Day: September 26, 2018

Briefings

Background Briefing: September 26, 2018

On By gram

 

Weaponizing Women’s Rage

We begin with a third accuser of Judge Kavanaugh who provided a declaration under penalty of perjury which not just supports the evidence so far from the first two accusers, but goes beyond what is inferred in the books by Kavanaugh’s best friend Mark Judge. She shows a pattern and a purpose to the heavy drinking at house parties involving the spiking of drinks so that the young women would lose inhibitions and be so drunk that they could be gang raped by a train of boys including Kavanaugh and Judge, lined up outside rooms waiting to take their turn. Soraya Chemaly, an award-winning writer and activist who is the Director of the Women’s Media Center Speech Project and author of the new book “Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger”, joins us to discuss how women’s rage at being overworked and underpaid, called sluts or prudes and when harassed, told they asked for it, is being transformed in the 21st century into one of the most important resources women have. With the #MeToo movement sweeping the country, the Kavanaugh hearing now seems like a watershed moment in which women as victims who have held in anger and humiliation for decades often having it turn into depression, are now bravely speaking out and challenging a ruthless patriarchy intent of ignoring them while placing a misogynist cloaked in piety on the highest court in the land who will roll back women’s rights and criminalize their right to choose.

 

A Third Accuser of Kavanaugh’s Sworn Statement

Then we  speak with Michele Gilman, a Professor of Law and the Co-Director of the Center on Applied Feminism at the University of Baltimore about the legal ramifications of the sworn statement by the third accuser Julie Swetnick now that the lawyer for Brett Kavanaugh is accusing her lawyer Michael Avenatti of malpractice for not contacting the police about the charges made against Kavanaugh and Mark Judge in her declaration. Even though Avenatti has contacted the Senate Judiciary Committee hoping to get a hearing on Swetnick’s charges.

 

Trump’s Stunning Charge Against China

Then finally we look into the stunning charge President Trump made today before the UN Security Council where he accused China of interfering in the upcoming November election to hurt him because he is so tough on trade with China. Michael Fuchs, who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and has an article at The Guardian “Trump is a laughing stock. But if we weren’t laughing, we’d be crying”, joins us. We will discuss how Trump embarrassed the U.S. before the world yesterday, then today charged China for something he has never charged Russia with, even though Russia has been and still is, meddling in our elections.