Like Judge Brett Kavanaugh, I attended Catholic schools, including St. John's University, enjoyed playing sports, and drank beer. I also vividly remember certain guys, thankfully a minority, who I now understand as sexual predators. They would brag about "pulling the train" on some drunkenly wasted girl at a party. I've seen sexual assault behavior openly in bars, and at parties.
I have been blessed with beautiful daughters, and now beautiful granddaughters. This country is overdue for more accountability on sexual assaults. We should encourage our girls and women to report it.
The psychological barriers to keep them quiet are enormous. Even with the groundbreaking courage of many women around the country, like Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, I fear too many assaulters will evade justice.
If they slip by the deadlines for prosecution, and ever come up as a candidate for an important public post, much less the unique power of a Supreme Court Justice, I want them held to account and denied that power. If they suffer publicly, it's a valuable lesson to our young boys and men.
It was appalling to watch the bully move by Sen. Lindsey Graham. When the female prosecutor from Arizona was just starting to ask interesting questions of candidate Kavanaugh, he shut her up with a grandstanding rant. His snarling lips proclaimed Kavanaugh as the victim, that Democrat senators were the abusers. Yes, Lindsey Graham, Trump's lap dog senator, regularly calls Trump to heap fawning praise on our sexual-predator-in-chief.
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At least 17 women have recounted episodes of sexual assault behavior by Trump. Sen. Graham and Kavanaugh both admitted talking to Trump just before the hearing. They copied Trump's bullying style - lie, deny and attack with anger.
Anger and laughing. You recall Trump laughing about how to grab women in the [crotch], when he didn't realize he was being recorded on that bus in California? Recall Dr. Ford painfully remembering the laughter of Kavanaugh and his drunk teenage buddy assaulting her when they trapped her in that bedroom?
My legal career spans over 40 years. This country has hundreds of lawyers and judges who could be good Supreme Court justices. This great experiment, the United States of America, can and must do better.
Brian Wojtalewicz
Appleton