefing in his office and placing his hands on her lower back. This all happened in 2018 after she had been promoted to deputy secretary for economic development and a special advisor to the governor. She resigned that same year.
Her reasons for coming out publicly? On hearing that the governor was a potential candidate for attorney general in the Biden administration.
It would also appear that Miss Boylan wasn’t the only one accusing the governor of misconduct and inappropriate advances. Charlotte Bennett was another accuser who worked as an executive assistant and health policy adviser under Governor Cuomo’s administration since 2019. She resigned in 2021. She also added that the working environment made it easier for Governor Cuomo to carry out his flirting, quite similar to the Harvey Weinstein case--people knew but kept quiet.
The editor-at-large of Hollywood reporter Kim Masters would later define it as “the culture of a great deal of complicity.”
So, as we read these lines, let us examine ourselves and our tendencies, what or who we support, but most importantly, why.
In the case of Brett Michael Kavanaugh, no evidence was ever presented to back up the claims of rape and sexual misconduct, yet, the mainstream media (MSM) never thought to investigate before pronouncing a "guilty verdict." On the other hand, the culture of complicity in one man's administration made it possible for women to be degraded in their workplace, but somehow, the MSM missed it.
"To whom much is given, much will be required" (Luke 12:48)
コメント