Thursday, October 04, 2018

Is there hope? Not really. But do this anyways.

Hope is bad for you. Hope is a banana peel, reality is a concrete sidewalk, and your poor vertebrae can't take another spill. As James Thomson pointed out in The City of Dreadful Night, Hell's entrance gate is where you give up all hope; thus, if you never had any hope to begin with, you can never go to Hell, because you lack the entrance fee.

So please do not get your hopes up when I tell you that Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, has offered hints that he'd rather not vote for Kavanaugh.

Although I don't believe in hope, I also believe that we need to try everything. Failure is easier to tolerate if you can honestly tell yourself "Well, I tried everything." I therefore ask you to contact Ben Sasse and urge him to vote NO on Kavanaugh.

The phone number for Capitol Hill is (202) 224-3121. You will be directed to the senator of your choice.

If you are asked for a zip code, choose one from the list below. A DU contributor has offered further contact info:

https://www.sasse.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-ben

WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE
136 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-4224

State Offices
LINCOLN OFFICE
1128 Lincoln Mall, Suite 305
Lincoln, NE 68508
Phone: 402-476-1400

KEARNEY OFFICE
4111 Fourth Avenue, Suite 26
Kearney, NE 68845
Phone: 308-233-3677

OMAHA OFFICE
304 North 168th Circle
Suite 213
Omaha, NE 68118
Phone: 402-550-8040

SCOTTSBLUFF OFFICE
115 Railway Street, Suite C102
Scottsbluff, NE 69361
Phone: 308-632-6032

Pro tip #1. Consider choosing an address beforehand. It's very unlikely that you'll be asked for one, but just in case, pick one of the Nebraska cities listed above and then use Google to find a McDonalds or a Subway in that city. The address of that restaurant will serve nicely.

Pro tip #2. Announce yourself as a Knight of the Ak-Sar-Ben, and say that your fellow knights are appalled by Brett Kavanaugh. Almost nobody outside of Nebraska has heard of this philanthropic group, but it is actually taken semi-seriously within the state.

5 comments:

b said...

Is it time for more US citizens to consider emigrating? I'd be willing to house a refugee or two. I've said so ever since Trump was elected.

The spectacle of Brett Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford is a combination of Adolf Hitler-style "I'm suffering so much" fakery (anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about should watch some Hitler speeches) with the public torture and ritual sacrifice of a female victim. Trump's hate-filled mockery of the victim is like nothing I've seen before from any government figure. Power to the elbow of those in the US who want to get out of such a shithouse. Trump's election in 2016 will not be some kind of aberration that soon blows over and can be looked back on with disgust by the vast majority. It was a beginning.

I'm coming here straight from a chat room in which a woman (yes!) said she thinks Kavanaugh is a good candidate and that in her opinion Ford got the wrong guy. Others said they agreed but that they wouldn't say any more. Doubtless they're awaiting the glorious Kristallnacht when George Soros's international liberal elitists and everyone they have fooled into believing that Sandy Hook was a real massacre are finally garrotted and at long last the "real" people can give vent to their true feelings.

I would say the case builds for an intelligence qualification on the franchise. But some of the maniacs who support Trump and Kavanaugh are fairly intelligent. It would not be true to say they are all lardarses who spend most of their time believing in the wrestling. Not all of them are idiots. Fascist pieces of shit, yes.

Joseph Cannon said...

The more time I spend in the tar-pits of Trumpism, the more convinced I become that conspiracism lies at the heart of the problem. Conspiracy theory allows the Trumpist to rearrange reality in any way that accords with the heart's desire.

I make this admission with no small amount of guilt in my heart, having perhaps contributed -- in a small way, in a former life -- to the culture of Paranoia Chic.

Mr Mike said...

Bill Palmer of the opinion Koathanger Kavanaugh prison bound bc Democrats will be the majority before Bart croaks. I got five words for Bill why it won't happen. Impeachment is off the table.

Joseph Cannon said...

I don't know about any tables, Mike. But the history of impeaching Supreme Court Justices is not promising. That said, Kavanaugh's perjuries (and I'm talking about perjuries unrelated to the sexual allegations) certainly warrant impeachment, in my opinion.

There has been talk of resurrecting FDR's plan to "pack the Court." That seems a dangerous path, although the Merrick Garland outrage would justify such a move. I would prefer impeachment. Unlikely, but worth a shot.

If the economy turns sour, impeachment becomes more do-able. But as long as Trump continues a path of deficit spending (the same path advocated by many liberals!), he can keep the show going.

CambridgeKnitter said...

I think the most likely route to removal of Kavanaugh is criminal prosecution. The Democrats can help pave the way by conducting real, honest and exhaustive investigations of his perjuries, starting with the witnesses the FBI didn't talk to. Local prosecutors may be interested in pursuing charges if the likelihood of success is high. As far as I can tell (without doing anything so crass as actual research), the perjury itself is a federal matter, but some of the subjects of the perjury, such as potential sexual assaults in Maryland, are subject to local law enforcement.