"Cavil, if it do not find a hole, shall make one"

CNN:

FBI interviews in Kavanaugh investigation go beyond initial White House mandate

The FBI is expanding its inquiry into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh beyond the initial four interviews that the White House directed to be conducted.

Two sources told CNN on Tuesday that more interviews are happening with a focus on other Kavanaugh high school friends who are listed as attending a July 1, 1982, party on the nominee's calendar.

NBC:

FBI could wrap up Kavanaugh probe as early as Tuesday night

Tuesday ended hours ago. Is the inquiry expanding or contracting? Most reports indicate the latter; this "investigation" is a sham.

Cold entertainment. Remember October of 2016, when you first heard about the Weiner laptop? Remember how sick you felt in your gut? Prepare to feel that way again.

The right wing media is publishing an unending stream of ant-Ford smear stories; basically, she is being "Hillaried." Never underestimate the power of propaganda: Very soon, sympathy for Kavanaugh could cause his approval numbers to rise well above what they were before Blasey Ford came forward.

Most readers of the King James Bible don't know that the translators offered a lengthy preface, now seldom printed. The subtitle: "The best things have been calumniated." According to the translators, "Zeal to promote the common good" -- in other words, doing the right thing -- "findeth but cold entertainment in the world."

It is welcomed with suspicion instead of love...and if there be any hole left for cavil to enter, (and cavil, if it do not find a hole, will make one) it is sure to be misconstrued, and in danger to be condemned.

"Cavil, if it do not find a hole, will make one." Those words have stuck in my head for decades. Right now, this day, cavil is subjecting Christine Blasey Ford to a relentless machine gun barrage. Pretty soon, she'll be nothing but holes.

RealClear Politics has offered a searing investigation into -- I kid you not -- Christine Blasey Ford's door. There is no point in offering a refutation. You simply have to read this shit to understand the desperation and the ruthlessness of the Republican Cavil Machine. The Machine can punch holes into anything.

The Machine goes into hyperdrive here:

Finally, Ford altered her description of the interior layout of the home and the details of the party and her escape. A “short” stairwell turned into a “narrow” one. The gathering moved from a small family room where the kids drank beer (and which Ford distinguished from the living room through which she fled the house) when she spoke to the Washington Post, to a home described in her actual testimony as having a "small living room/family room-type area.

Horrors! Obviously, she's insane and nothing she says should ever be believed ever again.

Here's Fox News:

Christine Blasey Ford ex-boyfriend says she helped friend prep for potential polygraph; Grassley sounds alarm

A closer look at the ex-bf's statement reveals that he wallows in the usual beefs that most exes have. He's still pissed off about a disputed $600 charge on a shared credit card. Yeah, yeah, yeah: We've all got a story like that.

The gist of his statement is that Ford once explained how a polygraph works to a friend name Monica MacLean. Supposedly, this is a REALLY IMPORTANT contradiction of her testimony, in which Blasey Ford said that she never had any discussions with anyone on how to take a polygraph test.

I'm not an expert in the field of psychology, but I've read a few articles about polygraph tests, including Clifford Irving's description of how he beat the lie detector. Have I ever told a friend about what I've read? My memory says no -- but if a friend's memory says otherwise, I would not be utterly shocked.

Update: The friend rejects the claim that she was coached.

As predicted in an earlier Cannonfire post, the right-wing media has fastened onto the myth of "false memory syndrome" as their all-purpose excuse for Christine Blasey Ford's testimony. The right describes this supposed "syndrome" as an established fact, even though it is recognized by neither the DSM-5 nor the American Psychiatry Association.

See, for example, this article, euphoniously titled "Christine Blasey Ford is a Victim of Psycho-Feminism." See also here and here and here.

Elizabeth Loftus is suddenly as popular with Republicans as she is with pedophiles and Holocaust revisionists.

Oddly, these apostles of the Gospel According to Loftus expect Blasey Ford's memory to be perfect insofar as it concerns a passing conversation about polygraph testing. As every memory expert not named Elizabeth Loftus will tell you, the mind treats memories of dramatic events and minor events very differently. I can describe in great detail the time I saw the aftermath of a serious automotive accident, but I cannot give you the date of the event -- and I certainly can't tell you what I had for dinner the next night.

Meanwhile, Brett Kavanaugh's many perjuries -- which alarmed many well before we first learned about Christine Blasey Ford -- are considered unimportant. The rule IOKIYAR applies: A Republican can rearrange his memories and pseudomemories in any pleasing formulation, while anyone who inconveniences a Republican had better keep his trap shut unless he has a better memory than Sheldon Cooper's.

The inevitable CIA smear. Given my taste for the outre, I must make mention of the most eldritch accusation against Christine Blasey Ford. Did you know that she is a CIA mind controller? It's true! Says so right here!

Ford has just been exposed as a published expert in how to use hypnosis to create false memories and mind control.

New revelations show that in 2008 Blasey-Ford, a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University in California, co-authored a respected scientific study on self-hypnosis and how to create false memories.

In addition, Christine Blasey Ford is said to currently head up the CIA Undergraduate Internship Program.

Apparently, she once wrote an article on the use of yoga and hypnosis to counter depression. The right-wing conspira-freaks need no more evidence: Obviously, she is a practitioner of MKULTRA mind control techniques! Or maybe a victim of said techniques. Or maybe both. Conspira-freaks need neither evidence nor consistency.

The article also offers a long section on the dangers of using hypnosis to recover memories, even though there is no evidence that Christine Blasey Ford has ever undergone hypnosis to recover memories. Propaganda fans will savor the wording: "It is not yet clear whether Professor Ford experimented herself using this mind-altering technique..."

Who wrote this shit? Glad you asked: The site is the work of a London-based organization called Principia Scientific International, which is primarily devoted to spreading pseudoscientific nonsense about climate change and vaccines. In many ways, this group resembles the Heartland Institute.

It is not clear yet whether Principia Scientific International is receiving money from Russian sources. (Turnabout is fair play, PSI-guys.)

Swetnick. Julie Swetnick is also getting the "cavil" treatment. Another disgruntled ex-boyfriend has offered salacious details: 

“During a conversation about our sexual preferences, things got derailed when Julie told me that she liked to have sex with more than one guy at a time. In fact sometimes with several at one time. She wanted to know if that would be ok in our relationship.

“I asked her if this was just a fantasy of hers. She responded that she first tried sex with multiple guys while in high school and still liked it from time-to-time. She brought it up because she wanted to know if I would be interested in that.”

The ex says that he sympathizes with victims of sexual abuse, and is among their number. But he does not believe Swetnick. Perhaps he is correct to feel that way, but I see nothing here to disprove her claims.That said, I think it fair to say that hers is the shakiest of the three primary claims.

Seth Abramson offers a balanced appraisal of the Swetnick controversy.

Another accuser? Avenatti offers a declaration from another person (unnamed, so far) who accuses Kavanaugh of wrongdoing as a youth. The key paragraph:

During the years 1981-82, I witnessed firsthand Brett Kavanaugh, together with others, "spike" the "punch" at house parties I attended with Quaaludes and/or grain alcohol. I understood that this was being done for the purpose of making girls more likely to engage in sexual acts and less like to say "No."

Frankly, I find this claim (which does not include an assertion of rape) believable. It certainly seems of a piece with what we've heard from non-Avenatti sources. 

But in the absence of a proper FBI investigation, what is the point?