I’ll keep fighting

Yeah, he was approved 50-48.

Daily Kos has a series of posts about the day. Many senators gave speeches about why they voted the way they did. I’ll let you watch the speeches or read their tweets through the links, though there are a couple things to mention.

Shannon Watts tweeted a picture of an older woman with this text:

Older woman crying in photo: “How are we going to find the strength to keep fighting? Are we going to be out here for another 30 years? I don’t have 30 years left.”

Younger woman taking her photo: “I’ll be here. I’ll keep fighting.”

Some photos of protests here. A lot of protest photos here and here. Yes, there were protests inside and around Capitol all through those speeches and the vote.

Interesting tweets about Kavanaugh over the last couple days:

From Caroline Simon, photos of protests in the atrium of the Senate Office Building on Thursday, before the procedural vote. There were signs in various senate windows saying, “We Believe Her.”

Sarah Kendzior talks of her podcast Gaslit Nation. She says she begs the media to examine Kavanaugh’s sexual assaults, how he can afford luxury items, massive debt mysteriously paid, perjury, drunkenness, gambling, his role as a GOP operative, and the appearance of a preemptive PR campaign run by the GOP. And what does the New York Times actually run? “Kavanaugh News Sets Off a Debate: Are Bar Fights Normal?”

Melissa McEwan reminds us that the GOP senators are acting like they won’t be beholden to voters in the election in one month. Their choice for the Supremes is deeply unpopular, yet they rammed him through anyway. They know something is protecting them. She notes:

NB: Mitch McConnell going on at length about how the Kavanaugh confirmation has fired up the Republican base is potentially laying the narrative to explain what would be an otherwise inexplicable GOP win in the midterms. McConnell was banging on about this before the vote, and now he's banging on about it after the vote. That the confirmation supposedly fired up the GOP base is a big talking point he wants to get out there.

Leah McElrath reminds sexual trauma survivors, it’s OK to stop watching:

Your well-being matters. If you tore open your wounds to share your story, know you WERE heard and it DID matter. Just not to Republicans. Do what you need to do now to stop your bleeding. You matter.

Sarah Kendzior replies:

If you are a survivor and you spoke out, it mattered. If you didn't speak out, it still mattered. Because you, as a person, matter.

Adam Serwer tweeted an excerpt from The Atlantic saying for this administration cruelty is the point:

The president’s ability to execute that cruelty through word and deed makes [his base] euphoric. It makes them feel good, it makes them feel proud, it makes them feel happy, it makes them feel united. And as long as he makes them feel that way, they will get him get away with anything, no matter what it costs them.

I’m sure that goes for what the nasty guy’s appointees and nominees do.

I’ve written about cruelty being the point. Here is the discussion of cruelty from the follower. From the actual leader and perpetrator I understand cruelty as having two uses. First, cruelty, essentially any violence, is effective in enforcing social hierarchy. Second, It allows the perpetrator to gloat about their position higher in the hierarchy. They can say my life is so much better that your miserable, oppressed life.

A couple days ago Brett Kavanaugh wrote an op-ed (I forget which newspaper it appeared in, I’m not going to link to it anyway) apologizing for his rude behavior during his latest hearing yet asserting he did nothing wrong. Twitter user Julius Goat rewrote that op-ed to describe what many of us see as what happened. Here are some excerpts:

I hope everyone in this liquor store can understand I am robbing it as a son, husband, and dad.

I do not decide to case a joint based on personal or policy preferences. I am not a pro-customer or pro-work robber. I am not a pro-small or large denomination robber. I am a pro put-the-money-in-the-bag robber.

I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times. I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said, and shot some folks I should not have shot. I'm sorry.

Wallets in the bag please.

As a robber, I've always treated cashiers and tellers with the utmost respect. I've been known for my courtesy w/ ski mask on or off. I have not changed. I will continue to be the same kind of robber I have been for the last 12 years.

Now everyone get in the back and lay down.

Julius Goat has another Twitter thread asking men to imagine if they had to defend themselves from repeated sexual attacks by women.