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Christine Blasey Ford Reveals the Threats She's Faced Since Testifying Against Brett Kavanaugh


It’s hard to believe it’s only been two months since the contentious Senate confirmation hearings for now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. But for Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who testified about her alleged sexual assault by Kavanaugh as a teenager, those two months have likely felt like a lifetime.

In early October, Blasey Ford said she and her family had already been forced to move four times due to ongoing threats. And last week (per The Cut), she updated supporters via a message on a GoFundMe page set up to help defray costs incurred because of her testimony and the ensuing security concerns.

“Words are not adequate to thank all of you who supported me since I came forward to tell the Senate that I had been sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh,” Blasey Ford wrote. “Your tremendous outpouring of support and kind letters have made it possible for us to cope with the immeasurable stress, particularly the disruption to our safety and privacy. Because of your support, I feel hopeful that our lives will return to normal.” She goes on to call the donations a “godsend” that have allowed her family to beef up security in light of “to protect ourselves against frightening threats.” Those security measures include physical protection, added features to their home, and housing while they were displaced.

The GoFundMe has raised almost $650,000—but now Blasey Ford is closing it to donations. “With immense gratitude, I am closing this account to further contributions,” she says. “All funds unused after completion of security expenditures will be donated to organizations that support trauma survivors. I am currently researching organizations where the funds can best be used. We will use this space to let you know when that process is complete.”

Even with all that has come with it, Blasey Ford is steadfast in her belief that she needed to do her civic duty in coming forward about Kavanaugh. (He has always vehemently denied the allegations.)

“Although coming forward was terrifying, and caused disruption to our lives, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to fulfill my civic duty,” she concludes. “Having done so, I am in awe of the many women and men who have written me to share similar life experiences, and now have bravely shared their experience with friends and family, many for the first time. I send you my heartfelt love and support.”



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Alexis Ohanian Calls Out the Double Standard on Anger Between Serena Williams and Brett Kavanaugh


If you’re a woman, you’re already familiar with the double standards applied to us when it comes to expressing emotions. If you’re a woman of color, you know it’s even more egregious.

Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and husband to Serena Williams, called out that double standard in a Twitter thread, while also proving yet again that he wins at being the most supportive husband ever. Ohanian first responded to a tweet from Deborah Barros that said, “Funny how a black female tennis player is held to a higher standard to keep her emotions in check than a Supreme Court nominee.”

His comment was short and to the point, “It’s not funny, it’s bullshit.” (Williams, of course, was very publicly criticized by some for showing frustration over a number of questionable calls during her U.S. Open finals match against Naomi Osaka last month.)

But he wasn’t quite finished making his point and proceeded to get specific about the behaviors exhibited by Brett Kavanaugh in his testimony surrounding the sexual assault allegations made against him by Christine Blasey Ford. “Played the ‘father card’,” Ohanian continued. “Cried & screamed + Insulted everyone’s intelligence with lies about the definitions of phrases anyone with Google could debunk + Argued hysterically with sitting Senators, even going so far as to threaten them.”

“If you’re going to be a Supreme Court Justice — a job that requires maintaining sober judgement, it shouldn’t matter what questions you have to answer in your job interview, you keep it together.”

Kavanaugh did indeed cry, yell, and take a fairly menacing approach to being questioned on certain topics. So much so that he (or perhaps the GOP) felt something of a public mea culpa was necessary before the final vote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

“I was very emotional last Thursday, more so than I have ever been. I might have been too emotional at times,” he wrote. “I know that my tone was sharp, and I said a few things I should not have said. I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad. I testified with five people foremost in my mind: my mom, my dad, my wife, and most of all my daughters.”

These are the kind of arguments that society-at-large considers valid for men—not so much for women. Good on Ohanian for calling it out!

MORE: Christine Blasey Ford Is Still Receiving Death Threats, Unable to Return Home After Kavanaugh Confirmation





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Christine Blasey Ford Is Still Receiving Death Threats, Unable to Return Home After Kavanaugh Confirmation


Over the weekend, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as an Associate Justice for the United States Supreme Court to applause from the right, many of whom celebrated his appointment with congratulatory tweets and beer (a nod to the many times he referenced the alcoholic beverage during his fiery testimony).

Meanwhile, Christine Blasey Ford, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee almost two weeks ago about her allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh, is still receiving “distressing” death threats and has been unable to return to her home. Ford alleged that Kavanaugh held her down and tried to remove her clothes, even covering her mouth at one point, during a 1982 party when they were both in high school.

Ford’s attorney, Debra Katz, revealed this information in an interview with MSNBC on Sunday. “This has been terrifying,” she said. “Her family has been through a lot. 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. It’s deplorable. It’s been very frightening.”

Katz said that Ford has “also received extraordinary letters of support and encouragement.”

The nomination, hearings, and confirmation vote have been one of the most divisive in history. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted after Ford and Kavanaugh’s testimonies before the Senate Judiciary Committee showed that 43 percent of those surveyed believed the California professor to be telling the truth compared to 33 percent for former DC Circuit judge.

Even still, it is Ford who continues to pay the price for coming forward with her story. That she is facing such vitriol and extreme threatening behavior is horribly sad, but not even close to shocking. It is fear of this sort of response that can frighten women into not reporting their assaults.

But not Ford, who stated in her initial written testimony, “I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty to tell you what happened to me while Brett Kavanaugh and I were in high school.”

Meanwhile, Kavanaugh is expected to hear his first case on Tuesday.

MORE: Twitter Has Very Strong Feelings About Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court Confirmation





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The Most Powerful Images From the Kavanaugh Protests in Washington, D.C.



[unable to retrieve full-text content]Thousands of women took to the streets on Saturday to protest the impending confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.



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Brett Kavanaugh Has Been Confirmed to the Supreme Court


Americans are poised for the dawn of a new era in federal justice as one of the most divisive Supreme Court nominations in modern history comes to a close. As protestors screamed and shouted from the public gallery, the Senate voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh three months after his selection by President Donald Trump—weeks marked by public protests that came to a head after three women accused the judge of past sexual assaults.

Republicans, looking to boost their party ahead of November’s midterm election, steamed ahead with the nomination. Finally, on Saturday, the Senate voted 50 to 48 to make Kavanaugh the 114th justice of the high court. Notably, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, from Alaska, voted present instead of “no” as a favor to Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana, who was was attending his daughter’s wedding and would have voted yes.

“When a senator is necessarily absent (for example, attending their daughter’s wedding), they can ‘pair’ with another senator who is voting the opposite way,” a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Friday night.

“I have extended this as a courtesy to my friend. It will not change the outcome of the vote,” Murkowski said Friday night on the Senate floor. “But I do hope that it reminds us that we can take very small, very small steps to be gracious with one another and maybe those small, gracious steps can lead to more.”

One of the judge’s accusers, California college professor Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, galvanized supporters—and critics—by telling the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath in a September testimony that a drunk Kavanaugh tried to force himself on her at a high school party in the ’80s. The judge denied the accusations with force that sometimes veered into belligerence. Kavanaugh, of course, was no longer a lock: Senate Judiciary Democrats interrogated him about Ford’s accusations. Republicans railed against maligning a man never convicted of a crime. #MeToo activists saw a moment to speak out—and to not repeat the scrutiny that Anita Hill endured, who in 1991 accused SCOTUS nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.

Following Ford’s testimony, the battle over Kavanaugh reached another peak as the Senate voted 51-49 on Friday to push past a procedural hurdle and advance his appointment. Republican senators mostly fell along from party lines, with on-the-fence senators including Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, and Joe Manchin, voting to move Kavanaugh forward to a full vote. An exception came with Murkowski, a crucial swing vote who voted not to advance the embattled nominee ahead.

The Senate Judiciary Committee had initially planned to weigh in on Kavanaugh’s confirmation on Sept. 28, less than 24 hours after the country had been rocked by emotional testimony from both Kavanaugh and Ford. However, things took a dramatic turn when Arizona Senator Jeff Flake signaled he would only vote to confirm Kavanaugh if an FBI investigation was conducted into the allegations.

The investigation was completed this week. It looked into Ford’s claims that Kavanaugh had held her down and covered her mouth with his hand when they were in high school in 1982. The FBI also examined the accusations of Deborah Ramirez, a Yale classmate of Kavanaugh’s who accused him of exposing himself to her at a party. The summary of the FBI’s findings said that the allegations could not be corroborated.

“The Supplemental Background Investigation confirms what the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded after its investigation: there is no corroboration of the allegations made by Dr. Ford or Ms. Ramirez,” the summary reads.

Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, referenced the summary on Friday to assert Kavanaugh’s innocence, insisting that an unfair smear campaign had been leveled against Trump’s nominee.

However, Democratic senators suggested the FBI investigation had been limited and curtailed by the White House. Multiple people, including former classmates of Kavanaugh’s, had said that they wanted to provide statements to the FBI but could not reach the organization. The executive summary had detailed the 10 people that the FBI interviewed, including Kavanaugh’s childhood friends Mark Judge and PJ Smyth, and Dr. Ford’s friend Leland Keyser—all people Dr. Ford said had been at the party during which the assault occurred. According to early reports, the FBI chose not to interview Dr. Ford or Kavanaugh again.

In addition to the allegations against him, Kavanaugh has also rattled pro-choice supporters with some of his past positions a judge. What comes across his desk as a Supreme Court justice remains to be seen, but what is coming up are the midterm elections. Read up on your voting rights here.

MORE: Here Are the Senate Women at the Center of the Brett Kavanaugh Debate





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Melania Trump Responds to Kavanaugh Hearings: "I Think He's Highly Qualified"


Throughout the past two weeks, much of the country’s headlines have surrounded Judge Brett Kavanaugh as the Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation hearings have proceeded onward toward his final confirmation vote scheduled for this afternoon. On Thursday, September 27, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor from Palo Alto University, testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee with an emotional, detailed account of a sexual assault, allegedly by Kavanaugh, in 1982. It’s an allegation that Kavanaugh has continuously, vehemently denied. Thus far, President Donald Trump has stood by his initial endorsement of Kavanaugh, taking to Twitter on the day of the Committee hearing to double down on his nomination.

Meanwhile, across the globe, First Lady Melania Trump has spent much of the past week on a solo international tour of Africa—her first since her husband took office—traveling to Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, and Egypt with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The White House has positioned this trip as an opportunity for the First Lady to learn more about “how the U.S. can play a role in providing assistance to help countries become self-sufficient” with a particular focus on “maternal and newborn care in hospitals [and] education for children.” While in Egypt on the tail end of her travels, Trump was asked by reporters if she agrees with her husband’s continued support of Supreme Court nominee Judge Kavanaugh.

“What I will say, if we’re talking about the Supreme Court and Judge Kavanaugh, I think he’s highly qualified for the Supreme Court,” she said. “I’m glad that Dr. Ford was heard; I’m glad that Judge Kavanaugh was heard. The FBI investigation was done, it’s completed, and [the] Senate voted.”

When pressed by the reporter as to whether she herself believed Dr. Ford’s allegations against Kavanaugh, the First Lady initially declined to answer but returned to the question with a general statement: “I think all the victims—we need to help all the victims, no matter what kind of abuse they had, but I am against any kind of abuse or violence.”

Watch the full video for yourself, here below:

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