Not to worry, but thanks. To use my very own mixed metaphor, I'm well aware it has long since been time to listen to the writing on the wall. Still, a closed system is an interesting challenge.

Now we'll see if that goes to 3 million...

$2,741,600 and still climbing.

Calm down … for God's sake! Heh.

My point was spelled out - in three comments, no less.

Or if he has ever “boffed” in front of his daughters? In public?

Or was he more comfortable “boffing” when it was just him and the guys he hung with?

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has come out and said Kavanaugh should not be on the court! That he would make a public statement like this is HUGE!

But, my points, alas and simple as they are, continue to be elusive. :)

Liz,

Then for God’s sake tell us what your point was instead of just announcing that we missed out on the nugget of wisdom you were offering! I thought Kick’s response lined up perfectly with what you were saying, so it would benefit multiple people if you expounded on what point it was that we were missing out on.

Do you realize that you skipped right from why people might do this in the first place to when other citizens find out about it without explaining what links the two? On the one hand, it sounds as though you feel that if this snowball just got the impetus necessary to start rolling, it would keep going of its own accord and on the other, that those you have selected to make it a thing would have to keep flogging it endlessly.

How would anyone even know of this 5% block, which, if it existed, is presumably spread over all the states? What sort of post-election analysis by what organization or body would reveal an unusually large number of write-in/non major party votes were cast across the country? Would it actually even show up as statistically significant anywhere? If it were noted, how would anyone trace it to One Demand?

What you are missing is that this is not at all like attending a march, joining a social media group, going to rallies, entering the echo chamber, or doing whatever other things people do to connect to like-minded people to build a resistance or a movement. Since you've indicated your website will show only aggregate data counts, you are and will always be dealing with individuals, secret ballots, and word-of-mouth.

For some reason, whenever you are asked about your vision, your response is some variation on, "So it's better to do nothing?" That's a false dichotomy and I imagine you realize that.

One person can, in fact, launch a movement, but it has to be out there in the public arena and kept there for people to see and decide to become part of. We're seeing an amazing number of first-time candidates entering the fray to run for office this election season. They are working their tails off to be seen and heard and taken seriously. It's a huge undertaking for any such candidate.

That's YOUR job with respect to One Demand. You need a viable plan to get it from idea into reality. You don't seem to have one yet. You have a hope that others can get it kick-started for you, but hope is not a plan. Once started, you appear to see it as a self-reinforcing juggernaut, but that is also a hope. You are going to have to line up a hell of a lot of shills to keep flogging this for you and then coordinate their activities if you hope to break out on the national stage and have a lasting presence.

Maybe a small, local effort that you can test your ideas out on would enable you to develop a workable plan. We can hope, right?

That famous question has an odd resonance today, as we learn that the final vote to confirm Kavanaugh - surely as much an embodiment, in both persona and political orientation, of today's Republican Party as one could imagine - is that of a Democrat? Say it ain't so!

When asked if he had a future in the Democratic Party, Manchin replied, "I'm just a West Virginia boy", which as political statements go, falls somewhere between a Trump tweet and the lyrics to "Strawberry Fields Forever".

I know that the party's supposed to be a "big tent", blah, blah, *gag*, but c'mon, can that really include voting for a guy with "GOP Puppet" and "Trump's bitch" tattooed on his eyelids? There has to be a limit to open-mindedness, and I think that comes when you start confirming operatives of the other side.

:{

But, my points, alas and simple as they are, continue to be elusive. :)

Not at all, EM. You believe his use of the term "no corroboration" sounds as if Kavanaugh thinks he may have done it, whereas I believe his use of the same term points to his continued pattern of lying and parsing of words which points to the same thing. He seems like he thinks he is guilty. Yes, ma'am, he appears to be signaling he's guilty... in more ways than one. :)

No, I'm fibbing again. Like a case of shingles, Av isn't ever going away. Keep a pin in this, post election, if the Democrats take the House: https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/09/maryland-statute-limitations/571507/

I said here that I didn't believe that. I was fibbing. I am that cynical, and, in spite of the Flake smoke screen, here we are.

I think you completely missed my point.

You say that quite a lot, EM, but your points aren't all that complicated. Have you considered that missing your point and expounding on it are two totally different things?

Yes, his parsing of words and continuing to lie about legal terms makes him sound guilty to me too... indubitably and without question.

Additionally, he chose American Pravda a.k.a. Fox News to address the people and chose to publish his op-ed insisting he was an "independent, impartial judge" in that bastion of conservatism known as the Wall Street Journal. The word "oxymoron" comes to mind. :)

Now we'll see if that goes to 3 million...

As you know, there was an on line campaign which raised almost 2 million dollars from small donors to contribute to Collin's yet to be named opponent in 2020.

Would you support that kind of thing if it were to be organized for Heitkamp for this year? Or, because she is a senator, she is by definiton Big Money, and therefore such a grassroots campaign is a fool's errand?

I think you completely missed my point.

[33] DH auditions to replace Michale as the resident troll.

Sure appears that way.

What does it say about a poster who would troll an author's comment section for years requesting that he shill for him who would then resort to accusations that the author would allow intra-familial sexual abuse?

So because you are not interested in One Demand CW should not inform other citizens that may be interested in One Demand aboot the opportunity?

So it's obvious you're still content to put words in my mouth in the form of ridiculous questions, Don. Based on your continued assumptions, anyone can obviously see that the concept of "don't care" eludes you.

Dead horse. Don't care.

Of course, you are interested enough to affirm the questions- just not enough to bother with the answers.

Been there. Dead horse stench. Don't care.

And fortunately, CW decides what to write aboot and there may actually be people that are interested in answers so I don't have to convince you to support One Demand.

Dead horse. Don't care.

Kick (22)-
"Well said"?

Yes, Don, it was very well said.

So you are affirming the questions as if they somehow invalidate One Demand, the questions have never been asked and answered previously and were not answered in my reply?

Is that a question or an assumption? <--- rhetorical question... obviously, you assume. However, in the exact same way that I'm not interested in beating a dead horse, I'm not interested in your "One Demand."

...as always.

And so shall it remain ever thus. :)

"What on earth induces any thinking person to believe that Trump will be running in 2020?"

Easy, Trump's own ego, nothing else is required.

"Do you think the justice system in the US is so completely broken, that criminals like Trump will keep getting away with breaking the law forever?"

I was at first just going to give a blanket yes, but that would be way too cynical. Not forever, but he will definitely not face any consequences until he leaves the Presidential office.

Women are the sleeping giant in the mix, they have the chance to send a huge message in November.

LL&P

What on earth induces any thinking person to believe that Trump will be running in 2020?

Agree completely. There's never so much manufactured chaos and prevaricated BS that could ever overshadow the illustrious "Mueller Snitch Hunt Choir," containing the dulcet tones of Flynn, Gates, Manafort, Cohen, et al.

Do you think the justice system in the US is so completely broken, that criminals like Trump will keep getting away with breaking the law forever?

I know it isn't. :)

Well said... as always. :)

Did anyone find the following passage from Kavanaugh's WSJ op-ed today just a bit odd?

Yes ma'am. Kavanaugh continues to lie about there being no "corroboration" when he is a judge who knows better. Corroborating evidence does not mean air-tight proof. Any evidence that would support Dr. Blasey Ford's claim that Brett Kavanaugh assaulted her when he was drunk at a party is indeed corroborating evidence:

* Dr. Blasey Ford proved she knew Kavanaugh in 1982. Indeed, she was dating "Squi," a.k.a. Chris Garrett.

* She also knew other people Kavanaugh confirmed under oath he was friends with: Mark Judge and P.J. Smyth.

* She also knew that Judge and Smyth were Kavanaugh's drinking buddies, and this was corroborated by nothing less than Kavanaugh's very own personal calendar -- you know, the calendar that was intended to exonerate him.

* She also knew Kavanaugh's drinking habits, and this too was corroborated by Kavanaugh's personal calendar as well as by Mark Judge's book where he identifies "Bart O'Kavanaugh" throwing up. He was asked under oath if he was Bart O'Kavanaugh. He said he didn't know that you would have to ask Mark Judge. Another lie under oath; he knows he is.

* Dr. Blasey Ford said that 6-8 weeks after the assault she saw Mark Judge working at Safeway. This too is corroborated by Mark Judge's memoir.

I could go on, but you get the idea. The GOP claim that "corroborating evidence" exists only when there is an innocent bystander at the scene of the crime who claims to have witnessed the whole attack is nonsensical bollocks. There is almost never that kind of evidence in an assault case. Indeed, if there was, the GOP would simply claim the witness was also drinking and therefore must be "confused" or "mixed up." Regardless, Kavanaugh is lying about there being "no corroboration," and he knows it.

And lastly, regarding this ridiculous op-ed, keeping in mind that this is not a criminal trial but indeed a job interview, Kavanaugh wants to be hired and "excused" for his belligerent job interview.

Imagine this was a different type interview:

Law enforcement officer: I know I was an emotional wreck and talked of conspiracy theories during my job interview, but please assign me a killing weapon and allow me to patrol your community.

Brain surgeon: I know I was a sniveling ninny and a liar during our surgical consultation; however, please allow me to cut into your cranium and excise your tumor.

Babysitter: I know I...
______________

No. No. Hell no.

Depressing, but probably accurate, reason that conservative women shun victims like Dr. Ford:

https://www.politicalorphans.com/how-conservative-women-protect-rapists/

Sadly, this article is dead on, particularly in the South. Thankfully, my parents raised all their children to be fighters regardless their gender. I decked my first attacker in 8th grade and got called to the principal's office. He picked up the phone and called my mother; imagine his surprise when my father showed up. :)

Very well said, sir. Add to that, the seat which Flake seeks to fill is currently being occupied by one Governor John Kasich who comes from the magic state where unicorns "boof" rainbows and pixies frolic in the meadow. ;)

If Senator Flake has any serious "presidential dreams" whatsoever, he'll need women's votes to realize them, and a "yes" vote on Kavanaugh would be his worst nightmare.

Spot on. Perfect description of a group of people in need of an agent of coalescence.

Isn't that what Trump achieved with his flock?, one might see his base as a third party? Trump does.

LL&P

:D

LL&P

Or, he could change the title of his book to Conscience of a Conservationist and run as a Green Party candidate.

OK, Don, so one day in the coming month fully 5% of the electorate register at One Demand (for a reason I'm not clear on, unless it’s supposed to cement one’s resolve) and proceed to experience the exhilaration of going to the polls and voting for someone who isn’t on the ballot or who has actually not run a big money campaign.

What ensues? What is the thing that happens next that makes this known as a growing movement that then spreads like wildfire? Who and how does anyone know what this 5% has just achieved? What, in fact, has it achieved? What is it that’s going to make these individuals do this every election going forward? And tell their friends? And bring it up at Thanksgiving dinner? What is the feedback loop/behavioral reinforcement at the individual level?

I'm definitely missing a couple of things here – the glue that holds this nascent movement together, the mechanism by which other voters come to realize this is something they need to be part of, and the engine that drives this movement on. Could we start with those items, please?

Give me a f'n break.

Next he'll be a maligned alien who just wants to go home.

Ha... I didn't even see your comment. Nothing in politics would surprise me though.

LL&P

As for Flake, I can see him elsewhere, Governor...a stretch, Mayor...perhaps. Maybe Flake runs for a house seat, less worry, similar perch. Flake maybe flips allegiance, turns Democrat... if you think it never happens, you know nothing about Trump.

Flake just isn't a good name to ride into anything wanting, other than a confectioners. (google it)

But, big but... I still believe the haste to ramrod Mr. K into SCOTUS is as much about the fear of losing the ability to do so, as securing the court so the right-wing evilgelicals can unplug their noses and cut bait with Trump morally.
Once the SCOTUS is stacked in favour of the right, I assume the religious nutters will fall away from Trump like leaves from a tree in Autumn. Unless they are as redundant in morality as they are in spirituality, religion takes another hit. Which is of course, fine by me.

It will be curious to see if any Republicans spend the next year distancing themselves, on moral and religious grounds, from Trump... it's from that group you'll find a contender to Trump in the 2020 primaries. The GOP aren't stupid, they know Trump has them by the balls and they know he'll blow the White House in 2020. Don't be surprised if they take him down in favour of Pence in the interim.

LL&P

He wrote:

"At times, my testimony—both in my opening statement and in response to questions—reflected my overwhelming frustration at being wrongly accused, without corroboration, of horrible conduct …"

Without corroboration? Why did he need to say that?

I read that as confirmation that he did it.

https://www.politicalorphans.com/how-conservative-women-protect-rapists/

That was exactly my thought.

Sarah Palin is a more likely Presidential hopeful than Flake is - the Republican Party are in looneyville at the moment and Sarah is cray-cray certified.